Written By Daniel Beekman | Seattle Times Staff Reporter
Published March 28, 2018
Seattle’s law requiring landlords to choose among qualified applicants on a first-come, first-served basis violates the state constitution, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Adopted by the City Council in 2016 and in effect since last year, the groundbreaking law “has a laudable goal of eliminating the role of implicit bias in tenancy decisions,” King County Superior Court Judge Suzanne Parisien said in a written ruling.
But choosing a tenant “is a fundamental attribute of property ownership,” Parisien said in striking down the law.
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But choosing a tenant “is a fundamental attribute of property ownership,” Parisien said in striking down the law.
The decision is a victory for landlords represented by an attorney from the Bellevue office of the Pacific Legal Foundation.
But the plaintiffs claimed forcing landlords to accept the first qualified applicant violated their property, due-process and free-speech rights, and the judge sided with them on each point.
”While landlords are permitted to set their own rental criteria,” Parisien said, “this preliminary, general rental criteria does not substitute for the discretion to choose a specific tenant.”
Chris Benis, a real-estate attorney and a plaintiff in the case whose family owns a small apartment building in Magnolia, said getting to know prospective tenants is important.
“The idea of the city preventing us from making a judgment call to protect our property and other tenants is just wrong,” said Benis, who serves as legal counsel for and is a past president of the Rental Housing Association of Washington, a landlord group.
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