Major General Bret Daugherty, 123019 WAAGO, AGO 2019-7

Case DateDecember 30, 2019
CourtWashington
Major General Bret Daugherty
AGO 2019-7
No. 2019-7
Washington Attorney General Opinion
Washington State Office of the Attorney General
December 30, 2019
         LANDLORD AND TENANT-MILITARY-Termination Of A Lease By A Service Member          1. Service members may generally terminate a residential lease following retirement or separation orders, if certain conditions are met. It is less clear whether service members may terminate a lease after receiving orders to move into government quarters.          2. Termination of a residential lease by a service member generally becomes effective upon at least 20 days’ notice to the landlord.          Major General Bret Daugherty          The Adjutant General          State of Washington          Military Department          Camp Murray, WA 98430-5000          Dear Major General Daugherty:          By letter previously acknowledged, you requested our opinion on two questions concerning the ability of service members to terminate a residential lease to comply with military orders. Since you requested our opinion, the legislature passed Engrossed Substitute H.B. 1138 (Laws of 2019, 66th Leg., Reg. Sess., ch. 23) amending the relevant provisions of the Residential Landlord Tenant Act, which went into effect July 28, 2019. In light of these amendments we have revisited and reanalyzed your questions, which we have paraphrased as follows:
1. Under RCW 59.18.220, as amended by ESHB 1138, may a service member terminate a residential lease to comply with retirement orders, separation (from active duty) orders, or orders requiring the service member to move into government quarters?
2. Under RCW 59.18.220, as amended by ESHB 1138, what is the effective date of the lease termination?
         BRIEF ANSWERS          1. Service members may generally terminate a residential lease to comply with retirement or separation orders if the service member’s home of record before entering the military was thirty-five miles or more from the location of the rental premises. It is significantly less clear whether a service member can terminate a lease after receiving retirement or separation orders if their pre-service home of record is within thirty-five miles of the rental property, or if they receive orders to move into government quarters.          2. In general, termination is likely effective on the date specified in the notice, so long as the tenant provides a minimum of twenty days’ notice prior to termination.          In 2003, Congress and the Washington State Legislature concurrently passed legislation to allow members of the armed forces (service members) to terminate residential leases with greater flexibility. In Washington, the legislature passed the Armed Forces-Tenancy Termination Bill, which amended provisions of the Residential Landlord Tenant Act. Substitute S.B. 5044 (Laws of 2003, 58th Leg., Reg. Sess., ch. 7).[1] As passed by the legislature in 2003, RCW 59.18.220(2)(b) provided:
Any tenant who is a member of the armed forces, including the national guard and armed forces reserves, or that tenant’s spouse or dependent, may terminate a tenancy for a specified time if the tenant receives reassignment or deployment orders. The tenant shall provide notice of the reassignment or deployment order to the landlord no later than seven days after receipt.
         The term “reassignment or deployment orders” was undefined and the date of termination was not specified in statute. As you state in your letter, this lack of clarity resulted in landlord tenant disputes, which hindered service members’ ability to mobilize or return to civilian life and exacerbated an already stressful time in service members’ lives.          During the 2019 legislative session, the legislature enacted ESHB 1138, which sought to clarify the provisions of RCW 59.18.220(2). In the first sentence of subsection (2), ESHB 1138 replaced the term “reassignment” with the term “permanent change of station.” ESHB 1138 § 3(2). The bill defined “permanent change of station” to mean:
(a) Transfer to a unit located at another port or duty station; (b) change in a unit’s home port or permanent duty station; (c) call to active duty for a period not less than ninety days; (d) separation; or (e) retirement.
ESHB 1138 § 1(33) (emphases added), codified at RCW 59.18.030(19).          In the second sentence of...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT