Previously, Washington’s rental laws didn’t have much guidance on new cooling units. Slatter said that landlords could refuse to let a tenant install one. The new law, by contrast, states that renters can now install a portable AC unit, as long as a landlord hasn’t explicitly written a ban into the lease.
The law, which went into effect in June, includes specific restrictions depending on the kinds of AC units a tenant is looking to install. For a window unit, here are the restrictions:
- A tenant must give the landlord two days’ notice before installation.
- The device cannot prevent a window accessible from the outside to be locked.
- It cannot require excessive brackets that would damage the window frame warranty.
- The device must be safely secured from falling out of the window.
- The landlord’s insurance policy must allow window-mounted units to be installed.
- Landlords can require inspection of window-mounted units after installation.
- Fewer restrictions apply to other types of AC units, like floor-mounted devices and saddle-mounted units.
It’s really area dependent. We have the option of going month-to-month or resigning for a year each time.
That’s nice. I don’t understand how it’s been so accepted that so many places require a lease. I feel like until this thread I haven’t really seen many people saying it’s fucked. I even lived in a place where law requires that it’s an option and yet like 3 landlords in that city pushed a lease on me.
Renting in general is fucked, I feel ya. And it’s expensive and time-consuming to hold landlords accountable through the courts.
Yep. I’ve only ever had one landlord I would say good things about, and I’ve rented in like 20 different apartments. The guy I liked was super reasonable about everything, negotiated prices with me when I balked. Then when I moved out he paid me interest on the deposit, which was super shocking. I later found out was the law there. However in comparison to other landlords who blew me off when I even asked about it.