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Washington State tenants have won important legal protections, but these rights don't go far enough. Help build the movement to protect and expand tenants rights and make the promise of safe, healthy, affordable housing a reality: 
Suing Your Landlord
If requested repairs have not been made, you may be able to file a lawsuit against your landlord. The court may be able to order your landlord to make repairs or reduce your rent until repairs are made. You may bring this lawsuit in District or Superior Court. You should consult with an attorney before exercising this option. (RCW 59.18.090).
Suing your landlord under “warranty of habitability”
In the 1973 court case Foissy v. Wyman, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that landlords have an obligation to provide a livable rental unit. This obligation is called an “implied warranty of habitability”.
There is no specific standard of determining when the warranty of habitability has been violated. If your home is partially or totally uninhabitable as a result of unrepaired defects, you may be relieved of the obligation to pay all or part of the rent.
Using the warranty of habitability, you can sue your landlord for back rent. A more risky option is to deduct a justifiable portion of your rent and use the warranty of habitability as a defense in legal action your landlord might take to try to evict you. This is risky because if a judge does not agree that the amount deducted was justified, you could be evicted. Eviction court is not a friendly place.
Posted: Wednesday, December 8, 2004
Disclaimer: The information contained in or linked to the Tenants Union website is for informational purposes only. The Tenants Union makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to its web site.
The Tenants Union cannot act as your attorney, and its staff members are not attorneys. The Tenants Union makes no representations, expressed or implied, that the information contained in or linked to its web site can or will be used or interpreted in any particular way by any governmental agency or court. As legal advice must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case, and laws are constantly changing, nothing provided herein should be used as a substitute for the advice of competent counsel.