WA Supreme Court hears arguments on Seattle tenant laws

Last week the state Supreme Court heard arguments related to legal challenges against two tenant-rights laws passed in recent years: the “First in Time” ordinance that requires landlords to rent a property to the first qualified tenant who applies; and the “fair chance housing” ordinance that restricts landlords’ ability to use a potential tenant’s criminal record to deny tenancy. The two cases took different paths to get to the Supreme Court, but the legal issues raised have significant overlap. The legal theory underlying both legal challenges is essentially the same: that they restrict one of the landlords’ fundamental rights of …

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