Rental Housing Laws.......Snohomish County (month to, townhome, pollution)

[ciru]

I have been renting a townhome in Snohomish county for 4 years and recently we were told that we could not have hoses to water our plants using the faucets on the outside of 'our' homes. (We do not pay for water, it's all included in the rent).
Our lease agreement states that we cannot wash cars due to pollution of nearby streams (and possibly to save on water bills) but it does not state that we cannot use the taps on the outside of the building to water our plants. We had been able to use these taps until last year when some neighbors would spend most summer days hosing their kids off to keep them cool. This caused a raise in the water bill, hence the new change.

My question is whether this is legal, my argument being that we were not told about it before signing the lease so that we plant lovers could look elsewhere. I asked why they cannot have each building pay their own water bill and the manager said that they would have to re-meter everything so this is not a feasible option.


-Any help would be highly appreciated.

[Ultrarunner]

Generally, material changes to a lease cannot occur during the term of the lease unless mutual or by Government Mandate... such as a draught declaration.

If you are Month to Month, all that is required is proper notice of Change of Tenancy.

Since the prohibition is hoses on outside faucets... can you do what I've done in the past and keep your hose inside your garage and connect it to your washing machine faucet?

I did this because I was tired of having my hose come up missing... seems I was the only one with a hose and it was always being borrowed...