Must Rental Agreement Have Illegal Activity Clause? (rental homes, crime)

[Celticat]

Can a landlord evict a tenant for illegal activity even if it is not mentioned in the rental agreement? Conversely, is a landlord held liable for a tenant's illegal activity whether or not it is mentioned as forbidden in the agreement?

[sll3454]

If this is a room in your house, you may not even need a reason to evict.

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by Celticat

Can a landlord evict a tenant for illegal activity even if it is not mentioned in the rental agreement? Conversely, is a landlord held liable for a tenant's illegal activity whether or not it is mentioned as forbidden in the agreement?

Two things, according to the Washington State Landlord Tenant Act.
1. Regardless of what's in the rental agreement, a landlord can evict a tenant, with 3 days written notice, for " destruction of property, causing a nuisance,conducting an illegal business, or engaging in drug related activities."

2. It is a crime for the landlord to know about drug related activity and not commence an unlawful detainer action(eviction) and/or notify police.

So whether the landlord is held liable depends on the type of illegal activity. If illegal gambling is held there, for example I don't see anything in the Landlord-Tenant Act that holds the landlord liable. But if it's drugs, the landlord is legally obligated to either evict or call the cops.

[Vinylly]

Originally Posted by Ira500

Two things, according to the Washington State Landlord Tenant Act.
1. Regardless of what's in the rental agreement, a landlord can evict a tenant, with 3 days written notice, for " destruction of property, causing a nuisance,conducting an illegal business, or engaging in drug related activities."

2. It is a crime for the landlord to know about drug related activity and not commence an unlawful detainer action(eviction) and/or notify police.

So whether the landlord is held liable depends on the type of illegal activity. If illegal gambling is held there, for example I don't see anything in the Landlord-Tenant Act that holds the landlord liable. But if it's drugs, the landlord is legally obligated to either evict or call the cops.

Well, this is what happend to us once in one of our rental homes; We had a tenant who had rented our house for several years, he and his girl friend were very quiet and didn't disturb us any, he always paid his rent on time. He ran a business on Aurora.
One day we recieved a phone call from the police that our rental house had been raided and they found out he was processing drugs in this house and was selling it from his business establishment on Aurora. We had three days to evict the guy or the city was take possesion of the property as a public nusience. So, not only should the landlord evict the tenant but is required to evict the tenant if he wants to hang on to his property. In fact the landlord would be charged as an accessory to the crime if the tenant is not evicted.