how to deal with the landlord (bedbug issue and legal issue) (Seattle: 2013, renter)

[verahyu]

Hi all,

I moved to this condo since 2013/04, and my mother got bitten by bedbug right away. but at that time I didn't know about that. After it got warmer, I actually saw the bugs and I know there is an issue. I told my landlord, and she just emailed me some tips to get rid of bugs. at that time, I though I could deal with it (in my home country, there is no bed bug and no stuburn bug like this) and I wanted to clean them up before I move out. for a while I thought it's clean, until it bit again this summer.

I asked the landlord to clean them. But she said there is no bed bug before I move in. And this is a lie, because my mother saw she put some drugs in the floor before we moved in and she said it's for precaution.
So I also want to find the previous renter (14620 ne 32nd st apt f24, bellevue), please contact me by the email as below.

Another questions is our lease ends the Aug 30, and the landlord asked me to stay one more month in email and I agreed. but today she said it's not a deal because it's not on paper, we still need to move the end of Aug. Does anyone know if emails have legal bounding?

I attached the emails and the bug bitten pic.

Thanks,

and I'm ready to take this to court. if any attorney is interested, please send an email to [email]buyingvera@gmail.com[/email]

[Tom Wingfield]

You need to contact an attorney for specific legal advice. But I do want to respond to this:

'Another questions is our lease ends the Aug 30, and the landlord asked me to stay one more month in email and I agreed. but today she said it's not a deal because it's not on paper, we still need to move the end of Aug. Does anyone know if emails have legal bounding?
'

While e-mail is not a secure or confidential means of communication, it probably can be used as evidence in court to show that your landlord was at one point willing to let you stay an additional month. You can print out e-mails very easily. They can be used to show repair requests and things like that. Again, you need to speak with an attorney about this. I would call 2-1-1 and ask to speak to a legal clinic about a landlord-tenant issue (because that's what this is). Since it is the weekend now, if this is really pressing, please consider visiting or calling the free King County Law Library to research landlord-tenant laws and look up an attorney referral service. You can and should also reach out to the excellent resource we have in Washington, the Tenants' Union, which aims to educate tenants on their rights and responsibilities and also, as an activist group, aims to make landlord-tenant law fairer for tenants by, among other things, lobbying for just-cause eviction laws in Seattle successfully and urging the Washington State Legislature to do the same.

To be honest, though, given your landlord's atrocious management of the properties and flakiness in business, I would not stay one second longer than I absolutely had to.

Good luck.