tenant's rights under WA state landlord tenant act for non renewal of lease

In general, a person may chose with whom he does business unless his decisions are based on bases prohibited by statutes or public policies. You can check the information provided by King County and the State of Washington to see if the discrimination you and your husband are experiencing are prohibited.

King County's Office of Civil Right's webpage is: http://www.metrokc.gov/dias/ocre/provider.htm .

WA's Human Rights Commission's webpage is: http://www.hum.wa.gov/FairHousing/index.htm .

From the FAIR HOUSING IN WASHINGTON STATE, chapters 1-6, article, ( http://www.metrokc.gov/dias/ocre/100Qs.htm ):

25. Can we refuse applicants because of their criminal history?

Having a criminal record is not a protected class under fair housing laws. Housing providers can establish screening criteria that rejects applicants with criminal records. However, do not confuse arrests with convictions. Patterns of arrest have been viewed as discriminatory against some protected classes, so arrest records are likely inappropriate to use as a screening criteria.

It is discriminatory to perform criminal background checks only on certain applicants, or to distinguish between applicants with criminal records based on protected class. [Examples: A manager should not conduct criminal checks only on African American males. Or a landlord cannot accept a female applicant with an assault conviction, and reject male applicants with similar convictions.] The key is to ensure that the process is fair, and neither directly nor indirectly discriminates based on any protected class.

I think what is happening to you and your husband is disgusting. I am desperate to determine if discrimination against criminals is against the law and find out how to make it illegal if its not already. I am 21 years old just turned 21 in April a few weeks before I turned 20 I had made a mistake myself. I also am in A.A. I came into a.a 2 months before I turned 20 on my own did not have to be court ordered just realized I needed help. I did do dumb things as a child as a result of my disease but never anything criminal until a month after I became sober I made a dumb one time mistake My grandma was out of town on vacation and my mother had a key to her house well while she was gone my car broke down and needed to be fixed well I needed a car to get to work and get to a.a and needed a way to pay for my car to be fixed so I decided to take the key to my grandmas and go inside her house get the key to her car and drive it while she was out of town I figured since she was out of town she did not need it and it was my family I thought it was ok. my plan when taking it was i was going to return it before she got home cause she would need it and I did return it. but when I couldn't get the money to fix my car I thought I would go back to her house and see if she had any money I didn't break into any safes or anything like that I just went through the dresser drawers that are in the room that was for me when I came to stay the night with her when I was a kid I had always gone through those drawers before to wear the jewelry that was in it and she never cared before but when I couldn't find any money I chose to take two rings i found instead and take it to a jewelry store and sell them didnt get anything for one so it went on consignment but got $250 bucks for the other. and planned on going back to get the rings and return them to her when I came up with the money for them, When my grandma came home she noticed that the seat of her car was pushed forward to a position a short person could reach the peddles and the gas tank was low. so she started going through her things and noticed her rings were gone. So my uncle told her to call the police. the cops asked me if it was me and I got scared so I said no. an hour later the cop called me and said the neighbor saw me at her house so I should just be honest so I was I said ok yes I did it he then said well I have to take you to jail so meet me at your house and I did I knew I was going to jail but I didn't run I went to meet him. I spent a night in jail and was released the next day but I was being charged with 4 felonies And facing 10 to 20 years for each individual felonie if they had chosen the max i would have been sentenced to 80 years of prison time. Thankfully the plea was 112 hours community service a fine of $1,000 dollars and probation for 2 years but its the kind of probation where I don't have to check in unless im going on vacation out of the state of Washington. but I had to live with a 2 felonies on my record for 10 years at the minimum which I don't mind having my gun right taken but I mind having no voting rights and being denied rent anywhere or buying a home in an association. I am not a bad person im a good person im young I go to church was raised in an upper class, roman catholic family I am a nurse. I had never done anything close to this before I did what I did and have not done anything wrong since it wasent even a violent crime. when they do these back ground checks they should determine based on the crime and only do that if it was a recent murder or sex offence things of that nature. if its like your husbands case they should just dismiss it since it was so long ago If you ask me it is just as much discrimination the same as discriminating against race. Yes what I did was wrong but not enough to be punished this bad . If you have found something that works so that criminals with cases like ours are able to rent where they wish please let me know