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Washington landlord tenant law, remove tenant, evict tenant, unlawful detainer

Asked over 3 years ago - Tacoma, WA

my father died 7/15/08 the will states to sell family home and split among three siblings.I and my one brother are co personal repersentatives of the will. The other dead beat bro. has been living in family home while I cared for father in our home.That bro. has been living for free and has access to all family property in the home and is dangerous. We need to gett in to prepare to sell.. How do we evict or remove safely?
thank you
julie

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Attorney answers (1)

Travis Scott Eller

Reputation Level 10

Answered over 3 years ago. Landlord / Tenant Lawyer in Seattle, WA.

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Your situation is a bit of a gray area. The answer to your question hinges on whether the brother is deemed a tenant at sufferance or a tenant at will.

A tenant at sufferance occurs “whenever any person obtains possession of premises without the consent of the owner . . . he shall be deemed a tenant by sufferance merely, and shall be liable to pay reasonable rent for the actual time he occupied the premises, and shall forthwith on demand surrender his said possession to the owner” RCW 59.04.050.

A tenant at will occurs when the occupant gains possession of the premises with the permission of the owner and the tenancy was terminable without notice and provided for no monthly or periodic payments. Turner v. White.

If he is a tenant at sufferance he can be evicted through the summary unlawful detainer process (as opposed to the slower common law ejectment action). Sarvis v. Land Resources, Inc.; Davis v. Jones; RCW 59.04.050.

Scott Eller

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