The Washington State Supreme Court has just handed down a ruling that is going to make it much more difficult to own rental property in Seattle.  The near-socialist, depraved City passed a law that requires landlords to rent to the “first in line qualified renter” when they have a house or apartment to rent.  So the City effectively removed the landlord’s discretion in to whom to rent.  Landlords must advertise their criteria, and will be required to rent to the first party who fills the requirement.  No choice, landlord.  Three unmarried guys?  Three unmarried gals?  If they both meet your requirements, you MUST rent to the guys if they were ahead of the gals.  Now, who is more likely to make a mess?  Guys?  Gals?  No matter, regardless that it’s your property, it is now not your decision who your renters are.  Landlords rightly protested that this was a Government Taking of their property without compensation.  Sorry, landlord, the CITY now is an equal partner in your rental unit.  From the article on KOMO:

Justice May Yu wrote that the law is “unquestionably an experiment” and that “there is room for substantial debate about whether such an experiment is likely to succeed.” But she added that it is allowed under Washington’s constitution.

Oh, yes, the Supreme Court also ruled in favor of a Seattle law that requires landlords to ignore “criminal record” status when screening tenants.  Felony in your background?  No problem, you can rent an apartment in Seattle no questions asked.

Hmmmm….  Would you want to own Seattle rental property?  I wonder if this will cause an exodus of “mom and pop” landlords, and maybe a reduction in value of rental property in the city.  It will be interesting to watch what happens.