Recent News

If you’re renting out a property or entering into a rental agreement, it’s essential to formalize the arrangement to protect both parties involved. Whether you’re renting to a friend, family member, or a stranger, a well-drafted rental agreement can prevent misunderstandings, legal disputes, and financial losses. Here’s why formalizing a rental agreement is crucial and… Read More

If you have purchased real property with another person or persons, apart from your spouse, you have most likely purchased that real property as a “tenant-in-common” with your co-owners. Tenancy in common constitutes one of the most, well, common forms of collective property ownership in Washington State. Although the concept of purchasing a home or… Read More

February 20th, 2025 Beresford Booth Attorney discusses Formalizing Rental Agreements: Avoiding Common Pitfalls Read More

In 2018, Washington State passed RCW 64.90, known as the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (WUCIOA), which took effect on July 1st of that same year. WUCOIA applies to all common interest communities, with a few exceptions, created after July 1, 2018. WUCOIA also gives the option to older community associations to opt into its… Read More

A “lien” is typically defined as a right to enforce a charge upon property of another for payment or satisfaction of a debt or claim.  Stated another way, in the real estate context, it is a claim of a security interest in someone’s property to secure the payment of a debt.  Liens can either be… Read More

As the popularity of Airbnb, Vrbo, Vacasa, and other websites have grown, disputes between short-term rental (“STR”) owners and their neighbors have caused people to lobby for changes in how STRs are regulated.  Many cities and counties have passed laws to ban STRs, but in jurisdictions where the government is not interested in regulated this… Read More

In the recent Washington Court of Appeals case Cherberg v. Fidelity National Title Ins. Company, the Cherbergs bought their dream home – or so they thought. The property purported to include access to a waterfront dock. But two "exclusive easements" encumbered the property—easements granting the sellers / next door neighbors sole access to the dock, i.e. excluding the… Read More

An easement gives a legal right to use another person’s real property for a specific purpose. Fundamentally, an easement for ingress and egress serves the purpose of permitting another property owner the right to enter and leave a property that does not belong to that property owner. In other words, with an easement for ingress… Read More

In 2023, Washington State underwent significant changes in housing legislation in 2023. Some of the major changes pertaining to multiplexes and accessory dwelling units, in particular, have been discussed previously in blog posts here, here, and here. The relevant laws went into effect on July 23, 2023, and the law requires Cities to adopt compliant zoning laws within… Read More