This bill amends existing provisions of the Manufactured/Mobile Home Landlord-Tenant Act (amending RCW 59.20.390 and RCW 59.20.370). It requires landlords to use a specified rent-increase notice form substantially the same as the form inserted into the statute, to comply with statutory timing and service rules, and to include checkboxes and supporting facts or documents if claiming any of three named exemptions under RCW 59.20.380. The bill also excludes certain subsidized tenancies from the notice requirement, explicitly excluding tenancies with portable tenant-based vouchers and certain affordable housing where a tenant’s base rent does not change with income. Substantive rent limits and timing are changed: no rent increase is allowed during the first 12 months of tenancy, and rent or other recurring charges may be increased only once every 12 months by up to five percent unless an exemption applies. When an increase exceeds five percent or an exemption is claimed, landlords must include supporting facts in the written notice. Tenants must be given the opportunity to demand cure of an unauthorized increase in writing; a tenant may terminate the rental agreement before the increase takes effect by giving at least 30 days’ written notice (and owes rent for the full month in which they vacate), and landlords may not charge fines or fees for such termination. The bill creates enforcement and remedies: tenants or the attorney general may sue for compliance; courts must award damages for excess amounts paid (up to three months of unlawful rent, fees, or costs) and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs. The attorney general may bring actions without a prior tenant cure demand, may recover civil penalties up to $7,500 per violation, and may issue civil investigative demands. Remedies are stated to be in addition to other available legal remedies, and landlords are prohibited from reporting tenants to tenant screening services for nonpayment of the unlawfully increased portion of rent. The extracted facts reference several cross-referenced statutes and definitions (for example RCW 59.20.090(2), 59.20.150, 59.20.380, 59.20.073, 59.20.030, 82.45.010, 59.20.060(2)(c), and 59.20.170) that are not included here; details that depend on those provisions and the definitions of “eligible organization” and “qualified low-income housing development” are therefore not available in these extracts.

If enacted, the bill makes it harder for manufactured/mobile home lot landlords to raise rent unexpectedly: no increase is allowed during a tenant’s first 12 months, increases are generally capped at 5% in any 12-month period, and landlords must use a specified written notice form that says whether the increase is at the maximum or is claimed under a narrow exemption and must include facts or documents supporting any exemption. Tenants gain stronger, practical options: they must be given the proper notice, can demand the landlord correct an unlawful increase and, if it isn’t cured, can terminate the rental with 30 days’ written notice and seek refunds for excess rent; courts can award up to three months of unlawful charges plus attorneys’ fees, and the attorney general can sue directly, seek civil penalties up to $7,500 per violation, and issue investigative demands. Landlords also cannot report tenants to tenant-screening services for failing to pay a rent amount that was unlawfully increased. The groups most affected are private landlords of manufactured/mobile home lots (who will face new paperwork, evidence collection, possible refunds, penalties, and limits on tenant reporting) and tenants (who get clearer notices, cap protections, and stronger remedies). Public housing authorities, nonprofits, and agencies that administer portable vouchers are also referenced because some subsidized tenancies are excluded, but the exact scope of those exemptions and the precise notice timing and service rules depend on other statutes not included here, so some implementation details remain unclear.