AG's Office: Payment Plans and Late Fees

LATE FEES:

I have learn that the Attorney General is interpreting the Governor's Proclamation to prohibit landlords from charging late fees across the entire state. 

Landlords who have charged late fees for April's rent, for any reason, should remove or credit the late fees back to the resident. 

PAYMENT PLANS:

The Attorney General's office is scrutinizing payment plan agreements entered into between housing providers and tenants. They want to make sure that any payment agreement which includes a specific payment schedule is also subject to re-negotiation due to any further governmental orders and that certain payment plan arrangements are prohibited under the current Proclamation. 

Until we have specific guidance from the AG's office, you may want to include language in your payment plans that allows the resident to re-negotiate the payment upon any further governmental orders.

For existing payment plans, you may want to send a letter stating that you will allow for the payment plan to be re-negotiated upon any further governmental orders.

Thank you to Brett Waller from the Washington Multi-family Housing Association.