Seattle Squatters Smug as County Swamped With ‘Enormous Backlog’ of Eviction Cases
30th May 2024
Prior to the pandemic, evictions took 6-7 weeks if a tenant needed the boot. Now, an “unlawful detainer” eviction case in Seattle or surrounding areas won’t be heard until 2025.
“There’s a pretty enormous backlog,” said Edmund Witter from the King County Bar’s Pro Bono Services, Fox13 reports. “If you’re a landlord trying to evict someone, it could take months to get a hearing date. That’s the big issue.”
According to King County Councilman Regan Dunn, the last year has been particularly bad – with an estimated 2,200 to 6,500 unresolved cases, and roughly 600 new eviction requests each month.
May 30th, 2024 at 08:04
I own a duplex and depend on the tenant paying their rent to cover the mortgage. If my tenant can’t (or won’t) pay the rent I miss a couple mortgage payments and I’m booted out by the court. Who takes care of the duplex? Will the tenant also be evicted? If a stranger moves in how long will it take to evict them, or do I even have any ability to evict them? Seattle has 2,200 to 6,500 unresolved cases. The city of Seattle has no idea how many cases are unresolved! This can’t continue in any city.
Luckily my tenant has lived here for about 15 years without any problems.