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Seattle's first-in-time rental law has been struck down. Who wins, who loses?

caption: Handing over the keys to a new rental property.
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Handing over the keys to a new rental property.
Flickr Photo/harry b (CC BY 2.0)/flic.kr/p/xSNB92

If you’ve rented a new apartment in Seattle in the last year, chances are that you ran into the first-in-time law. It required landlords to rent to the first qualified applicant. When enacted, the law was touted as a first in the nation attempt to protect tenants’ rights. Landlords argued that it overrode their property rights – and yesterday, a judge agreed.

Liz Dupee of the Tenants Union of Washington State and Chris Benis of the Rental Housing Association of Washington joined Bill Radke to discuss the law’s intention and consequences, and talk about what comes next.

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