Just Cause Eviction/Termination in Seattle

[Steven Frankel]

Hello Seattle Landlords. Looking for some guidance please. I recently went under contract on a duplex in Seattle that I plan to owner occupy the upper unit. The lower unit will be vacant by closing, but the upper unit tenant is on a month to month lease and has not given notice to current owner of planning to leave. So at this point I believe I will be assuming the top unit's month to month lease. I was planning on giving the upper unit tenant notice to vacate the day after closing on the property, however, I just read Seattle tenant law regarding just cause eviction, which lists the "causes" a landlord can terminate a lease. The specific cause I am interested in is pasted below: "The owner wishes to occupy the premises personally, or the owner’s immediate family will occupy the unit, and no substantially equivalent unit is vacant and available in the same building." The issue I am running into is the "substantially equivalent unit is vacant" language. As I mentioned before, I would like to occupy the upper unit and not the lower unit. Does the language of the law mean that I am not able to terminate the upper unit tenant's lease because the lower unit (similar size/layout) will be vacant? Is there another way around this, besides having to move into the lower unit? We are planning on remodel of the upper unit after it becomes vacant. Can I have the current owner give notice to the tenant somehow? A lesson learned on this was that I should have potentially included something regarding this into the initial offer. I am still within my contingency period of inspection and lease review, and am still able to back out if needed. Thanks for all your help! Steven