(WA) Landlord charging for their labor

[Jason Schlieger]

I'm trying to help someone but couldn't find an RCW for this.

A tenant has damaged a pocket door in the home and the landlord has already fixed it themselves, which primarily just consisted of the hinges. No fee was discussed or agreed upon and nothing is stated for repair fees in the lease. After the repair, the ll is now wondering if they can/should add fees for their labor.

I see no RCW saying a landlord can't make their own repairs. For WA, if it requires no license it can be any "
responsible person capable of performing the repair", so we are sure that legally no toes were stepped on in this regard (the tenant also had no issue with the ll doing the repairs themselves).

The only uncertainty we suppose is that nothing had been agreed upon for a fee so it's only after the repair was finished the ll now wants to charge.

There are RCW specifications for limits if the tenants performs the repairs due to a negligent nonresponsive landlord, but nothing saying a ll can/can't charge fees, or if they must use market estimates to create a reasonable fee, or if such fees have to be agreed upon before the repair is made. They just don't want to step on any 'legal toes' since at this point its sort of like the tenant wasn't made aware or under the impression that repairs would be more than the parts. No one wants a legal issue by ambiguously making a repair under no agreement, but then deciding to charge after going home.

[Nathan Gesner]

Originally posted by @Jason Schlieger:

And secondly, is there anything in the RCW or otherwise legally written that would say when a tenant can deny the LL the ability to make the repair? Generally, it's the LL's property so i would think the tenant has no right and no ability to determine who makes the repair if they've already gone to the landlord. In WA RCW, a tenant can make repairs that any reasonably able person can do if the LL has not done so in a timely manner. So i'm not sure a tenant can really say "sorry, LL, you're not qualified i require you find someone else".

I think you're confusing two different issues.

First, there's no law against charging someone for work. If the tenant decides to argue that he wasn't expecting to be charged, then he MAY have a legal standing since there was no verbal or written agreement. I don't anticipate this and there's not much point in worrying about it at this time. Just charge the tenant and see what he says.

Second, the Landlord should disclose up front whether or not he intends to charge and how much he will charge. This is just a common sense step taken to prevent any disagreements after the work is complete.

Third, if the work does not require a license, permit, or insurance, then there's no reason why the Landlord couldn't do the work himself to save some money or expedite the repair. And the Tenant has no legal right to say who does work on the property as long as the owner is complying with the law, codes, etc.

Finally, some states do not allow a Landlord to complete work on their own and charge the tenant, but that's specifically referring to cleaning and repairs after a tenant vacates and deductions from the deposit. The reason is that a Landlord could claim to spend 16 hours cleaning the home and then keep the entire deposit, even if the place was spotless. By using a disinterested third party, like a professional cleaning service, it reduces the likelihood of fraudulent charges by a Landlord. I'm not aware of any state that says a Landlord can't do handyman work on their property.

I hope that makes better sense.