Wash. Supreme Court published opinion — 901791.pdf

RCW 59.20.090(1 ). In the absence of a written agreement, an unwritten term is

deemed to be for one year and is automatically renewed, at the option of the tenant,

for one year on the anniversary of the tenancy. Gillette, 68 Wn. App. at 842 (citing

RCW 59.20.090(1 )). In short, the MHLTAcreates the presumption of a multiyear lease.

13
             
Western Plaza, LLC v. Tison, No. 90179-1

As these provisions show, the purpose of the MHLTA was to encourage long-

term leases of at least a year or even longer.. But Western Plaza ignores the

differences between the two statutory schemes and simply urges us to apply the

general statute of frauds to the MHLTA. Under this analysis, any lease running for

more than one year would have to be acknowledged. Requiring acknowledgment

does not advance the legislature's intent to protect tenants through long-term leases-

it is instead an additional burden that strips away the protections the legislature crafted

for mobile home lot tenants.

Worse yet, applying the general tenancy statute of frauds, RCW 59.04.01 0, to

the MHLTA leads to the conclusion that every MHLTA lease must be acknowledged

unless the parties to the lease have agreed in writing to different terms. This result

follows from RCW 59.20.090, which provides that every MHLTA lease is for one year

unless otherwise specified and that every lease automatically renews unless a party

exercises the right to terminate in terms consistent with the MHLTA. Under

Washington law, any automatic lease renewal must be added to the term of the lease

for determining compliance with the statute of frauds. Danielsen, 24. Wn.2d at 85.