Wash. Supreme Court published opinion — 901791.pdf

Thus, unless otherwise agreed between the parties, a MHLTA lease is for one year

and automatically renews, making the lease term longer than one year and triggering

the acknowledgement requirement of RCW 59.04.01 0. This cannot have been the

intent of the legislature.

Indeed, Western Plaza's approach frustrates the legislature's intent to protect

tenants in long-term rental agreements by eviscerating the protections of the MHLTA.

Such resolution would create uncertainty for mobile home tenants in Washington

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

whose leases are similar to Tison's lea$e. Tison's lease is a standard form lease

bearing the legend "prepared for use of paid members of MHCW [(the Manufactured

Housing Communities of Washington)] by legal counsel- 1997." Clerk's Papers (CP)

at 31-32 (formatting omitted). This standard form prepared by industry counsel

includes signature blocks for landlord and tenant but not for acknowledgement. /d.

Assuming that other landlords used this form or a similar one, Western Plaza's

position would enable those landlords to assert the statute of frauds as a defense and

invalidate the lease to the detriment of tenants. We cannot reconcile this reading with

the purpose of the MHLTA.

We hold that the MHLTA statute of frauds, RCW 59.20.060, is the only

applicable statute of frauds for a manufactured/mobile home lot lease and that Tison's

lease satisfied these statutory requirements. 11

IV. The Rent Cap Provision Runs with the Land

Finally, Western Plaza argues that the rent cap provision in Tison's lease is not

enforceable against Western Plaza because it does not touch and concern the land