Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — D2 47696-7-II Published Opinion.pdf

the lease was from January 10, 2014 to December 31, 2014. During oral argument, she stated

that the lease term was set to expire on December 31, 2014. Therefore, the trial court clearly had

no opportunity to address whether Kimbra’s lease should have ended on January 9, 2015.

In addition, Kimbra did not assign error to the trial court’s finding that the lease term

ended on December 31, 2014. And Kimbra offers no argument as to why we should consider

this issue for the first time on appeal.

We decline to consider Kimbra’s argument, raised for the first time on appeal, that

Housing Kitsap’s unlawful detainer lawsuit was premature.

D. ATTORNEY FEES

Both parties claim entitlement to attorney fees under RCW 59.18.290(2) and a provision

in their lease. “A prevailing party may recover attorney fees only if provided by statute,

agreement, or equitable principles.” Tacoma Northpark, L.L.C. v. NW, L.L.C., 123 Wn. App. 73,

84, 96 P.3d 454 (2004). The parties agree that the prevailing party on appeal is entitled to

attorney fees. Therefore, we award attorney fees to Housing Kitsap as the prevailing party in this

appeal.

CONCLUSION

We hold that under 42 U.S.C. § 1437d(l), Kimbra’s lease did not automatically renew at

the end of the lease term because Housing Kitsap had lawfully terminated the lease. Therefore,

Kimbra became a holdover tenant and Housing Kitsap could bring an unlawful detainer action

under RCW 59.12.030(1) once the lease term ended without providing notice or an opportunity

to cure.

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No. 47696-7-II

We affirm the trial court’s ruling that Kimbra was in unlawful detainer.

MAXA, A.C.J.

We concur:

WORSWICK, J.

MELNICK, J.

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