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106 stories matching tenant
- Fire and Rent
A judge rules against tenants whose homes burned down, sparking an uproar in the jury box.
- The Great Rent Refund Fight
A landmark Seattle court case establishes a precedent for tenants demanding rent back after their buildings are destroyed.
- The House on J Street: A Tenant’s Defiance
When Milton Spinning bought a house in Seattle for his own use, he didn't expect to find a stranger occupying it against his will.
- The Tenant Who Found Her English in Court
A South Seattle rent quarrel ends in police court, where a tenant who needed an interpreter suddenly answers the judge in perfect English.
- The Looming Threat of Tenant Farming
Professor O. L. Waller warns that as land prices soar, young farmers will be unable to afford to buy their own acreage, potentially leading to a new era of landlord-tenant agriculture.
- The Siege of Third Street
When tenants refused to vacate their boarding house, a Seattle landlord responded by nailing the gates shut and mounting a guard.
- The Siege of the 'Tenement of Terror'
When bailiffs arrived at a Seattle boarding house to evict residents, they were met with a barricaded door, a hail of rocks, and a community standing their ground.
- The Fight for the Future of Washington's Soil
An 1877 editorial warns against the 'monster evil' of land monopoly, arguing that preventing a feudal system of landlord-tenant reliance is the only way to ensure the new state's future liberties.
- The Drain Detectives
A warning to tenants: sewer gas is a hidden killer, and your landlord’s thrift might be costing you your health.
- Rents Jump Twice in One Year on Hewitt Avenue
Mill hands in 1920 watched their rent climb faster than their wages — and the landlords' explanation will sound very familiar.
- City Hall Turns Landlord on the Tideflats
Tacoma assumes control of former Northern Pacific Railway properties and begins collecting rent.
- The Court House Conflict
King County officials struggle to seize property for the new courthouse as tenants refuse to vacate.
- The Unintended Boarding House Scandal
A Seattle property owner finds themselves in court after leasing a building to tenants who turned the premises into a 'disorderly house,' sparking a legal debate over landlord responsibility.
- The Racialized Panic Over Real Estate
A reprint from the San Francisco Chronicle warns Seattle property owners against renting to the Chinese, using inflammatory rhetoric about declining property values.
- The landlord's dilemma when the building burns
Legal experts debate whether tenants are entitled to a rent refund when their rented rooms are destroyed by fire mid-month.
- Justice Humphrey Settles a Rental Fraud
A tenant accused of forging receipts to avoid paying rent to her landlord is ordered to pay up after the court rejects her falsified documents.
- The Failed Insurance Fire
A tenant narrowly escapes a fire set by an arsonist owner who couldn't collect insurance on an empty house.
- The Railroad Came for the Tenant Farmers
A Washington Supreme Court ruling in Seattle said a railroad owed a tenant for the leasehold, crops and buildings its tracks destroyed—not just the landlord for the dirt.
- Seattle’s Irish Community Rallies Against Landlordism
A historic convention of the Irish National Land League in Seattle condemns the 'piratical' land system of Ireland and vows financial and moral support to struggling tenant farmers facing eviction.
- The Building Boom vs. The Tenant's Plight
Seattle pioneer H. L. Yesler contemplates clearing his property on Mill Street, leaving local business owners scrambling for space as he pivots to ambitious new construction.
- The 'Curse' of the Chinese: How Seattle's Elite Tried to Buy Their Way Out of Racism
In May 1882, a local editorial argued that property owners should refuse to rent or sell land to Chinese immigrants, claiming they were bad tenants and a financial drain on the city.
- The Landlady of Cherry Street
A Seattle lodging house keeper is hauled into court after an altercation with a troublesome tenant—a minor dispute that reveals the grit of a changing city.
- A Rent Dispute Turns Violent in the Alley
When a tenant in a Main Street lodging house couldn't pay his $24 debt, his landlord was attacked with a knife.
- The False Alarm That Struck Fear in a Seattle Neighborhood
A frame building caught fire at the corner of 31st Avenue and Cherry Street, sparking fears that victims were trapped inside.
- Seattle's Public Library Dreams Put on Hold
After clearing the site of previous tenants, city officials stall on the construction of a new permanent home for the public library, leaving the project in limbo.
Also about this, in other words
- A Tenant, a Beam, and a Broken Window: Seattle's Rent Fight Turns Into a Siege
When a landlord tried to move a renter out on Chestnut Street, the dispute ended with a warrant read through a window and a defiant Joyce holding the fort.
- The Brutal Reality of Convict Leasing in the Washington Territory
A scathing look at the state's profit-driven 'convict lease' system, where human beings were treated as disposable capital and exploited for labor with zero accountability for their survival.
- The Rent Was Due: A 15-Year Lease and a $3,886 Bill
Sarah Woodward, executor of Henry S. Woodward’s estate, sued Gustave Winehill over a Maynard’s Plat lease—asking for back rent, double rent and possession of the property.
- A Tenant's Barn, a Landlord's Lot, and a Judge's Line
Judge Robinson ruled that a contractor's lien for an unpaid Olympia livery stable could reach the building and leasehold—but not the owner's land.
- The Landlord's Coup: A Woman’s Restaurant Seized by Force
In a bold display of property rights and gender dynamics in 1888 Seattle, Mrs. Mary Ostedberg took to the justice court after William Brown forcibly evicted her from the St. Elmo restaurant she had leased.