The State of Washington recently passed a serious update to the 1989 Washington Condominium Act and subsequent law surrounding it. This new legislation takes effect on July 28 of this year. The new law or revisions to existing law depending on how you look at it, focuses on the broad legal language used in the past. It is designed to eliminate some of the frivolous suits brought against builders without destroying the basic safety net of law protecting condo owners when a project has serious flaws.
The language is the key. Prior to this new legislation, it was too easy to open suit for simple problems and now the state has used more clarifying language to identify serious issues rather than trivial ones. This new law should bode well for developers planning high-rise projects on Vancouver's amazing waterfront.
The real problem with all these stupid suits is the fact that they can take years to conclude and during that time units often become unfinancable leading to homeowners struggling to sell or refinance their units. Many condo owners over the years have been trapped during lengthy litigation. The revisions to Washington State law are intended to minimize these so that trivial suits are no longer filed against.
Let the construction begin...
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