Any provision of a lease or other agreement, whether oral or written, whereby any section or subsection of this chapter
is waived except as provided in RCW 59.18.360 and shall be deemed against public policy and shall be unenforceable. Such unenforceability
shall not affect other provisions of the agreement which can be given effect without them.
RCW 59.18.230(1).
A very seldom used section of the Landlord-Tenant Act provides a exception to unenforceability of waivers if certain
fairly burdensome conditions are met.
A landlord and tenant may agree, in writing, to exempt themselves [from provisions of the Landlord-Tenant Act] if the
following conditions have been met:
(1) The agreement may not appear in a standard form lease or rental agreement;
(2) There is no substantial inequality in the bargaining position of the two parties;
(3) The exemption does not violate the public policy of this state in favor of the ensuring safe, and sanitary housing;
and
(4) Either the local county prosecutor's office or the consumer protection division of the attorney general's office
or the attorney for the tenant has approved in writing the application for exemption as complying with subsections (1) through
(3) of this section.
RCW 59.18.360.
