"Maintenance and Repair" Clause Legal?

Landlords tend to get their leases from real estate agents, not lawyers. And as everybody learned in High School business law, if you sign a contract, you are held to that contract. There is a huge exemption to that general rule in WA residential tenancies. The statute always trumps the contract. See RCW 59 18 230. You as a tenant are under no obligation to perform maintenance on the property you rent. If you break something, fix it. But if it quits working, your obligation is to tell your landlord in writing. Yes, there is a sub-statute that discusses doing repairs and deducting the cost from your rent, but you have to read and follow the entire section or risk getting evicted. Also? Even if the lease says you have to clean the roof and/or the gutters, don't. More people get hurt that way than you can imagine and there is no worker's comp for a tenant. Elizabeth Powell