Contractors Registration for Washington Flippers

Washington Flippers are currently required to be Licensed, Bonded, Insured General Contractors

In 2008, REIA officers and attorneys met with the Department of Labor & Industries and furnished position papers while REIA and many REIA Members provided public testimony opposing the requirement for flippers to become licensed and bonded general contractors. 

In spite of significant backlash, and complete inability for Self Directed IRAs to comply with the law, RCW 18.27 was amended to include flippers who intend to rehab and resell within twelve months. 

Resultantly, flippers were, and still are, forced to become contractors themselves regardless of whether a general contractor was hired for the project. 

The law remains in affect today.

Now comes Washington State House Bill 1749.  HB 1749 appears to be on the way to eliminating the requirement for a licensed, bonded general contractor - typically the investor themselves - to be on title. 

On March 30, 2015 the bill passed to the Rules Committee for a second reading.  The bill appears to be unopposed and well on its way to passage.

UPDATE:  On April 9, 2015 the bill PASSED! Since then HB 1749 has been signed by both the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate. The current requirements remain in effect for now; we have a couple more steps to go before this is law but we're almost there!

UPDATE:  On April 22, 2015 the bill was SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR!   The changes to the law take effect on 07/24/2015!  This bill DOES NOT eliminate the requirement that flippers who perform their own work or manage their own projects become licensed, bonded and insured contracts! Please review the related laws and consult with the attorney on your team.

While many of us have dutifully licensed to necessarily comply with the law, Contractors Registration for flippers is an extra layer of, in our opinion, unnecessary cost that we would all like to see eliminated.  Links to learn about the current and "new" law follow.

Related links:

Comment on SHB 1749

RCW 18.27 - Registration of Contractors

Dept of Labor & Industries information page including FAQs*

*Issued when the law changed, the flyer information remains in affect