Checking on rentals: Inspections to start this month for residential properties

Erik Martin and his three roommates knew the house they rented wasn’t in pristine condition, but they never expected it to start bleeding.
Martin, a Western Washington University student, and his three roommates live in a house on State Street.
Not long after they moved in, they started noticing serious problems.
Last winter, after heavy rains, the roof began leaking, dripping reddish-brown liquid down the former chimney stack that now serves as a ventilation shaft for the house.