Egress windows for rentals

[Account Closed]

I am looking into purchasing my first rental property in Spokane, WA. One of the properties I am looking at has a studio in the basement and the basement window is not egress. Is this a legal issue that needs to be addressed by the seller or myself or am I not legally liable to make it egress? Thanks in advance.

[Scott Ellis]

@Patrick Liska, I think we're on the same page here.  I should have emphasized enlarging the doorway as well.  Like, by four feet or so.  The original post states it's a studio.  I understand studios to mean the bedroom, kitchen and living room are all contained in one room. If there's a door to outside and the unit is a studio, that should meet safety requirements.  

Our own house has a long narrow living room with a door to the outside in the basement.  When we were considering turning it into a studio, our inspector stated that we could build a partial wall to give some privacy and create a sleeping area in the back and the door would still act as the official fire escape. 

Eventually, we decided to build out a separate bedroom and we did cut out an egress.

In this case, we don't have a lot of details from Noel to totally know what we're dealing with down there.