HB 1217 (Statewide Rent Control) Passes Senate Floor Vote

WA Senate Passes HB 1217, Adopts New Amendements

The Washington State Senate passed HB 1217 (statewide rent stabilization) this afternoon. The bill will now head back to the State House for a concurrence vote. If HB 1217 passes the concurrence vote, it will need to collect a signature from the governor, after which it would immediately become law due to the emergency clause.

New amendments adopted on the Senate floor have significantly changed the bill. The bill now has the following provisions:

• Emergency Clause: becomes law immediately when signed by Governor
• Limits rent increases to 10% + inflation (CPI) during any 12-month period
  • Landlord can still increase rent by any amount after a tenant vacates the dwelling unit and the tenancy ends.
• Prohibits a landlord from charging a tenant more than a 5% difference in rent on month-to-month leases over fixed term leases
• Requires landlords to provide tenants with a minimum of 90 days' written notice before the effective date of any rent increase
  • Creates a new required landlord for the rent increase notice
• Prohibits landlords from reporting tenants to a tenant screening service provider for failure to pay the portion of the tenant's rent that was unlawfully increased
• Requires a tenant to offer a landlord an opportunity to cure an unauthorized rent increase with a written demand
• Tenant may break the lease with no penalty by giving 20 days' notice after receiving a rent increase that exceeds the cap
• A tenant who terminates a rental agreement under the bill owes rent for the full month in which the tenant vacates the unit
• A tenant or the Attorney General may bring an action in court to enforce compliance with the bill. Requires a court to award certain damages and reasonable attorneys' fees and costs to the tenant if the court finds that a landlord violated the bill.
• Increases the exemption for new construction from 12 years to 15 years
• Removed the Consumer Protection Act requirement
• Allows residents to opt-in to electronic notice
• Removed the cap on security deposit/move-in fees and late fees
• The sunset term for this bill has been shortened to 15 years
• Exemptions for:
  • Single-family homes with no corporate ownership
  • Owner-occupied duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes

Check out the HB 1217 Timeline.