Spokane Rental Housing Compliance Resources

If you own or operate rental properties in the City of Spokane, you will need to comply with the “Regulation of Residential Rental Housing” ordinance, passed by the City of Spokane City Council on Feb. 27, 2023. The ordinance itself can be viewed at this link: Spokane Municipal Code - Chapter 10.57: Regulation of Residential Rental Housing (spokanecity.org)

City of Spokane Code Enforcement staff will be implementing the property registration and inspections components of the ordinance. Other aspects of the ordinance are outside of Code Enforcement’s scope and may still be pending development by other departments. In order to comply with the business license, property registration and inspections components of the ordinance, property owners and managers will need to:

1. Obtain a business license through the Washington State Department of Revenue and the business license will need a City of Spokane endorsement.
2. Register your rental property or properties with the City of Spokane’s online portal before Dec. 31, 2023, at Accela Citizen Access (spokanepermits.org).
3. Work with Code Enforcement staff when needed to help facilitate inspections (in 2024 and in future years.)

The Spokane City website contains additional information on this new program:

Register Rental Properties Before Dec. 31 - City of Spokane, Washington (spokanecity.org)

Rental Registry FAQs (spokanecity.org)

Spokane Housing Guide

Code Enforcement - City of Spokane, Washington (spokanecity.org)

For questions on the rental property registry, email codeenforcement@spokanecity.org. For questions on obtaining a business license for operating a rental property business in the City, call the Washington State Department of Revenue at 360-705-6741 or City of Spokane Taxes and Licenses at 509-625-6070. Information about the City’s Short-term Rental monitoring program, a separate program, can be found here.