In search of better data, Seattle plans to require landlords to report rents

Seattle landlords may possibly soon be necessary to report how substantially lease they demand — an hard work to give city officers greater data about the community housing sector that drew opposition from some house house owners.

The Seattle City Council narrowly accredited a monthly bill Tuesday to involve landlords to twice a year report the lease and other charges they demand for each and every rental, plus other information such as sq. footage, range of bedrooms and bathrooms, and whether or not the household or condominium is occupied.

The invoice now goes to the mayor for his signature.

Less than the proposal, sponsored by Councilmember Alex Pedersen, landlords would report the knowledge to a analysis university but to be chosen by the town. They would not report the names of their tenants. 

The requirement would choose impact following the city contracted with a university to examine the data. Knowledge collection is not possible to get started until eventually next year, and the monthly bill would sunset by the conclusion of 2025.

Nowadays, rental facts will come from a patchwork of typically non-public resources.

Companies this kind of as Condominium Record and CoStar track the charges of new leases, which are ordinarily better than what tenants pay back when they keep in just one rental for a though. The census collects some facts, but release of that info lags.

The Washington Middle for True Estate Exploration surveys rents in Washington counties but does not collect thorough information and facts especially about Seattle. A private corporation, Dupre + Scott, gathered lease information and facts from local landlords for decades but shut in 2017. 

Council users available different factors for wanting the data, from guarding towards displacement of low-revenue tenants to creating the circumstance for extra inexpensive housing.

Pedersen hinted at applying the info to suppress new improvement.

The town lacks info about “nonsubsidized housing that takes place to have underneath-market place rents or much more affordable rents,” Pedersen explained in the course of a recent committee meeting.

“We don’t know specifically wherever that housing is and we will need to know that as we make conclusions this kind of as updating our Extensive Plan,” he reported, referring to the city’s 20-yr scheduling doc that influences wherever the metropolis permits denser housing and other progress.

Councilmember Tammy Morales mentioned the information would help the metropolis track how rents are climbing. 

That would “allow us to get a superior perception of actually how significant the will need is for far more residences that are additional reasonably priced,” she reported earlier this thirty day period.

An modification sponsored by Morales and passed by the council reported the info landlords submit to the college “should be produced available to the public.”

Testifying right before the council, landlords mentioned the invoice would demand them to reveal private business enterprise information and facts and could lead to home owners choosing to promote their rentals.

“We are offering a dwindling number of Seattle’s very affordable lacking center rental housing selections, nevertheless Council carries on to exclude us,” Ballard landlord Angie Gerrald reported.

Daniel Bannon, an organizer at the Rental Housing Affiliation of Washington, claimed the need is an “unnecessary burden” and the group is “concerned the information will be used to drive an anti-density agenda.”

But tenant advocates say the details is simple.

Devin Glaser, an attorney at the Tenant Law Middle, claimed he commonly hears from tenants who just cannot afford to pay for rent boosts and confront shedding their households. Glaser named the proposal a “very commonsense” move and said opponents have been crying “crocodile tears.” 

“They can afford to pay for to give you some data,” Glaser claimed.

It is not yet very clear which college the town will select or how a lot that may perhaps value.

The council passed the invoice 5-4. Councilmembers Teresa Mosqueda, Dan Strauss, Sara Nelson and Debora Juarez voted no. Juarez and Mosqueda cited the unclear price of the proposal, among other fears.

The need to have for superior rental details is a persistent trouble.

“This is throughout metropolitan areas during the state. No a single truly has this information unless of course they do a person-off surveys,” said James Younger, director of the Washington Heart for Real Estate Exploration at the University of Washington. 

But Younger questioned no matter if the proposal would produce correct info. In purchase to guarantee the facts landlords report is precise, researchers would will need to be equipped to audit the info. In a necessary application, Young argues that could entail college researchers in the city’s enforcement approach.

“Is the university heading to flip in individuals they know are landlords who don’t report? I can not see the university accomplishing that,” Young said. 

However, he claimed, “Everybody demands far more data. There’s no question.”

Actual charges for the system are not nevertheless very clear.

Quite a few town departments that could be concerned in the new effort mentioned implementing the rule would involve more staff members.

The cost for a college to set up and administer the plan “will be rather comparable” to the city’s current rental registration system, which price tag about $5 million, wrote the Seattle Office of Construction and Inspections, Business office of Housing and Office environment of Setting up and Neighborhood Progress. Contracting with a group that presently surveys rents could lower that price, the departments wrote.

Pedersen claimed he expects the plan would value a lot less if the metropolis takes advantage of a competitive bidding course of action.

As soon as the new rule is in spot, failure to present the information could consequence in fines of $500 for the 1st violation and $1,000 for added violations in just 3 years.