Pet rent, package delivery charges and lease renewal fees will be illegal in Seattle starting next summer.

The City Council voted Tuesday, Aug. 11, to pass the rental fee ban, according to the Seattle Times. The ordinance takes effect July 1, 2027, and applies to new leases signed after that date. It still requires Mayor Katie Wilson's signature.

For renters apartment-hunting along NW Market Street in Ballard or scanning listings on Queen Anne Ave N, the practical change is this: landlords must disclose every mandatory and optional fee in the listing itself.

Before a tenant signs anything, the landlord must hand over a two-page summary detailing rent, concessions, utilities and all fees. Monthly statements must itemize each variable charge, and that disclosure form must be updated every 12 months or whenever a fee changes.

What's banned

The law prohibits pet rent (monthly charges beyond a one-time damage deposit), mail and package delivery fees, fees for in-unit appliances, common-area access charges, payment processing fees for personal checks or money orders, fees for adding or removing a roommate (excluding screening costs) and lease renewal fees.

What landlords can still charge

Security deposits, pet damage deposits, late fees, parking, utilities billed through RUBS, application screening fees, key replacement (capped at actual cost or $50), lockout fees ($50 during business hours, $150 after hours) and bounced-check fees (capped at actual bank cost or $31).

Enforcement teeth

Violations carry $750 fines for a first offense and $1,500 for repeats. Tenants can sue for actual damages, double the unlawful fee, attorney fees and up to $4,000 in penalties.

The ordinance also allows class-action suits against landlords applying the same non-compliant policy across multiple units. City Attorney Erika Evans told KOMO News in July that her office would enforce the law, warning landlords they could pay "up to three times the amount of the unlawful fees you collected."

Landlords must retain ads, applications, signed leases and disclosure forms for three years. Failure to keep records creates a legal presumption of a violation.

The neighborhood math

Junk fees add 10% to 30% to monthly housing costs, according to a mayor's office presentation reported by The Stranger. On a $2,000 one-bedroom in Ballard, that's $200 to $600 a month in charges that were often invisible until lease-signing day.

A survey of 8,800 Seattle renters found 38% had been charged pet rent and 34% paid lease-signing or administrative fees.

The Rental Housing Association of Washington, representing 6,000 property owners, opposed the bill. General secretary Kevin Schilling told The Stranger the day before the vote that the regulations would burden small landlords: "There won't be any more local, independent owner-operator rental units because the only people who are going to be able to navigate a regulatory environment of this kind of size are going to be the big corporate, private-equity-backed people who have accountants and lawyers and legal teams."

A 2024 study cited by The Stranger comparing Seattle and other King County cities found added renter protections have not played a significant role in landlords exiting the housing market.

What's next

Wilson proposed the legislation and, as a renter herself, has called junk fees a personal issue. The Housing, Arts & Civil Rights Committee, chaired by Councilmember Dionne Foster, passed the bill unanimously on Aug. 3. Three new enforcement staff at the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections will be funded by an estimated $5.50 to $7.00 annual per-unit fee charged to landlords.

Renters with existing leases won't see changes until they sign a new agreement after July 1, 2027.