Renters in Seattle apartment buildings, including those across Ballard, Queen Anne and Magnolia, who pay mandatory monthly charges for valet trash, package rooms or common-area access on top of advertised rent could see those fees disappear by next summer.

Council Bill 121254, which would ban a list of add-on rental fees and require landlords to disclose all remaining charges upfront in listings, passed the Housing, Arts, and Civil Rights Committee unanimously on Monday, Aug. 3. Committee Chair Dionne Foster presided over the hearing, which ran from 2:01 to 3 p.m.

The full Seattle City Council is scheduled to vote on the measure Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 2 p.m.

The mayor's office estimates junk fees add 10% to 30% to a renter's total monthly costs. A survey of 8,800 tenants and small landlords found the most common extra charges in Seattle are pet fees, lease-signing or admin fees and charges for common rooms or amenities.

Fifty-eight percent of Seattle renters pay fees beyond their base rent.

What gets banned

Under the bill, landlords could no longer charge tenants for use of standard in-unit appliances, access to common building areas, payment processing when paying by check or ACH, package distribution, adding or removing a roommate (excluding screening fees) or periodic pet fees. Only a standard pet damage deposit would remain.

Fees that would still be allowed include application screening fees, security deposits, pet damage deposits, late-rent fees, utility charges and key-replacement fees capped at actual cost or $50.

Enforcement teeth

The bill gives renters a private right of action: tenants could sue non-compliant landlords and recover double the unlawful fee, attorney fees and up to $4,000 in penalties for prohibited lease provisions. Multiple tenants could pursue class actions.

City Attorney Erika Evans said at the bill's July 7 announcement: "You're going to have to pay up to three times the amount of the unlawful fees you collected."

The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections would enforce the ordinance with a three-person team funded by a proposed $11-per-unit regulatory fee billed to landlords every two years. Landlords who fail to keep compliance records for three years would face a legal presumption that they violated the code.

Landlord pushback

Kevin Schilling, government affairs director for the Rental Housing Association of Washington, which represents about 6,000 property owners, argued the ban will simply raise base rents. "We're just saying every individualized service charge goes away, and we can't charge people for their individual usage of something, so it's all going to be baked into a collective fee or collective rent increase," Schilling told Seattle RED on July 10.

Mayor Katie Wilson, herself a renter, acknowledged some banned fees would likely fold into base rent but argued transparent pricing would increase competition among landlords.

What's next

If the full council approves CB 121254 on Aug. 11, the new rules would take effect July 1, 2027, giving landlords nearly a year to update leases and listing practices.

The bill follows a national wave of junk-fee crackdowns. Greystar, the country's largest apartment owner and manager, agreed to pay $24 million to resolve allegations that its advertised rents were misleading due to hidden fees in Colorado, California, Nevada and Massachusetts.

Government week ahead

Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2 p.m. — Seattle City Council full session. Vote on CB 121254, the rental junk-fee ban. This is the final legislative step before the bill goes to Mayor Wilson for signature. Watch for any floor amendments from council members representing landlord-heavy districts.