Kenmore City Council caps move-in fees, mandates more notice for rent increases

A major lease improve can be a tough punch to choose. Now a suburb north of Seattle is making an attempt to soften the blow for some tenants.

Kenmore will demand landlords to deliver for a longer period observe for some lease hikes while also capping move-in and late-lease costs. Authentic estate interests questioned Monday’s moves by the Metropolis Council, though proponents claimed they had been wanted to aid hard cash-strapped tenants get by.

Positioned concerning Seattle and the Eastside, the city has witnessed its housing current market arrive underneath tension as expenses have risen across the location. Other suburbs are thinking of comparable measures as families grapple with lease will increase and inflation while hoping to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under Kenmore’s new legislation, the mixture of shift-in service fees and security deposits will be constrained to the equal of one month’s hire, and tenants will have the suitable to pay out in installments (six regular monthly installments for tenants with leases lasting at the very least six months).

Late charges will be confined to 1.5% of a single month’s hire. Landlords will be necessary to present 120 days’ recognize for hire hikes previously mentioned 3% and 180 days’ see for hikes higher than 10%.

The Metropolitan King County Council enacted equivalent protections previous calendar year in the county’s unincorporated locations, like Skyway and White Centre. Seattle has adopted this sort of legal guidelines in modern a long time, as very well.

There are some discrepancies, nonetheless. For case in point, the necessary recognize for rent increases is 60 days statewide, 120 times in unincorporated King County for raises over 3% and 180 times in Seattle.

Proponents mentioned hire increases and moving charges can push reduced-money tenants into debt or homelessness. Acquiring a new place to reside and coming up with ample money to shift can choose fairly a when, in particular when proximity to positions and kid care subject.

“This would give people time to essentially get the job done out how to do that,” Kenmore resident Monique Gallant mentioned all through community remarks in Monday’s meeting.

Opponents like the Seattle King County Realtors mentioned the variations, to the extent that they push up expenditures for landlords, could end result in better rents and less housing selections.

“This is a company, not a hobby,” Deb Wingert, who with her partner rents out half the Kenmore duplex wherever they are living, claimed in an interview Tuesday. “The funds has to arrive from someplace.”

Monday’s night vote was 5-2, with the tenant protections supported by Mayor Nigel Herbig, Deputy Mayor Melanie O’Cain and Councilmembers Corina Pfeil, Angela Kugler and Debra Srebnik. Councilmembers Joe Marshall and David Baker voted towards the alterations just after in search of unsuccessfully to exempt landlords with less than 4 housing units.

“Small landlords can be in difficulties and on the edge, as very well,” claimed Marshall, who disclosed that he owns two rentals with his siblings.

In an interview Tuesday, Herbig countered, “Renters should not reduce legal rights based mostly on how a lot of properties a landlord owns.”

Pfeil, who has described her individual troubles making rent as a tenant in Kenmore, explained Monday’s vote as “a really good start out.” Later on this yr, the council will talk about other probable adjustments, such as a relocation assistance necessity for financial evictions.