Seattle property owners will soon have a new set of rules to consider when advertising rentals, signing leases, charging resident fees, and maintaining rental records.
The Seattle City Council has approved Council Bill 121254, commonly referred to as the City’s rental “junk fee” legislation. The proposal was originally introduced by Mayor Katie Wilson and sponsored in Council by Councilmember Dionne Foster. Its purpose is to make the total cost of renting a home more visible before a renter signs a lease while limiting fees the City considers unfair or excessive.
For landlords, the important point is that this is not simply a ban on every fee beyond rent.
The legislation creates a much more specific framework around which fees can be charged, which fees cannot be charged, how optional services must work, and how all rental costs must be disclosed to prospective and existing residents.
The core provisions are scheduled to take effect July 1, 2027, giving housing providers time to review their leases, advertising practices, resident benefit programs, third-party services, and accounting systems.
Publication note: At the time this article was prepared, the Seattle City Clerk’s online legislative record had not yet posted the final signed ordinance or an integrated version reflecting all Council amendments. The details below are based on the official text of CB 121254 and publicly available committee materials. Property owners should confirm the final ordinance and forthcoming City guidance before making compliance decisions.
What Is Seattle’s “No Junk Fees” Ordinance?
The term “junk fee” is being used by City officials to describe rental charges that may be difficult for prospective tenants to anticipate when comparing properties or that are added on top of advertised rent for services residents may not have meaningfully chosen.
The City’s proposal focuses on two major ideas:
- First, renters should be able to see the full expected cost of a rental before signing.
- Second, landlords should only charge fees specifically permitted by Seattle or Washington law, along with qualifying optional services that residents affirmatively choose.
Seattle officials have argued that a lower advertised base rent can make a property appear less expensive even when mandatory monthly charges substantially increase the actual cost. The bill’s legislative findings cite research indicating that renter fees can meaningfully increase total housing costs and say the new rules are intended to create a more consistent “all-in” comparison between rental properties.
That means the biggest practical change may be less about the phrase “junk fees” itself and more about total-price transparency.
What Will Seattle Landlords Have to Disclose?
For rental agreements and renewals entered into after July 1, 2027, CB 121254 requires landlords to disclose considerably more pricing information upfront.
The disclosure must identify the monthly rent, discounts or concessions, utilities the resident is responsible for, utilities included in rent, all mandatory and optional fees, and the total monthly cost of the home. If some expenses vary, the landlord may provide an average or estimated total.
This information must appear in the rental process much earlier than the lease-signing stage.
The bill requires disclosure in:
Rental advertisements, rental listings, rental applications, and a conspicuous disclosure placed before the first page of the rental agreement. The lease disclosure itself may be no longer than two pages.
For an online listing where space limitations make the complete disclosure impractical, the landlord may instead use an obvious hyperlink that takes the renter directly to the required fee information.
This could have a significant impact on how Seattle rental listings are built.
Instead of advertising: Rent: $2,500/month
and revealing mandatory recurring charges later, housing providers may need to show enough information for a renter to understand what the home is realistically expected to cost each month.
What About Fees That Change Every Month?
The legislation specifically addresses variable fees, meaning periodic charges whose amount changes according to predetermined conditions.
Landlords would generally need to disclose the average monthly amount charged during the previous 12 months. If historical information is unavailable, such as for a new building, an estimate may be provided as long as it is clearly identified as an estimate.
Residents must also receive a clear monthly statement showing each variable fee.
Additionally, landlords would need to provide an updated fee disclosure every 12 months, with some exceptions for longer formally executed leases, and whenever a non-variable fee changes.
The City is expected to create a model disclosure form, although landlords would not be required to use the City’s exact form as long as their own disclosure complies with the ordinance.
Does Seattle’s Ordinance Ban All Rental Fees?
No.
This is one of the most important distinctions for property owners.
CB 121254 specifically preserves several categories of charges already authorized under Seattle or Washington law while restricting other fees. It also allows certain genuinely optional goods and services when specific requirements are met.
Here is how the currently published bill text generally breaks down:
| Fee or Charge | Treatment Under CB 121254 |
|---|---|
| Late rent fee | Permitted, subject to Seattle’s existing rules |
| Security deposit | Permitted under existing limits |
| Nonrefundable move-in fees | Permitted under existing limits |
| Tenant screening fee | Permitted under applicable law |
| Pet damage deposit | Permitted |
| Utility charges | Permitted when compliant with Seattle utility billing rules |
| Replacement key | Permitted up to the lesser of actual cost or $50 |
| Tenant-caused lockout | Limited to $50 during specified weekday hours or $150 outside those hours; no fee if the landlord is already at the property |
| Returned payment / insufficient funds | Limited to the lesser of the landlord’s actual financial-institution cost or $31 |
| Tenant-caused property damage | Reimbursement may be charged where permitted by state law |
| Default or abandonment liability | Permitted under state law, but the bill says an additional lease-break fee may not be assessed |
| Optional goods and services | Potentially permitted if properly disclosed, affirmatively selected, and capable of being cancelled without penalty |
| General access to common areas | Prohibited as a separate optional fee, with an exception for temporary exclusive use such as private clubhouse rental |
| Fee to pay by personal check, money order, cashier’s check or ACH | Prohibited |
| Package, mail collection or mailbox-access fee | Prohibited |
| Fee for landlord duties already required by housing law | Prohibited |
| Fee simply to add or remove a resident from a lease | Prohibited, although lawful screening charges may still apply |
| Pet fees beyond a permitted pet damage deposit | Prohibited under the currently published bill language |
| Certain landlord-provided insurance charges | Restricted and only potentially allowed when they meet the optional-service requirements and additional insurance disclosures |
This structure is important because Seattle is moving toward what is essentially a permitted-fee framework. The bill states that mandatory or optional fees not authorized by Seattle Municipal Code Chapters 7.24 or 7.25, or Washington’s Residential Landlord-Tenant Act, are considered unfair or excessive. An otherwise permitted fee can also become prohibited if it was not properly disclosed.
Could Seattle Pet Rent Be Going Away?
This may be one of the most noticeable changes for both landlords and renters.
Under Seattle’s current rules, landlords may charge pet rent. Nonrefundable pet fees are already prohibited, while a refundable pet damage deposit is allowed and generally capped at 25% of the first full month’s rent.
CB 121254, however, says a landlord may not charge a fee associated with keeping a pet other than the permitted pet damage deposit, whether that charge is imposed once or periodically.
If that language remains unchanged in the final signed ordinance, recurring pet rent would no longer be permitted for rental agreements and renewals subject to the new law after July 1, 2027.
Because the City Clerk had not yet posted the integrated final Council text when this article was prepared, this is one provision landlords should verify again once the signed ordinance is available.
What Happens to Resident Benefit Packages and Other Bundled Services?
This is another area Seattle property owners and property managers should pay close attention to.
The bill allows fees for an optional good or service only when the service is clearly identified as optional, the resident affirmatively opts in in writing, the resident is told how to opt out, and the resident can discontinue the service without penalty or cost. If a third party provides the service, the amount charged to the resident generally cannot exceed the landlord’s actual cost.
One proposed Council amendment also addressed bundled optional services, requiring individual components to be available separately rather than forcing residents to purchase the entire bundle. The amendment specifically used a cable-and-internet package as an example.
Because the final integrated ordinance had not yet been posted at the time of our review, housing providers using technology fees, resident benefit packages, bundled services, insurance products, or similar programs should review the final adopted language carefully before 2027.
Seattle Already Regulates Several Rental Fees
The new ordinance does not start from a blank slate.
Seattle already has some of the most detailed rental fee regulations in Washington.
For example, the City currently limits a late rent fee to $10 per month and prohibits landlords from charging residents for issuing certain notices.
Seattle also regulates move-in costs. Under current rules, the combined security deposit and nonrefundable move-in fees generally cannot exceed one month’s rent.
Nonrefundable move-in fees are limited to tenant screening and cleaning, and Seattle provides residents with installment-payment rights for many move-in costs.
CB 121254 builds on those existing rules rather than replacing them entirely.
For landlords, that means compliance will require understanding both the new fee restrictions and the regulations already in place.
What Changes for Rental Advertising?
This could be one of the biggest operational changes for individual landlords and professional managers.
The law is designed to move fee disclosure to the beginning of the renter’s search, rather than allowing important charges to appear for the first time in a lease or addendum.
That means housing providers should expect to review:
rental listing templates, website property pages, syndication feeds, rental applications, leasing software, pricing disclosures, lease templates, and third-party service agreements.
The online-listing provision is particularly important for properties advertised across multiple websites. The bill allows a direct disclosure link where a platform’s space limitations make full disclosure impractical, but the link must be obvious and take the renter directly to the required information.
For property managers operating at scale, this will likely require more than changing a paragraph in the lease. It may require changes throughout the entire leasing workflow.
What Happens to Existing Seattle Leases?
The fee disclosure and permitted-fee sections are written to apply to a rental agreement or renewal entered into after July 1, 2027.
That wording is important.
For an existing tenancy, the first major compliance point may therefore arise when the agreement is renewed after the effective date.
Property owners should not interpret the delayed implementation date as a reason to wait until summer 2027.
Any lease addenda, recurring charges, vendor arrangements, or software systems that will continue into future renewals should be reviewed well in advance.
Landlords Will Have New Recordkeeping Responsibilities
The legislation also adds a substantial record-retention requirement.
Landlords would need to retain documentation showing compliance for three years, including rental advertisements, listings and applications, offered and executed leases and renewals, fee disclosures, variable-fee statements, rent and fee records, and third-party vendor receipts.
The recordkeeping provision carries real consequences.
If required records are not maintained, the bill creates a rebuttable presumption that the landlord violated the rental regulations for the affected periods and residents.
For small landlords who currently rely on emails, spreadsheets, text messages, or multiple vendor portals, this may be an important reason to create a more formal documentation system.
What Are the Penalties for Violating Seattle’s Rental Fee Rules?
CB 121254 significantly expands enforcement.
The legislation authorizes the City to investigate alleged violations not only at an individual-property level but also on a building-wide or company-wide basis.
Investigators could request records and written responses, and the legislation creates a subpoena process for relevant documents and testimony.
The currently published bill increases citation penalties to $750 for a first violation and $1,500 for subsequent violations within a five-year period, with a $5,000 penalty for prohibited retaliation. Those amounts are scheduled to begin annual inflation adjustments in 2028.
For prohibited fees, administrative remedies can include reimbursement of the fee plus interest and an additional amount equal to twice the prohibited fee.
The bill also expands residents’ ability to bring civil claims. Depending on the violation, remedies can include actual damages, multiples of prohibited charges or applicable penalties, and reasonable attorney fees and costs. Including prohibited provisions in a new or renewed rental agreement can also carry separate civil exposure.
For owners, the practical lesson is straightforward: fee compliance will become a meaningful risk-management issue, not simply an administrative detail.
Why Did Seattle Pursue the Ordinance?
City leaders have framed the measure primarily as a transparency and affordability policy.
The legislative findings cite Seattle’s large number of rent-burdened households and research suggesting that additional rental fees can materially increase a household’s actual monthly housing expense. The City argues that upfront disclosure will also make it easier for residents to compare properties based on their true cost rather than advertised base rent alone.
Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans has said the proposal was not intended to target housing providers already operating fairly and transparently.
Housing-provider advocates, however, have raised concerns about unintended consequences.
The Rental Housing Association of Washington argued during debate over the proposal that preventing separate charges for things such as pets or amenities could cause some landlords to incorporate those costs into base rent or discontinue services. The organization also expressed concern that smaller housing providers could face disproportionate compliance burdens compared with large institutional operators.
Those two perspectives help explain why this legislation matters beyond simply labeling certain charges as “junk fees.”
The policy debate is ultimately about how rental costs should be structured, disclosed, and allocated between residents.
What Should Seattle Landlords Do Now?
The July 2027 effective date gives owners time, but the scope of the changes makes early preparation worthwhile.
A practical first step is to conduct a complete audit of every amount a resident can be charged beyond base rent. That includes charges appearing in the lease, addenda, resident portals, utility agreements, pet policies, third-party programs, renewals, move-in procedures, and property advertisements.
From there, owners should determine whether each charge is specifically authorized, genuinely optional, properly disclosed, supported by documentation, and compatible with the final ordinance.
Particular attention should be paid to recurring pet charges, resident benefit or technology packages, payment-processing fees, amenity charges, package services, insurance products, lease-change charges, and third-party services because those areas intersect directly with provisions contained in CB 121254.
Landlords should also prepare for the operational side of the law: creating total-cost disclosures, updating listing templates, preserving three years of records, producing monthly variable-fee statements where necessary, and training anyone involved in leasing or resident communication.
Finally, watch for the final signed ordinance, SDCI implementation guidance, Director’s Rules, and the City’s model fee disclosure form before the July 1, 2027 compliance date. The legislation expressly authorizes additional rules and directs the City to develop a model disclosure.
The Bottom Line for Seattle Rental Property Owners
Seattle’s new rental fee rules represent more than another required lease disclosure.
They could change how properties are advertised, which recurring charges are permitted, how optional services are offered, how fees are documented, and how landlords demonstrate compliance when questions arise.
The good news is that the ordinance is structured with a long implementation period before July 1, 2027.
Property owners should use that time to understand the final rules and make deliberate changes rather than waiting until the first lease renewal after the deadline.
At SJA Property Management, we’ll continue monitoring Seattle’s rental regulations as the final ordinance, implementation guidance, and required forms become available.
Own a rental property in Seattle and want help navigating the changing regulatory environment? Contact SJA Property Management to speak with our local team about your property and management strategy.
This article is provided for general educational purposes and is not legal advice. Rental laws and implementation guidance can change. Property owners should review the final signed ordinance, consult applicable City guidance, and seek legal advice when appropriate.
