A landlord can follow the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act to the letter and still be out of compliance the moment a unit falls inside Seattle, Tacoma, or Burien. State law sets a floor, not a ceiling, and several Washington cities have built well above it. Owners who bring compliance questions to Ken Miller & Associates, PLLC usually are not careless. They learned one set of rules and never found out that a second set applied to the same property.
Can a city impose stricter landlord rules than Washington state law?
Yes, in most areas. Washington cities have police power under Article XI, Section 11 of the state constitution to regulate for health and safety, and a local ordinance stands unless it conflicts with state law or the Legislature has preempted the field. Rent control is the clearest preempted field. RCW 35.21.830 bars cities, towns, and counties from regulating the amount of rent charged for private residential housing.
That restriction shaped everything local governments have done since. Unable to cap rent directly, cities regulate the events around it: notice periods, relocation payments, screening, and inspections.
Statewide, HB 1217 (2025) capped most annual residential rent increases at 7 percent plus CPI or 10 percent, whichever is lower, and set a 90-day written notice requirement. Buildings that received a certificate of occupancy within the past 12 years are exempt. The local preemption stayed in place, so cities still cannot set their own caps.
Where a state rule and a local rule both apply, follow the stricter one.
What does Seattle require that state law does not?
Registration, inspection, and building condition
Seattle’s Rental Registration and Inspection Ordinance (SMC 22.214) requires nearly every rental unit in the city to be registered with the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections. Registration runs on a five-year cycle, and each registered property must have units inspected by a qualified inspector at least once every ten years. Renting an unregistered unit is a code violation and can complicate enforcement of the tenancy itself.
Pest control splits the same way. Under Seattle’s Housing and Building Maintenance Code, the owner of a building with two or more dwelling units is responsible for extermination and for keeping the structure rodent and insect resistant. State law leaves more room to argue about who caused an infestation. In a Seattle duplex, that argument largely disappears.
Notice, screening, and money
Seattle requires 180 days’ written notice for any rent increase, double the state’s 90. Where increases total 10 percent or more in a 12-month period, the city’s Economic Displacement Relocation Assistance ordinance entitles qualifying lower-income tenants who move out to a payment equal to three months’ rent.
Screening is regulated as well. The first-in-time rule requires an owner to offer tenancy to the first applicant who meets the stated criteria, upheld by the Washington Supreme Court in Yim v. City of Seattle (2019). The Fair Chance Housing ordinance restricts the use of criminal history, though federal litigation has narrowed parts of it. Move-in costs are capped: deposits, nonrefundable fees, and last month’s rent together cannot exceed one month’s rent, and tenants may pay them in installments.
Seattle’s just cause eviction ordinance predates the state version and goes further, adding a winter eviction defense between December 1 and March 1 plus school-year protections for households with children and for school employees.
Which other Washington cities have their own landlord rules?
Seattle draws the attention, but it is not alone. Tacoma voters adopted a tenant rights measure in 2023 that lengthened rent increase notice periods and expanded relocation assistance. Bellingham requires 120 days’ notice for larger increases. Burien, Federal Way, Kenmore, and Auburn have each passed tenant protection packages, and cities including Olympia and several on the Eastside run their own rental licensing or inspection programs.
These ordinances change quickly. Verify the current text in the municipal code rather than relying on a summary written two years ago.
How do landlords manage two sets of rules at once?
Build compliance around the property, not the portfolio. A few habits do most of the work:
- Keep a jurisdiction sheet for each address listing registration status, inspection due date, notice periods, and screening restrictions.
- Calendar rent increase notices to the longest applicable period, then add a buffer.
- Use city-specific lease addenda and required tenant information packets instead of a generic statewide form.
- Document screening decisions in the order applications arrive.
Where Ken Miller & Associates, PLLC fits in
Most compliance failures are timing and paperwork problems, and they surface at the worst possible moment: during an eviction, a sale, or a code enforcement complaint. Reviewing leases, notices, and registration status beforehand costs a fraction of what correcting it later does. Ken Miller & Associates, PLLC works with Washington property owners on that kind of review.
If you own rental property in a city with its own landlord rules, have your forms and notice practices checked against both the state code and the municipal code before your next renewal cycle.