First, let me say I appreciate the Capitol Hill Seattle blog so much. I started reading it several years ago, and their piece on the rental junk fees proposal has so much more detail than I’ve seen elsewhere. Though I knew there had been stakeholders working on the proposal, it’s much more developed than I’d realized from other sources, and the presentation that went with the announcement is also included.
Seattle’s draft has a fee disclosure requirement at the beginning of the lease that is similar to Virginia’s, but it’s required to fit in two pages, so you wouldn’t be able to use a template like this one unless you delete the lines that are N/A.
It won’t be possible for landlords to charge for in-unit laundry equipment, but could tenants still rent that equipment from a third-party?
Instead of a monthly statement detailing each variable fee, I’d ask the landlords to calculate it once annually for each apartment type based on the number of bedrooms and whether it has in-unit laundry (which is why I say calendar year). I’ll have to look at the actual text of the Seattle proposal to see if I’m understanding this correctly.
I also realized that pets still won’t be allowed in all buildings, so some may have higher rent if they allow pets or a certain kind of pets, and the tranquility of other buildings shouldn’t change.
From this article, the presentation, and some of the sources linked from it, I added quite a few more items to the list, and I wouldn’t be surprised if more turn up as well. So far, the list has 128 items, though some of these are “Other” categories.
I have lots to tighten up for the proposal header and surrounding policy too. Does it make sense to exempt the mom and pop landlords? May add wording to clarify that some items may not be legal in your jurisdiction, and that this list will not be updated as the laws change (Washington’s HB-2114 failed to pass in 23-24, but it might come back). Check with our immigrant communities to see if the wording is adequate to help them understand *when* these unfamiliar fees may apply to them. Some staff time would be needed to publicize the change, but staffing for enforcement may not be necessary if tenants can use existing channels to challenge any charges that are incorrect. What scenario is envisioned for Seattle’s class action provision? Add “at cost” to the dollar value and % of rent options for expressing an amount. Add numbering so you can reference the line items which might be included in a bundle of charges. Make sure it’s clear enough whether a charge recurs monthly, is opted-into by the tenant, or is triggered by a particular condition (e.g., inspection of unit) – this might be accomplished by having a page number reference to where it can be found in the body of the lease, but then it’s not always easy to keep the cross-referencing updated with lease modifications.
With the formatting removed, here is the list I have so far:
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