Seattle might require landlords to report rents

City Council approved bill that says charges must be reported twice a year

Seattle landlords may soon be required to report how much rent they charge — an effort to give city officials better data about the local housing market that drew opposition from some property owners.

The Seattle City Council narrowly approved a bill Tuesday to require landlords to twice a year report the rent and other fees they charge for each rental, plus other details such as square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and whether the house or apartment is occupied. The bill now goes to the mayor for his signature. Under the proposal, sponsored by Councilmember Alex Pedersen, landlords would report the data to a research university yet to be selected by the city. They would not report the names of their tenants.

The requirement would take effect after the city contracted with a university to analyze the information. Data collection is not likely to start until next year, and the bill would sunset by the end of 2025.

Today, rental data comes from a patchwork of mostly private sources.

Companies such as Apartment List and CoStar track the costs of new leases, which are typically higher than what tenants pay when they stay in one rental for a while. The census collects some information, but release of that data lags.

The Washington Center for Real Estate Research surveys rents in Washington counties but does not collect detailed information specifically about Seattle. A private company, Dupre + Scott, collected rent information from local landlords for years but closed in 2017.

Council members offered various reasons for wanting the data, from guarding against displacement of low-income tenants to making the case for more affordable housing.

Pedersen hinted at using the information to curb new development.

The city lacks information about “nonsubsidized housing that happens to have below-market rents or more affordable rents,” Pedersen said during a recent committee meeting.

“We don’t know exactly where that housing is and we need to know that as we make decisions such as updating our Comprehensive Plan,” he said, referring to the city’s 20-year planning document that influences where the city allows denser housing and other growth.

Councilmember Tammy Morales said the data would help the city track how rents are climbing.

That would “allow us to get a better sense of really how massive the need is for more homes that are more affordable,” she said earlier this month.