Washington State and City governments continue to make it harder and harder to be a landlord.
A new city ordinance was introduced that requires landlords to give renters a minimum of 180 days notice when increasing rent, even if only catching up to market rates. At present, landlords are required to give tenants 60 days notice when rent is expected to go up, as is the case in many other jurisdictions. Tenants rights advocates believe that this is not enough time.
The new ordinance was proposed Councilmember Paul Dillon.
“We all know that if rent does increase, and you’re in a position where you have to move and look for new housing, this will give more time to find new housing,” he said.
Spokane has had a housing shortage, partially due to work-from-home workers moving in from higher priced parts of the state during the height of the pandemic. Spokane needs to add roughly 3,000 new housing units a year to keep up with current demand, but only building around 1,500 are being built each year.
The ordinance doesn’t consider that markets can, and do, change. It is difficult to anticipate costs that far in advance. Landlords will have to plan for the worst, possibly resulting in higher increases than would otherwise have happened.
If the ordinance is approved, it could go into effect as early as June 1.
How many will sell and buy in other states as it becomes more onerous to be a landlord in Washington State? Particularly with Idaho right next door…