SEATTLE & Property Ownership

The City of Seattle contracted with the UW to study the impact of recent changes in rental ordinances. The Seattle Rental Housing Study (SRHS) was published in July 2018.  Tenants surveyed expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of the ordinances while the landlords surveyed found the ordinances highly burdensome and ineffective.  Highlights of the study follow or you can read the entire study at https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/CityAuditor/auditreports/UWSRHSFINAL.pdf.

• Legislation targeting landlords has led to, and is leading to, an increase in owners selling rental properties (40% of respondents), especially for mom-and-pop landlords (47% of respondents own/manage one unit). Every time landlords sell, rents are pushed up.

• Small rental owners charge lower rents and have more flexible screening criteria than large, corporately held rental housing.

• A large majority of rental housing owners (61%) rely upon their rental property as a long-term retirement asset or secondary source of income. Only 12.7% of respondents rely on rental income as their primary source of income.

• The large majority of landlords are not wealthy; 59% are cited as earning less than $75,000 per year. Only 8% reported incomes over $150,000 per year.

We are here to help you and your clients with all aspects of the rental market. Please contact us for further assistance. 

Nothing found herein should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a legal opinion or otherwise engage in the practice of law. You should not rely solely on this information. We encourage our clients to work with a lawyer experienced in commercial and/or residential real estate matters as they can be complicated and confusing.