Seattle’s rental add-on fee ban: what changes July 1, 2027 (and what doesn’t)

Applies only to Seattle rental agreements starting on or after July 1, 2027.

If your rental is outside Seattle city limits (Bellevue, Kirkland, Renton, Everett, unincorporated Snohomish, etc.), you can stop here.

If the house is in Seattle, you do not have to rip pet rent out of the lease this week. On August 11, the City Council passed a fee ordinance 8–0. One councilmember (Maritza Rivera) recused herself because she owns a rental. The new rules attach to rental agreements that start on or after July 1, 2027. Until then, pet rent is still legal.

What actually changed

Seattle is tired of listings that say $2,200 and a lease that says $2,200 plus package, plus admin, plus the dog. After July 2027, most of those add-ons are out. The city published a short list of what you may still charge. If a fee is not on that list, treat it as gone on new Seattle agreements.

The ones owners ask about first:

  • Pet rent goes away on those new agreements. A pet damage deposit can stay.
  • You cannot charge someone just to get their mail or use the building’s ordinary common areas.
  • Admin and “technology” fees are on the chopping block. So is a separate fee just to add or remove a roommate — screening, when it is allowed, is different.
  • Listings have to show the real monthly number: rent, fees, utilities, concessions, and what it usually costs in a month. The ad and the lease have to match.

Screening fees are a good example of why this isn’t a one-pager. The city’s short permitted-fees list on Renting in Seattle does not name them, but the ordinance and contemporaneous reporting (KIRO, RHAWA) treat them as still allowed when they meet existing rules. That’s a counsel question, not a blog guess.

What we are not going to do in this post

We are not going to walk every dollar cap, every lockout fee, and every code subsection. The city already did that. Start at Renting in Seattle. Read the ordinance if you like primary sources. Then call your attorney before you change a form.

The city is supposed to publish a model disclosure before July 2027. Wait for it. Do not invent a two-page form over a weekend.

If you get a city notice, do not freelance a cure. News reports say the City Attorney can go after three times the illegal fee. The ordinance also describes a tenant refund, and RHAWA notes interest plus additional amounts in some cases. That is not a DIY project.

What VerraTerra does with the extra year

We manage rentals in King and Snohomish for $199 a month — people, not a software tier. For Seattle doors, we rewrite the listing and the lease on the city’s timeline and we keep the file. That is the job. It is not a legal opinion, and it is not a promise about rent or vacancy.

If you own in Seattle, we have until July 2027. That is enough time to do this once. If you own everywhere else we work, this ordinance is not yours — though the next city council meeting might be, and we will say so when it is.