Seattle City Council to vote on late rent fee cap

Seattle Metropolis Councilmembers are anticipated to vote on Tuesday on whether or not to cap the charges landlords cost a tenant for being late on hire, and at what quantity.

Final month, Seattle Metropolis Councilmember Kshama Sawant launched laws that will cap late hire charges at $10 monthly. Sawant stated she and others have obtained a whole bunch of emails in response to the proposal. Some renters say they’ve been charged as a lot as $500 for being a couple of days late on hire.

A 2018 research by the King County Bar Affiliation and Seattle Ladies’s Fee notes that greater than half of those that have confronted eviction owed one month or much less on hire.

Nonetheless, some council members have proposed a late charge cap of $50, or 1.5% of the month-to-month hire, whichever is lesser.

At a latest metropolis council assembly, Seattle Metropolis Councilmember Andrew Lewis voiced his help for a 1.5% late hire charge. He considers the sliding scale share a greater coverage, partly as a result of he does not need town to need to revisit a set greenback quantity.

One resident who helps maintain vigils for homeless individuals who have died voiced her opposition to the upper cap.

“There’s a direct correlation between the names of evicted folks and the names on the homeless loss of life record. You may assist save lives,” she instructed council members.

The cities of Burien and Auburn have already capped late hire charges at $10 monthly.

Some landlords have objected to the proposal saying larger late charges function an incentive to get tenants to pay hire on time. Sawant disagreed.

“Renters do not want some other incentive than the truth that if they do not pay their hire on time, their credit score rating will get impacted. They’ve to finish up paying a way more, by way of a hefty value, in damaging their rental report historical past,” Sawant stated.

Sawant has sponsored a slew of latest legal guidelines meant to assist defend renters in recent times. One new rule requires landlords to offer tenants with six months discover of a hire improve. Low-income tenants dealing with evictions additionally now have a proper to an legal professional.

One other regulation says landlords should financially assist low-income tenants who relocate attributable to a hire improve of 10% or extra. In 2016, a invoice Sawant sponsored capped the move-in charge landlords cost renters. The regulation additionally provides renters the fitting to pay for such charges in installments.

In a press release, Seattle Metropolis Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda stated she additionally helps capping late hire charges at $10.

“If a family is already having hassle paying their hire on time, including hefty late charges solely exacerbates their incapacity to pay, will increase housing instability, makes it tougher to search out housing sooner or later, and will improve the prospect for extra of us to fall into homelessness,” she stated.