WA State Rent Control Bills in committee NOW (Jan 22 2023) : HB 1388 and HB 1389

[Brian Hughes]

Apologies if this is wrong forum.   This is of interest to anybody investing in WA State.

As has been the case the last few years in WA,   statewide rent control bills have been proposed which would severely limit housing provider's ability to adjust rents to meet costs or to improve and reposition a property.

This year there are TWO bills - House Bill 1388 and  1389 - that could pass together or separately and each would limit rent increases to a maximum of 3% annually or inflation (up to 7%) and add a host of other rules governing whether maintenance,  repairs or upgrades would allow for further increases.  1388 also has language basically making any amount of rent increase unallowable if tenant cannot afford it,  might relocate as a result of it, or if it is deemed too much by the attorney general based on whatever criteria they choose to apply.    1388 also includes language that effectively creates vacancy control,   meaning a vacancy may not allow for resetting to market rate.     1389 is a somewhat more 'conventional' bill and also includes rules around exceptions for "necessary" repairs and updates as well as rules for "banking" rent increases if you do not take the full increase amount allowed in a given year,  but the process for taking advantage of that requires serving a lot of notices properly.     1389 prohibits resetting your rent to market rate if you had to evict the prior tenant for any reason.   This is particularly bad since evictions often come with lost rents,  legal expenses,  increased turnover costs, and repairs.   

I tried to avoid getting my opinions into this but spoiler alert this would not be good for anybody operating rental housing in WA.    Please consider going to the WA legislature home page,  looking up these bills,   and submitting testimony or at least a position (pro/con) against them.   

Thanks!