Seattle Mayor Wants End To Landlords’ “Hidden Junk Fees”

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson has announced a legislative proposal to ban “hidden junk fees” like mailroom or appliance charges, requiring landlords to disclose all potential fees upfront in rental listings and leases.

The new push for regulation is based on aa citywide survey conducted earlier in 2026 with responses from 8,800 local renters with 58% saying they paid extra fees on top of their base rent.

The bill lays out a specific list of fees that landlords are allowed to charge renters. Anything not explicitly mentioned would be banned.

The most standard fees would still be permissible — for security, utility surcharges, late rent payments, key replacement, bounced checks and parking. But fees for things like pet rent, mail, in-unit appliances, use of checks or money orders to pay rent and use of the common area would be disallowed.

Kevin Schilling, RHAWA’s government affairs director, said the proposal simply shifts costs rather than eliminating them. Base rents will likely increase. If landlords cannot charge separate pet fees or amenity fees, those costs will be built into the monthly rent paid by all tenants, including those who do not use the amenities or have pets.

“When you go to rent an apartment and you see the sticker price of your monthly rent, and then you sign your lease and you find that in the fine print there are all kinds of obscure fees that you’re also on the hook for, that’s not a good feeling,” Wilson told the Seattle Times. “They add this layer of unpredictability, lack of transparency, and cost that renters are finding really challenging.”

Angie Gerrald, who owns and rents several houses in north Seattle and co-founded Seattle Grassroots Landlords told the Seattle times the mayor’s proposal represented “new landmines and booby traps” in the rental housing space. “It just sends the message that Seattle is getting futzy and complicated,” she said. “If you want to operate a rental there’s going to be more fees and changes to the laws constantly.”

Fees in rental agreements have been attracting more attention lately. Greystar, the largest owner and manager of apartments in the U.S., is facing a slew of lawsuits from tenants in Colorado, California, Nevada and Massachusetts over fees and, in December, agreed to pay $24 million to resolve allegations its advertised rents were misleading, the Guardian reported. Greystar denies the allegations and did not admit fault in the settlement.