Washington Attorney General Nick Brown has entered into eight resolutions with landlords across the state in the first enforcement action under Washington’s new rent control law, according to a release.
The landlords — with properties in Bothell, Edmonds, Issaquah, Kennewick, Lakewood, Montesano, Port Angeles, Puyallup, Ridgefield, Royal City, University Place, Vancouver, and Yakima — agreed to withdraw rent increase notices they had sent and refund any excess rent amounts that tenants paid.
For the first wave of enforcements, Brown prioritized rent increase notices issued by landlords before the law was signed but that were slated to take effect for tenants after May 7. Because HB 1217 prohibits any increase higher than the rent cap that takes place on or after May 7, these increases run counter to the law.
The first rent control enforcement to make landlords return rent increases under Washington’s rent control law were filed in Superior Court in Clark, Grays Harbor, King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties.
“Our office will do all it can to address the housing challenges impacting Washingtonians across the state,” Brown said. “Protecting tenants under this new law is one piece of the work we’re doing to ensure more people have safe, affordable places to live.”
Washington Rent Control Law
The new rent control law (HB 1217) caps the amount landlords can raise a tenant’s rent under both the Residential Landlord Tenant Act (RLTA) and the Manufactured/Mobile Home Landlord Tenant Act (MHLTA).
The law was signed on May 7 of this year and went into effect immediately. The Attorney General’s Office has created a “Know Your Rights” flyer to help tenants understand the rent stabilization law.
The rent stabilization law applies to both residential and manufactured/mobile home communities. For manufactured or mobile home tenancies the maximum annual increase is 5%. For residential tenancies the maximum annual increase is 10% or 7% plus the Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is higher.
Rent Increases Allowed Under Washington Rent Control
The Washington state Department of Commerce determines the CPI and publishes the maximum annual rent increase percentage for residential tenancies on its website. The maximum annual increase allowed through December 31, 2025, is 10%. The maximum annual increase allowed between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2026, is 9.683%.
Senate Republican Leader John Braun argued that HB 1217 will have negative impacts while imposing price controls on rent, according to mynorthwest.com.
“Price controls on rent have proven time and again to make the availability of affordable housing worse,” Braun stated.
Senator Keith Goehner, the lead Senate Republican on housing, claimed that rent increase caps reduce housing supply by discouraging developers from building new units, lead to housing deterioration due to a lack of available funds for landowners, and encourage black-market practices.
“Let’s call it what it is — House Bill 1217 is price control, plain and simple,” Goehner said. “And price control has a long, proven track record of failure.”
