Kshama Sawant is carrying through on one of her promises to supporters as she announced she would not seek reelection to keep her District 3 seat on the Seattle City Council.
Friday, the chair of the council’s Sustainability and Renters’ Rights Committee will lead debate on her proposed legislation to cap late rent fees at $10 per month. The amount matches a limit put in place for tenants in unincorporated King County in 2021.
“Renters don’t get paid late fees when your landlord delays fixing broken appliances, heating, or mold infestations,” Sawant writes in a message to supporters about the proposed cap. “Renters have to pay rent on time regardless of whether your landlord completed your repairs. Alongside renters’ rights activists, union members, the Stay Housed Stay Healthy coalition, and Socialist Alternative, my office is bringing forward legislation to cap the late fees landlords are allowed to charge their tenants for overdue rent at no more than $10/month.”
A council staff report on the legislative proposal concludes the change won’t cost the city but “potential costs of outreach and enforcement” by the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections were not reflected in the analysis.
According to the analysis, SDCI is already “dealing with a substantial increase in call volume, an increase in response time to inquiries for assistance, and staff at or over capacity.”
“This piece of legislation is an incremental addition to an already large body of work,” the report concludes.
Sawant’s office, meanwhile, says, some Seattle renters “have leases that charge an additional $40 or $50 every day the rent is late” and some landlords hit late paying tenants with additional late fee notice delivery fees. The proposed legislation would also band those delivery fees, by the way.
CHS reported here on Sawant’s efforts to form the proposal in January following her announcement that she was not seeking reelection. Similar limits are already in place around the Puget Sound including a cap at 1.5% of the monthly rent in both Kenmore and Redmond. There has also been efforts to institute a statewide cap.
In 2021, the King County Council’s path to approving a cap included a proposal to exclude smaller landlords from the cap but that amendment was voted down.
Sawant’s committee that will consider the late fee cap legislation includes vice-chair Sara Nelson, and members Debora Juarez, Andrew Lewis, and Tammy Morales.
A cap on late fees would join a host of renter protections solidified by Sawant and the council since the pandemic. But as she winds down her final year on the council, Sawant’s biggest remaining tenants rights campaign promise — rent control in the city tied to inflation — remains unmet.city
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