Tacoma City Council Passes New Rules for Landlords When Renovating Units

The City of Tacoma has passed a new ordinance requiring landlords to provide information and notices when conducting renovations.

The ordinance requires:

• 20-day notice to vacate and relocation assistance for low-income tenants authorized by RCW 59.18.440, when a landlord intends to change the use, substantially rehabilitate, or demolish a dwelling unit.
• 60-day notice to vacate for no-cause eviction
• 60-day notice requirement for rent increase

The new Rental Housing Code also provides a requirement that landlords:

• Distribute certain information
• Prohibits retaliation
• Allows installment payments for various deposits and fees
• Provides authority to enforce violations, as well as codification of relocation assistance when the City declares a building uninhabitable.

The code passed unanimously on November 20th and replaces the city’s temporary protections that sunset on January 31, 2019.