BELLINGHAM — Landlords in Bellingham must now give tenants four months’ warning before raising their rent.
City Council members unanimously approved a measure Monday night, Feb. 27, to require the 120-day notice for rent increases of any amount.
Monday’s action is part of a series of renter protections being considered at the local and state level because of the rising cost of rent amid a tight housing market in Bellingham and across the Evergreen State.
Councilman Dan Hammill said that it was time for locally elected officials to start taking action.
“About half of Bellingham residents are renters and they are offered few protections at the state level,” he said during a Monday afternoon committee meeting that addressed the issue.
An earlier version of the ordinance required the longer notification period only for rent hikes of 5% or more, but Hammill — who said that he is a landlord himself — sought an amendment that makes it apply to all rent increases.
“That to me is fair, 120 days is fair,” Hammill said, and added that he typically only raises the rent when his unit is between tenants.
Some 56% of Bellingham residents are renters, and half of them are “cost-burdened,” spending more than one-third of their income on rent, he said.
“From month to month, they’re just going more into the hole,” Hammill said.
As is standard practice, City Council members voted on the ordinance Monday for its first and second reading. A third reading was scheduled for March 13, and the ordinance takes effect 15 days after the final vote.
Average monthly rent in Bellingham is $1,450, a 4% increase over 2022, according to the online rental platform Zumper.
That’s more than a 100% increase since 2014, when the average rent was $700, according to Zumper data.
Bellingham Herald writers have received complaints from tenants recently, describing rent increases of up to $300 a month in apartment buildings where they’ve lived for years.
Wages failed to keep pace with housing costs in Bellingham, according to the text of the ordinance, which said that median family income increased by 20% from 2000 to 2020, while the median home value increased by nearly 80% adjusted for inflation.
Also in Monday’s Committee of the Whole session, council members discussed several other possible renter protections, including:
- Limiting up-front costs that tenants are required to pay.
- Outlawing or limiting late fees.
- Finding a way to limit fees that landlords charge for background checks.
- Limiting fees that landlords charge to apply for tenancy.
In Olympia, state Rep. Alex Ramel, D-Bellingham, has sponsored a bill aimed at restricting steep rent hikes, a practice criticized as “rent-gouging.”
Ramel’s measure passed out of committee last week and is awaiting a floor vote.
