Drafter
Clerk 08/05/2024
Title
AN ORDINANCE relating to tenant protections authorizing immediate family to reside in a rental unit; and adding a new chapter to K.C.C. Title 12.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. The King County council finds that establishing this ordinance, a right for tenants to reside with family ordinance, is necessary to protect the public health, safety, and welfare of King County residents.
B. The 2022 Tenant Protections Access Plan, developed in response to Ordinance 19311, recommended implementing a right to reside with family members for tenants in unincorporated King County.
C. The 2016 King County Comprehensive Plan urges county support for legislation that protects the rights of tenants and landlords, such as uniform protections for tenants and landlords and fair rental contracts.
D. The regional affordable housing task force's 2018 five-year action plan includes supporting tenant protections to increase housing stability, reduce risk of homelessness, and protect low-income communities from displacement and homelessness.
E. Tenants in unincorporated King County do not currently have a right to reside with their families, putting them at risk of eviction if they house family members who are not on their leases.
F. The 2017 report, Losing Home: The Human Cost of Eviction in Seattle, by the Housing Justice Project and the Seattle Women's Commission, found that evictions can have lifelong negative consequences, including pushing a tenant into homelessness, negatively impacting a tenant's physical and mental health, poor educational outcomes, and similar harmful impacts.
G. The 2020 report, Caregiving in the U.S., by the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, found that nearly twenty percent of adults in the United States provide care for an adult family member with a health need or disability, with forty percent of caregivers living in the same household as the care recipient.
H. The Pew Research Center found in the 2022 report, Financial Issues Top the List of Reasons U.S. Adults Live in Multigenerational Homes, that the number of people in the U.S. who live in multigenerational households has more than doubled over the past several decades, from seven percent of U.S. residents in 1971 to eighteen percent of U.S. residents in 2021. The report found that about one quarter of Asian, Black, Latinx, and immigrant households live in multigenerational households, compared to thirteen percent of White households and seventeen percent of U.S.-born households. The report also determined that U.S. residents in western states, including Washington, are more likely to live in multigenerational households compared to other parts of the country. The report stated that families live in multigenerational households for financial, caregiving, and cultural reasons, and that multigenerational households are less likely to live in poverty.
I. In 2019, the city of Seattle and the city of Federal Way adopted tenant protections that provide tenants with the right to reside with their families. Those ordinances cover nearly forty percent of King County residents.
SECTION 2. Sections 3 through 7 of this ordinance should constitute a new chapter of K.C.C. Title 12.
NEW SECTION. SECTION 3. There is hereby added to the new K.C.C. chapter established in section 2 of this ordinance a new section to read as follows:
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
A. "Immediate family" means spouses, domestic partners, former spouses, former domestic partners, adult persons related by marriage, siblings, former foster siblings, persons who have a parent-child relationship, including parents, stepparents, grandparents, adoptive parents, guardians, foster parents, or custodians of minors, and persons with other familial-like or committed relationships. Factors relevant to determining the existence of a familial-like or committed relationship include:
1. The length of time the relationship has existed;
2. The nature of the relationship; and
3. The frequency of interaction between the parties.
B. "Preexisting tenant" means any person who is entitled to occupy a dwelling unit primarily for living or dwelling purposes under a rental agreement as a tenant before the addition of an immediate family member or immediate family members to the rental agreement.
NEW SECTION. SECTION 4. There is hereby added to the new K.C.C. chapter established in section 2 of this ordinance a new section to read as follows:
All residential tenancies are subject to the following requirements:
A. Subject to the landlord's authority to screen and allow occupancy of a rental unit as provided in section 5 of this ordinance, a preexisting tenant's immediate family shall be allowed to reside in a rental unit, with the permission of all preexisting tenants, provided the total number of persons residing in the unit does not exceed occupancy limits established by federal, state, or local law. A rental agreement's limit on the number of occupants may be used to exclude or evict the preexisting tenant or the preexisting tenant's immediate family, but only if the total number of persons residing in the unit exceeds occupancy limits established by federal, state, or local law;
B. The preexisting tenant shall inform the landlord when an immediate family member becomes an occupant of the rental unit within twenty days after the commencement of the immediate family member's occupancy. The landlord may extend the notice period. This notice requirement must be explained in the rental agreement for the landlord to evict or take other legal action against the tenant or the immediate family member on the basis of not notifying the landlord about the immediate family member's occupancy of the rental unit;
C. Upon the request of the immediate family member and the approval of all preexisting tenants, the immediate family member shall be permitted to be included in the rental agreement, subject to the landlord's authority to screen and allow occupancy of a rental unit as provided in section 5 of this ordinance. The immediate family member who occupies the rental unit has tenant rights equal to the preexisting tenant even if the immediate family member is not formally on the rental agreement. The landlord may require that the immediate family member be added to the rental agreement;
D. Landlords may screen prospective tenants other than the preexisting tenant's immediate family to determine whether a prospective tenant can become a party to a rental agreement or occupy the rental unit. Landlords may screen members of the preexisting tenant's immediate family but shall not exclude or evict any member of the preexisting tenant's immediate family from occupancy or becoming a party to the rental agreement except as provided in section 5 of this ordinance; and
E. Consistent with King County Code 12.25.140, a landlord shall not require an immediate family member to provide a social security number for purposes of screening the immediate family member.
NEW SECTION. SECTION 5. There is hereby added to the new K.C.C. chapter established in section 2 of this ordinance a new section to read as follows:
A. Landlords may deny occupancy or inclusion in a rental agreement to a preexisting tenant's immediate family member only if:
1. The preexisting tenant's immediate family member is subject to a sex offender registration program, has been convicted of manufacturing or producing methamphetamine in a rental unit, or has been convicted of arson;
2. The preexisting tenant's immediate family member is subject to a lawfully issued order prohibiting contact between the immediate family member and any preexisting tenant, regardless of relationship;
3. The preexisting tenant's immediate family member is not allowed to occupy the rental unit due to applicable federal, state, or local regulations or program rules for publicly financed or publicly regulated housing; or
4. The landlord shares the dwelling unit or access to a common kitchen or bathroom area with the tenant.
B. A landlord shall not categorically ban an immediate family member for the criminal convictions listed in subsection A.1. of this section. A landlord may only exclude an immediate family member for the criminal convictions listed in subsection A.1. of this section for a legitimate business reason. A legitimate business reason exists if denying occupancy to the immediate family member, based on the reasons listed in subsection A.1. of this section, is necessary to achieve a substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest. To demonstrate the legitimate business reason, the landlord must show through reliable evidence a nexus between the denial of the immediate family member and either resident safety or protecting property, or both, in light of factors such as, but not limited to:
1. The nature and severity of the crime;
2. The conduct underlying the conviction;
3. The length of time since either conviction or release from incarceration, or both;
4. The age of the immediate family member at the time of conviction; and
5. Evidence of rehabilitation.
C. A landlord who denies occupancy to an immediate family member shall provide written notice by email, by mail, or in person to the preexisting tenant and the immediate family member and state the specific information that was the basis for the denial.
NEW SECTION. SECTION 6. There is hereby added to the new K.C.C. chapter established in section 2 of this ordinance a new section to read as follows:
A. If a preexisting tenant moves more than two immediate family members into a unit during the lease period, the landlord may charge the household a one-time fifty-dollar additional immediate family member fee. A landlord may not charge any other fees for the occupancy of an immediate family member.
B. Consistent with RCW 59.18.257, a landlord may charge an immediate family member for obtaining a tenant screening report, which shall not exceed the actual cost of obtaining the report. The landlord shall provide to the immediate family member a written receipt for any fee charged for the cost of obtaining the screening report. Consistent with RCW 59.18.257, the landlord shall provide the immediate family member with the name and address of the reporting agency and the prospective tenant's rights to obtain a free copy of the screening report.
NEW SECTION. SECTION 7. There is hereby added to the new K.C.C. chapter established in section 2 of this ordinance a new section to read as follows:
A. A landlord found in violation of this chapter shall be liable to the tenant in a private right of action for the greater of double the tenant's economic and noneconomic damages or three times the monthly rent of the dwelling unit at issue, and reasonable litigation costs and attorneys' fees.
B. A tenant or an organization representing tenants may seek injunctive relief on the tenant or organization's own behalf or on behalf of other affected tenants.
SECTION 8. Severability. If any provision of this ordinance or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the ordinance or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.