Fair Chance Housing Ordinance, SMC 14.09

  • Seattle, Washington
  • Adopted: August 23, 2017
  • In Effect: February 19, 2018

TL;DR:

Seattle’s Fair Chance Housing Ordinance prohibits rental property owners from denying applicants housing based on their criminal history. With exceptions, landlords are prohibited from running criminal background checks on rental applicants. Owners may screen for the sex offender registry but must have a legitimate business reason to do so.

What it is:

Fair Chance Housing Ordinance, SMC 14.09 prohibits landlords or any person (property managers, screening companies, etc.) from inquiring about, requiring, rejecting, or taking adverse action against a tenant or rental applicant based on their arrest record, conviction, or criminal history.

Rental properties are able to screen adult applicants and review information on the sex offender registry, but there must be a legitimate business reason to do so. Landlords and rental owners who choose to run a sex offender registry check must also abide by the City of Seattle’s First-in-Time ordinance – also known as the “first-come-first-served” rental law – on Seattle Municipal Code (SMC) 14.08.

It is also required that notice of SMC 14.09 must be written on all rental applications, including online applications. The following language must be included:

“The landlord is prohibited from requiring disclosure, asking about, rejecting an applicant, or taking an adverse action based on any arrest record, conviction record, or criminal history, except for registry information as described in subsections 14.09.025.A.3, 14.09.025.A.4, and 14.09.025.A.5, and subject to the exclusions and legal requirements in Section 14.09.115.”

Rental owners who choose to screen applicants through the sex offender registry must include (in addition to the above language) the screening criteria on the written notice. They must also inform applicants that they may provide supplemental information regarding rehabilitation, good conduct, or other explanations should there be a registry record.

It’s important to note if an applicant has registry information, this ordinance prohibits taking adverse action if the conviction occurred when the individual was a juvenile.

What it means:

For landlords, rental owners, housing providers, or property managers-

  • Aside from single-family properties where the owner resides in the dwelling or accessory dwelling units, rental owners in the city of Seattle cannot request, screen, or deny applicants on the basis of their criminal history.
  • Rental owners and managers may choose to screen adult applicants for sex offender registry information so long as they have a legitimate business reason to do so and abide by the First-in-Time rental law on SMC 14.08.
  • Notice of the renter’s rights under SMC 14.09 is required on all rental applications, including online. Properties that do sex offender registry checks must also provide their screening criteria and inform applicants of their right to provide supplementary information should they have a registry record.
  • Landlords must remove language like “no criminal records,” “no felons,” “no sex offenders,” or “clean record required” when advertising available units. Additionally, language that requests criminal history information must be removed from advertising and the rental application.
  • If an adult applicant has sex offender registry information, adverse action is prohibited if the conviction occurred when the applicant was a minor.

For rental applicants, prospective renters, or tenants-

  • The Seattle Office for Civil Rights (SOCR) enforces SMC 14.09. Applicants or tenants have a year from the date of the incident to file a claim with the SOCR. The SOCR conducts free impartial investigations should someone believe there has been a violation of the law.

Whom it affects:

Renters and Housing Units in the City of Seattle

Unless exempt, this ordinance applies to all rental housing units in the City of Seattle - including certain provisions for federally assisted housing.

Exemptions

Single-family dwellings where the owner occupies part of the dwelling, ADU's and DADU's are exempt from this ordinance.

The Fair Chance Housing Ordinance applies to all rental housing units in the City of Seattle.


This ordinance does not apply to single-family dwellings, where the owner occupies a part of the dwelling, and accessory dwelling units (ADU) or detached accessory dwelling units (DADU), where the owner or person entitled to possession maintains a permanent residence on the same lot. An example of an ADU is a basement apartment or a “mother-in-law” suite. A DADU example would be a backyard cottage.


Federally assisted housing must comply with the ordinance, but the bill has exclusions for adverse action and screening practices that are required federally.

Resources:

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