Bellingham Rental Regulations

The Bellingham City Council will meet Monday to consider city staffs’ proposal for additional rental regulations. The new regulations have the following provisions:1) Landlords are no longer able to consider sources of legal income – including Social Security, public assistant, retirement funds, etc. Landlords will also not be able to state in advertisements phrases such as “Section 8 not accepted” or any other language that might dissuade a tenant from making an application; and
2) Landlords will be required to provide 60-day’s notice to tenants being asked to vacate for any reason except for cause (waste, non-payment of rent, etc,) -OR- if rent is increased more than 10% over the lowest rent charged in the preceding 12 months.
Additional provisions prohibit landlords from attempting to waive these provisions (unless the tenant has legal counsel), provides for costs and attorney fees to prevailing parties, and provides an affirmative defense to tenants in the case of failure to receive 60-day’s notice.