Seattle now has a cap for late fees for rental payments to no more than $10 a month after fierce debate in the city council.
The council passed the bill with a 7-2 vote, with Councilmembers Alex Pedersen and Sara Nelson voting against it.“$50 can be a week of groceries. It can be medicine or gas for many renters. We can not let landlords exploit renters any further in this city,” Marshall Bender, a Seattle renter, said in the public comment on the proposal. “Our city is already expensive, and housing is already tight. So let’s not make the burden on renters any worse.
“The exact same policy is working well, $10 a month, in two cities, Burien and Auburn,” Sawant said at the meeting. Councilmember Nelson, who sponsored the change, said that this was done to create a compromise between renters and landlords, and late fees are still an important tool to encourage paying rent on time.
Councilmember Morales, Mosqueda, and Sawant sponsored an amendment to bring the cap back to $10, which passed.“For a moment, I thought about caving to the pressure, but I’m not going to because I care about this legislation and I care how it was developed and what motivated me to try and improve it,” Nelson said after voting against the late fee cap.
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