Cap on rent hikes passes in Olympia, heads to WA governor

OLYMPIA — Democratic lawmakers passed a compromise version of a bill to cap yearly rent increases Sunday, the final day of the state’s 2025 legislative session. 

The latest version of House Bill 1217, introduced late Thursday after a conference committee to iron out differences between House and Senate amendments, caps rent increases at 7% plus inflation, or 10%, whichever is less. The bill also prohibits rent increases during the first 12 months of a new tenancy. 

Senate lawmakers passed the proposal with a 27-20 vote, with two Democrats voting against. House lawmakers passed the measure with a 54-44 vote, with five Democrats voting against. No Republicans voted in favor of the bill. 

In its original version, annual rents were capped at 7%; an amendment was later adopted in the Senate that capped annual rents at 10% plus inflation.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Emily Alvarado, D-West Seattle, and was introduced in the House when Alvarado was still a state representative. Alvarado, as well as House lawmakers, were unhappy with amendments made in the Senate, leading to Thursday’s conference. 

After Senate passage, Democrats were seen in the wings hugging, smiling and crying.

Alvarado told The Seattle Times after passage that she feels like lawmakers are on their way to making “real, meaningful progress for over a million households across the state.”

“This is an important first step at a time of real economic uncertainty — it will provide real protections for people against unreasonable rent hikes that hurt working people and older adults, and I’m proud that we took this step,” Alvarado said. 

In the conference committee Thursday, lawmakers removed an amendment added in the Senate that would have exempted single-family homes from the cap. New construction will be exempt for up to 12 years. 

The bill also caps annual rent increases at 5% for manufactured and mobile homes, a provision that does not have a sunset date. Other residential rent caps will sunset after 15 years under the bill. 

Starting June 1, 2025, the Department of Commerce must calculate the allowable maximum annual rent increase and publish it on their website, as well as in a news release, each year.

Landlords must also provide 90 days notice for increases in a tenant’s rent. 

Republicans were not satisfied with the proposal.

“Without supply, rents go high,” said Rep. Sam Low, R-Lake Stevens, noting that he is “not paid by the developer community” or by the “nonprofit community,” but instead represents his constituents. Low said he had constituents in his district who struggle to pay rent because housing supply “has been cut off,” and that rules and regulations in Washington make it difficult to build new units. He said he believed lawmakers should instead focus on policies that make it easier for housing providers to supply more units. 

The bill has seen many hurdles in its legislative journey.

While it was first introduced in the Legislature a few years ago, this session marked the first time the bill was passed by both chambers. In the final days of this year’s session, Lt. Gov. Denny Heck ruled the bill was ineligible for a floor vote due to the contents of the bill not matching the title. Democrats then reworked the bill to arrive at its current form. 

The newest version of the bill is similar to Oregon’s rent cap law. Oregon was the first state in the country to limit annual rent increases in 2019. In 2023, that policy was modified to set the ceiling to 7% plus inflation, or 10%, whichever is less. 

The bill will now head to Gov. Bob Ferguson’s desk for a signature. Ferguson has not publicly said whether he would support a statewide cap on rent.