Trying to find a rental in Bellingham? What landlords can require in income, pets, rules

(Editor’s note: In response to reader questions and concerns regarding housing conditions in Washington state, the Northwest Service Journalism team and Bellingham Herald staff have teamed up to offer insight into housing horrors plaguing current renters. The first article in the series was on the legality of different fees and deposits for renters, you can read it here. The second part of the series revealed how to get your deposit back from an uncooperative landlord. Reader questions about renting for future stories can be submitted at the bottom of this article.)

Third part of a series

Picture yourself looking for a place to rent: scrolling through an app on your phone, looking at a website on your computer, or circling vacancies in the paper. You reject dud after dud — none of these rentals are right for you. It feels a little like Goldiliocks, everything is either too big, too small, too old, too new, whatever it is, there’s something wrong with everything you look at.

Then, one catches your eye — perfect number of bedrooms, perfect square footage and layout, perfect amenities. You’re about ready to sign up for a tour, maybe even put in an application, when you notice something. The landlord has required qualifiers, and you don’t fit the criteria. Now the cycle begins anew.

It happens all too often: landlords can practically specify what type of tenant can live in their unit. Whether that means you have to make three times the monthly rent, can’t have pets, can’t smoke, or something else, it makes an already difficult-to-navigate housing crisis all the more vexing. It begs the question of whether landlords in Washington state can just choose any tenant criteria they want.

There are a few codified restrictions on tenant criteria in the Evergreen State. Beyond those, it is up to the landlord’s discretion which rules or criteria to impose, if any. This is within their legal rights. In Bellingham, many listings include various requirements, like a minimum credit score or basic renter’s insurance.

Rules landlords can’t impose in WA

It is illegal for a landlord to include any clause or other agreement that negates existing landlord-tenant protections. For example, a landlord cannot require potential renters to agree to do all maintenance work in order to rent there, as that is legally their responsibility.

It is illegal for any tenant criteria to discriminate against any protected class. Per the federal Fair Housing Act, the following groups are protected from housing discrimination:

• Race

• Color

• National origin

• Religion

• Sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation)

• Familial, marital status

• Disability, or the landlord’s belief you have one

• Veteran, military status

The last rule says landlords cannot discriminate against potential or current tenants for the source of their income. In this context, the Revised Code of Washington says “source of income” refers to benefits or subsidy programs, like housing, public or rental assistance, veterans benefits, social security, supplemental security income, retirement programs and other government and nonprofit entities.

This means that if a tenant checks all criteria, a landlord cannot reject housing to them based on where their money comes from. They also cannot add extra fees or rules for that tenant for the same reason.

The state code also specifies that landlords cannot pretend the unit is not available or otherwise try to encourage them to look elsewhere. Any advertisements or promotion of units, including online, cannot indicate preferences or requirements.

Examples of illegal landlord practices

In what ways are these state codes broken? The following examples would be illegal in Washington state:

• A landlord says no kids are allowed and won’t rent to your family, or charges you more for having children.

• A landlord tells you there are no vacancies after finding out you are gay, but tells a straight person units are available.

• A landlord tells you they are renting to someone else because they don’t receive government support.

• A landlord won’t make reasonable accessibility accommodations for you even though you are disabled.

• A landlord requires a cosigner on your lease after realizing you are not white.

Tenant criteria WA landlords can impose

Landlords in Washington can basically impose any requirement they want, so long as it does not interfere with those three rules. A landlord can filter out tenants as they please by requiring a certain income amount, as much rental history as they want, and any other desired rules. Landlords can also update these rules as desired.

The vast majority of rentals currently available in Bellingham specify no smoking allowed. Some of the options allow pets, some don’t, but service animals are almost always allowed. A few landlords in the college town list rentals saying no cosigners, or no students.

Most rentals currently available in Bellingham with listed minimum incomes require three times the rent, some a little higher or lower. The smallest listed income requirement was for a two-bedroom unit on Puget Street, requiring $4,200 per month, or three times the rent, in income. This means that you would have to make at least $50,000 a year to rent the unit.

According to Zillow data, the median rent in Bellingham right now is $2,190. A standard unit for rent might cost around $2,200 a month, requiring three times the rent in income and non-smoking tenants. Pets are sometimes allowed with a deposit and pet rent. In order to live there, you would need to make at least $6,600 a month, or around $79,000 a year.

The most recently-available income and poverty data from the U.S. Census Bureau reflects 2017 through 2021, listing the median household income for Bellingham at $59,000 with nearly a 20% poverty rate. These numbers likely didn’t improve over the pandemic. The country’s poverty rate in 2022 was around 11.5%, according to Census data, staying fairly consistent with the year before. This means a large amount of Bellingham residents, if not the majority, cannot afford an average apartment in the city due to high rent and renter criteria.

Landlord violation? How to proceed

Depending on what rule a landlord violated, current or potential tenants have certain steps they can take.

▪ Rental agreement negates landlord-tenant protections

If the rental agreement presented by a landlord breaks Washington Code by negating current rules, you can take action. Even if you signed the agreement, relevant clauses will not be enforced.

You can address this in small claims court. If it is found that the landlord added any clauses of this nature knowing they were illegal, you could get your money in damages back, plus the lawsuit cost and up to two times the monthly rent.

▪ Discrimination from a landlord

You have several options when a landlord is discriminatory. You can file a complaint with the Washington State Human Rights Commission online or over the phone at 1-800-233-3247.

Additionally, you can file a report with the U.S. Department of Housing and Development online or by calling (206) 220-5170 or 1-800-877-0246.

Whoever you speak to will you inform you of possible next steps.

▪ Source of income discrimination

You can address this through a civil action suit. If the judge agrees there was illegal discrimination toward you because of your source of income, you can get up to four-and-a-half times the monthly rent, plus lawsuit costs.

Do you have questions, concerns or a story about housing in Washington? The Northwest Service Team wants to hear from you:

This story was originally published September 15, 2023 at 5:00 AM.