Housing Search

• RCW 59.18.257
• RCW 59.18.580
• Tenant Screening – Your Rights: Washington LawHelp

As of June 6, 2012, there are laws in place regarding the tenant screening process. Before you turn in an application or pay a screening fee, landlords are required to provide written notice informing you of several details. The written notice should include:

• The type of information that will be accessed to conduct the screening (i.e., credit report, public records, eviction filings).
• The information that could result in your application being denied.
• The contact information for the consumer reporting agency – if the landlord is using a third-party screening company – along with notification that you have the right to request a free copy of the consumer report if you are denied. The landlord must also inform you of your right to dispute the accuracy of the consumer report.

Landlords can only charge prospective tenants for the actual cost of screening fees. Additionally, landlords can only charge for screening if they provide written notice to inform you of what the screening will entail and what information could result in the application being denied. Application and screening fees generally cost $35–$75 per person. Landlords cannot profit from application fees.

Most landlords pay tenant screening companies to research potential tenants, including criminal background checks, credit checks, eviction and court records, employment history and rental histories. Tenant screening services also look for things such as histories of late payments, bankruptcies, and any evictions or money owed to a previous landlord. Tenant screening companies may not disclose any information about your history as a survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. This includes information about a tenant having a protection order or previously breaking a lease because of domestic violence.

It may be a good idea to talk to the landlord to get a sense of their standards before you apply. You may be able to avoid having to pay unnecessary screening fees if you find out ahead of time that the landlord will not consider renting to any tenant who has an eviction or criminal history. Landlords may be willing to discuss their specific criteria, which could save you from paying screening fees for a unit where the landlord will not be willing to rent to you because of a blemish on your record.

Tenant screening laws also require that if the tenant’s application is denied, the landlord must provide a written adverse action notice stating the specific reasons and consumer report or information that led to the denial. There is a sample form of the adverse action notice both in RCW 59.18.257 and in Washington LawHelp’s Tenant Screening – Your Rights. If the landlord fails to provide the prospective tenant with a written notice before screening or a written adverse action notice if denied, then the landlord may be liable to the tenant for up to $100. The prevailing party can also recover court costs and reasonable attorney fees.

If the landlord does not provide written notice, you may choose to inform the landlord of the new requirement to disclose the information detailed above. Speak to a Tenant Counselor or attorney for more information and assistance, or navigate to our Legal Assistance Guide webpage.

Credit is one of the primary issues that landlords consider when screening tenants. If you know that you have credit problems, or if you find yourself paying numerous costly credit check fees to apartment buildings, you can take a copy of your credit report to the landlord when you look at the apartment and show them any concerns. Landlords do not have to accept your copy of the credit report, but you can explain what happened to your credit and what you are doing to clear up the problem.

You may be able to improve your credit by paying off any judgments or debts and making sure everything that appears on the report is correct. It will take work to clean up your credit. There is no quick way to get rid of credit issues, but many landlords will be more willing to work with you if you have negotiated a payment plan to pay off back debts. Solid Ground offers Financial Fitness Coaching that may help you get back on your feet financially (navigate to Get Help ~ More Services for more information).

As of December 2004, the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requires each of the three main credit reporting agencies to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. If you have already received a free credit report and need to order another, it will cost about $10. It will cost a few dollars more if you would also like a credit score (FICO score) in addition to your report.

The three major credit reporting agencies are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. These agencies have set up one central website, phone number and address where you can order your free annual credit report. Be careful of fake or fraudulent websites. To order a copy of your credit report, go to AnnualCreditReport.com, call 877.322.8228, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, PO Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

You can print the form from the Federal Trade Commission’s Credit and Loans webpage. Keep in mind that each of the three credit reporting agencies above will have different information about you, so Equifax might show an account that Experian does not, for example. It all depends on who your creditors use. You might want to get all three, requesting a different one every few months so you have the complete picture.

If the entire reason or part of the reason the landlord denied your tenancy is because of your credit report, they must tell you that they did so and provide you with the name, address and phone number of the credit reporting agency that provided that information to them. In turn, that credit reporting agency must provide you with a free copy of your credit report. Typically, in order to obtain the free report, you must make the request within 30 days. For more information, see the Federal Trade Commission’s A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FTC also has a guide to cleaning up your credit called Credit Repair: How to Help Yourself.

Potential landlords may research your rental history and seek references from previous landlords to get a sense of your qualifications as a renter. There are no laws in the Landlord-Tenant Act that restrict what personal information a landlord can access as a part of the screening process. One exception is that tenant screening companies may not disclose any information about your history as a survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. This includes any information about a tenant having a protection order or previously breaking a lease because of domestic violence as the landlord-tenant laws allow.

You may decide to bring references from former landlords or employers and other character references. If you are concerned that a former landlord may misrepresent or lie about your qualifications as a tenant, you can give the new landlord an explanation of the situation or additional references.

Some Credit Reporting Agencies conduct interviews with former landlords and may ask such questions as: Did the tenant give proper notice to vacate? Did the tenant ever receive any notices for nonpayment or noncompliance? Did the tenant leave the unit in good condition?

Do you have an eviction on your record? Unfortunately, if a landlord ever filed a lawsuit to evict you, it will show up on your record – even if you never went to court. It is often best to be upfront about this with a potential landlord. If the written notice provided to you during the screening process states that a previous eviction could result in your denial, it may be a good opportunity to have a conversation with the landlord. You can explain the circumstances and ask if they are willing to rent to tenants with past evictions on their records. Additionally, make sure that you have paid any money or fees owed to your previous landlords. Many places won’t rent to you if an eviction judgment or debt has not been paid.

If the eviction occurred in Washington State, you may be able to receive an order from the eviction court stopping tenant screening companies from using your eviction record when you apply for housing.

Please see the attached document: How to Stop a Landlord from Denying your Housing Application Because of an Eviction for more details as well as sample letters and court documents. Solid Ground is working with our partners to ensure that eviction laws in Washington State are fair to tenants who are evicted illegally or who win in eviction court.

If you have a story to tell about evictions and tenant screening, and would like to get involved, call Solid Ground’s Tenant Advocacy Line at 206.694.6748 or via email at tenantwa@solid-ground.org.

• Can I Clear My Criminal Record?: Legal Voice
• Juvenile Court Records Impact Your Housing: The Washington State Office of Public Defense (video)
• Sealing Juvenile Court Records: The Washington State Office of Public Defense (video)
• SHB 1793: An act relating to restricting access to juvenile records
• RESOURCES: Possible protections to end discrimination in housing and employment based on arrest / conviction record: Seattle Human Rights Commission
• Eliminating Barriers to Jobs and Housing – Addressing the Impacts of Arrests and Conviction Records: Seattle Human Rights Commission
• Sample Letter – Housing Denial For Criminal History
• Second Chances Criminal Records Project: ACLU of Washington

Some landlords may screen out tenants who have criminal records, assuming that they will not be trustworthy renters, regardless of the nature of their crime, the circumstances surrounding the conviction, and the amount of time that has passed since the criminal activity occurred. If you have a criminal record, you might want to be upfront about it in order to avoid paying screening costs for a unit where the landlord refuses to accept tenants with criminal records.

Carefully read the written notice provided by the landlord during the application process. See if the landlord has included “criminal records” in the list of information that will be accessed during tenant screening or as information that could result in your denial. Just because the landlord includes “criminal records” in a list of screening criteria does not mean the landlord will automatically not rent to you if you have a criminal background. You may want to have a conversation with the landlord about your specific situation to clarify the policies and see if the landlord will consider working with you.

If you can get a personal letter of reference from a community member, case manager or even a friend, bring that along. Some tenant screening services check criminal history and some don’t. You can ask the landlord if they will rent to someone with a criminal record. If you know right away that the landlord will not consider you for tenancy because of a criminal history or eviction on your record, you can save the money you would have spent on a tenant screening or application fee and apply for another unit.

In some cases, you may be able to expunge your record so a conviction does not show up anymore. Legal Voice’s Can I Clear My Criminal Record? has more on expunging criminal records. The ACLU of Washington’s Second Chances Criminal Records Project may be able to assist you with the process of sealing court records, vacating convictions, or answering questions about how a criminal record impacts you. Team Child’s Juvenile Record Sealing Project can help juveniles clear their criminal records and access a new law that allows youth to have their criminal record expunged if they receive a pardon from the Governor.

An arrest alone should not be grounds for denial of housing. If you were denied housing because of previous criminal charges for which you were not convicted, that could be a violation of Fair Housing laws. A criminal charge is not a determination of fault under the law and may be reported to a Civil Rights Office. In addition, it is discrimination for a landlord to only run criminal background checks on protected class groups, or not to select applicants consistently based on the same criteria. It also may be discrimination for landlords to have outright bans on all people with criminal records, because it disparately impacts groups that are incarcerated disproportionately for discriminatory reasons.

Landlords should consider how long ago the crime occurred, any extenuating circumstances surrounding the arrest or conviction, whether the crime has any relevance towards the tenant’s ability to be a good renter, and any evidence of rehabilitation. Contact the King County Office of Civil Rights or the Washington State Human Rights Commission for more information.

Tenants whose criminal history is related to a disability can make a reasonable accommodation request to the landlord to accept alternative forms of determining eligibility for housing. Past drug addiction is considered a disability under Fair Housing laws. The tenant may submit a plan to the prospective landlord detailing any and all efforts they have undertaken to address and eliminate the issues that led to the crime, in addition to letters of support or certificates from drug rehabilitation programs, case managers, or other landlords. For more information, contact the King County Office of Civil Rights. See the Sample Letter–Housing Denial For Criminal History.

In addition, the City of Seattle passed the Jobs Assistance Ordinance in 2013 to limit when employers can use criminal conviction or arrest records to make hiring decisions. There has been discussion about a similar ordinance to require housing providers to consider the actual conviction and the relevance to the applicant’s ability to be successful in housing.

For more information, see Seattle Human Rights Commission’s RESOURCES: Possible protections to end discrimination in housing and employment based on arrest / conviction record and Eliminating Barriers to Jobs and Housing – Addressing the Impacts of Arrests and Conviction Records.

Prospective landlords will generally want to verify your employment status and income to ensure that you make enough money to afford the rent. Some landlords require that tenants earn double or triple the amount of rent. The landlord may ask for your bank account numbers, copies of your paystubs or your employer’s phone number. You can decide what information you are comfortable sharing with your landlord, and how you would like to share it.

If you are not comfortable providing a prospective landlord with your bank account information, you may decide to provide a copy of your bank statement that shows your name, account history and balance with the account numbers blacked out. Or you may offer to show them paycheck invoices as an alternative. The landlord may decide not to rent to you on the basis of any information you decide not to provide, but the integrity of your personal information will remain intact.

• Tenant Screening – Your Rights: Washington LawHelp

One of the provisions of the Fair Tenant Screening Act passed in 2012 requires a landlord to provide a written adverse action notice to inform you exactly why they chose not to rent to you. A sample of what this notice should include is available in RCW 59.18.257 or Washington LawHelp’s Tenant Screening – Your Rights. In addition to the written notice, the landlord is required to tell you how to get a copy of the report on which they based their decision. If the landlord does not provide you with the written notice stating why your application was denied, you may be able to take the landlord to Small Claims Court and sue for up to $100.

Landlords cannot deny tenancy on the basis of any discriminatory reason or choose not to rent to you on the basis of any protected class, including race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, family status or national origin. It is discriminatory to deny housing because of a tenant’s Section 8 voucher status in Seattle, Kirkland, Redmond, Bellevue and Unincorporated King County.

Starting on September 30, 2018, no landlord will be able to discriminate against an applicant based on their source of income in all of Washington State. For more information on Source of Income Discrimination, see Washington Law Help. For more information on discrimination and your civil rights, see Seattle Office for Civil Rights, King County Office of Civil Rights or the Washington State Human Rights Commission.

It is not necessarily discriminatory if a landlord does not rent to you because of any problems with your rental history or screening report. As long as landlords are not collecting information in a discriminatory manner, there are no laws restricting what information is asked of you on a rental application – with the exception of RCW 59.18.580, which prevents landlords from asking about your status as a survivor of domestic violence.

There are laws restricting how screening information can be used. You may ask why the landlord wants the information and what they are going to do with it. They must have a legitimate business reason for requesting it from you. It is at a landlord’s discretion to choose not to offer a unit to you if you do not provide the information requested, but sometimes landlords will be flexible if you have concerns.

There are additional protections in the law for tenants who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. RCW 59.18.580 states that a landlord cannot refuse to enter into a rental agreement based on a household member’s status as a survivor of one of these crimes. Also, tenant screening companies cannot disclose any information about your history as a survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. This includes any information about a tenant having a protection order or previously terminating a lease, as the landlord-tenant law allows for any of those reasons. A landlord who refuses to enter into a rental agreement based on that information is liable to the prospective tenant in civil action for their actual damages, plus court costs and attorneys’ fees.

Landlords can legally ask for social security numbers on rental applications as long as they are not doing so in a discriminatory manner. For example, it would be a violation of Fair Housing laws for a landlord to ask only individuals from one particular ethnic group for their social security numbers. If they ask one tenant, they must ask all tenants.

If they are requesting social security numbers in a nondiscriminatory manner, landlords can legally choose not to rent to tenants who do not provide valid social security numbers. Not all landlords ask for them, and not all will choose not to rent to tenants who don’t provide them. Try to find out more about the landlord’s evaluation criteria before you fill out the application.

IRS regulations specify that projects financed through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program are not required to collect social security numbers from potential residents. However, LIHTC projects still ask for social security numbers on applications and use them to determine applicants’ financial eligibility and suitability as tenants.

Equivalent identification would be a Work Visa, Alien Registration Receipt Card, Temporary Resident Card, IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), or Employment Authorization Card. Failure on the part of applicants to provide social security numbers or equivalent identification could hinder or delay an LIHTC property’s ability to review their applications for housing.

• Is it a fixed-term or month-to-month tenancy?
• Does the contract extend month-to-month after the fixed term, or does the tenancy end at the end of the lease term?
• When specifically does the tenancy begin and end? Is the landlord going to prorate the costs if it ends in the middle of the month?
• Will the landlord provide you with receipts for your rent?
• Where and how do you pay your rent?
• Who does the landlord designate as their agent, if any? Have you been provided with their name and contact information?
• What is the landlord’s notice address for repair requests and other correspondence?
• If the unit is within the city limits of Seattle, did your landlord provide you with a copy of the Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections document Information for Tenants as required in the Seattle Municipal Code on Rental Agreement Regulation (SMC 7.24.080)?
• Who do you contact in an emergency?
• Can you speak with other tenants to see how they like living in the building? (Research apartment buildings at the Better Business Bureau website or use any of the apartment rating websites available on the internet.)
• Is there off-street parking?
• Is there an onsite manager? When are they available?
• Does the landlord live in the building or nearby?
• How often does the landlord intend to come into the unit for inspections?
• What is the neighborhood like? Are there schools and grocery stores nearby?
• Is the unit close to public transportation options?
• Are there any parts of your lease that sound odd to you or that make you unsure that the landlord is following the law?

• When are the quiet hours?
• When is your rent payment considered late?
• Are all the rules and requirements of tenancy reasonable?
• Does the lease include any rules that violate your rights under state or local laws?
• Will the landlord allow you to paint the unit or install a satellite dish if you want to? Is landlord consent required to do so?
• What is the guest policy?
• Will the landlord allow you to move another person into the unit mid-contract? What is the screening process?
• Does the landlord allow pets? Is there a pet deposit or fee?

• How much is the deposit?
• Is it a security or damage deposit?
• Does the landlord provide information on the financial institution where your deposit is being held?
• Is a portion of the deposit designated as nonrefundable?
• Did the landlord give you a receipt for your deposit?
• Does the contract detail the terms and conditions under which your deposit is refundable?
• Did the landlord provide you with a detailed checklist of the conditions of the unit upon move-in that you both signed off on?

• What fees are being charged? Are they reasonable?
• How much are late fees and when are they charged?
• Is the landlord asking you to pay any notice or attorneys’ fees?
• Are there fees to replace keys or NSF check processing fees?
• Are there fees for parking or storage?
• Is the landlord asking for last month’s rent? What is the process for applying it to your rent?

• What utilities are you responsible for? What utilities are being paid by the landlord?
• Is it your responsibility to put the utilities in your name?
• Are there outstanding utility charges on the accounts?
• How is the landlord calculating your portion of the utilities? Is there a Third-Party Billing company?
• What kind of heating is in the unit? Where is the thermostat located? Who is in control of the temperature setting? When is the heat turned on? Do other tenants have access to the thermostat?
• Where are the fuse box and the hot water heater located?
• Does the landlord charge you a fee for late utilities? Is this fee in addition to the utility company’s late fee?

• Is the landlord making any commitments to you to improve the conditions of the unit? (If yes, get it in writing.)
• Do all the outlets, plumbing, heaters, light fixtures and phone jacks function well?
• Is there adequate ventilation in the bathroom and unit in general?
• Are there adequate locks on all the doors?
• Do all the windows open and shut properly?
• Is there excessive noise from heaters, neighbors, the street or construction nearby?

HUD’s Public Housing Programand Housing Choice (Section 8) Vouchers are administered through the local Public Housing Authority. Most waiting lists open for a short time every year and applicants are selected by lottery. Section 8 voucher waiting lists are often two- to three-years long. Watch for opportunities to get your name on the waiting lists. Most Public Housing programs have their own waiting lists. Contact the housing authorities below for more information.

• Seattle Housing Authority: 206.239.1500
• King County Housing Authority: 206.214.1300
• Renton Housing Authority: 425.226.1850
• Housing Authority of Snohomish County (HASCO): 425.290.8499
• Pierce County Housing Authority: 253.620.5400
• Vancouver Housing Authority: 360.694.2501
• Spokane Housing Authority: 509.328.2953

HUD Project-Based Section 8 units are subsidized by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. For a full list of apartments within King County, call 206.220.5140 and leave a message with your name and address. HUD apartment units are different from Housing Authority buildings, because you apply to the individual locations rather than one office. You can apply to as many HUD apartments as you’d like (the more the better). Some HUD apartments have nonsubsidized units in the same building. HUD buildings are also listed at AptFinder.org or HousingSearchNW.org.

Low-income housing tax credit programs provide units for low- and moderate-income renters. Look for other low-income buildings with Tax Credit and other subsidies at AptFinder.org or HousingSearchNW.org, affordable housing directories serving Washington State, and OneStopHousing.org, a resource for the Spokane area.

Nonprofit housing developers also offer subsidized housing for low-income tenants. See a list of Seattle-area housing providers below. You can also call Washington State 2-1-1 (also at 206.461.3200 and 1.800.621.4636, or 206.461.3610 for TTY/hearing impaired calls) to get a list of housing options, including transitional housing and emergency shelter.

• Capitol Hill Housing: 206.329.7303
• Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI): 206.443.9935
• Compass Housing Alliance: 206.789.1536
• Imagine Housing – building eastside communities: 425.576.5190
• Downtown Action to Save Housing (DASH): 425.646.9053
• Mt. Baker Housing Association: 206.725.4152
• Bellwether: 206.622.2893
• Catholic Housing Services of Western Washington: 206.448.3360
• Plymouth Housing Group: 206.652.8325 (Single residency occupancy – studios and one-bedrooms)
• Senior Housing Assistance Group (SHAG): 888.776.0467
• Seattle Senior Housing Program: 206.239.1737

Home sharing or room renting can cost considerably less, and may be more immediately available and/or flexible in accepting people with credit or rental history problems. The following are options to find shared housing situations. Other roommate possibilities are listed in the rental sections of neighborhood newspapers and publications such as The Nickel, or on the Seattle Craigslist website.

Watch out for scams. If the advertiser refuses to share pictures of the unit or publish the address, it might be fake. Watch out for ads that look too good to be true: Many scammers offer extremely low rental prices, and promise to rent to tenants who have low credit scores or evictions on their records.

You may also be able to find a roommate through social media. Try writing a description of the living situation you are looking for and sharing it to your social media page. If you have a Facebook page, you may be able to find a Facebook group for roommates and housing in your area.

Moving costs can be extremely high. Be prepared to come up with first month’s rent, last month’s rent and a deposit. You may want to save up money to cover moving costs, try to set up a payment arrangement with the landlord to cover moving costs, or try to get assistance paying off your deposit and initial rent charges. There are agencies and churches that have emergency funds available for move-in assistance. Washington State 2-1-1 (also 206.461.3200, 1.800.621.4636 or 206.461.3610 for TTY/hearing impaired calls) can give you information about rental assistance available in your area for income-qualified people. If you receive public assistance, you can ask your DSHS caseworker about emergency financial assistance.

Washington State offers a FREE resource to help people find homes anywhere in King County: HousingSearchNW.org. This is an affordable housing directory with detailed and up-to-date listings. The most common place to look for fair market rentals is in the classified section of newspapers like The Seattle Times classifieds online at NW Homes. The best days to look are in the Saturday and Sunday Real Estate sections. Given the tight housing market that Seattle usually experiences, we recommend that you get up early Saturday morning and preview the properties for open houses on Sundays so you can be one of the first to arrive.

You may also have an idea of the area or specific neighborhood you want to live in. Take a walk or drive around the neighborhood and make note of any For Rent signs. This will give you a good sense of the neighborhood character, the people you may end up living next to, and what amenities are available in the area.

Smaller duplexes, complexes and mother-in-law apartments tend to rent for less than larger buildings. These types of units are usually owned and managed by an individual landlord. They may try to keep the rent down to attract good tenants who will maintain the property. Private “Mom and Pop” landlords are also more likely to rent to people without running a credit report.

Currently, a prospective landlord may choose to take a copy of a credit report if the tenant provides one from one of the three major credit reporting agencies, but the law does not require them to do so. Solid Ground is working with our partners to pass legislation that would lower application costs by requiring landlords to accept credit reports from tenants if they can be verified with the credit reporting agency.

You can petition credit reporting agencies to have any errors removed from your record. This can be a difficult process. For detailed information, see the Federal Trade Commission’s Disputing Errors on Credit Reports.

Yes. If you want to move an additional tenant in mid-tenancy, the landlord has the right to put them through the screening process and charge them the application fee.

Review the guest policy in your rental agreement. Often rental agreements limit the specific number of days, consecutive or total, a guest can stay in the unit without being screened and added to the contract. The landlord may ask that a frequent visitor be screened and have their name added to the rental agreement if they exceed the number of days allowed for visitors.

If you are concerned that a former landlord may misrepresent or lie about your qualifications as a tenant, you can give the new landlord an explanation of the situation or bring additional references. There are no laws in the Landlord-Tenant Act that restrict what information a landlord gives about you as a part of the screening process. You may decide to bring references from other former landlords or employers and other character references.

In situations like this, many tenants wonder if there is a way to sue their landlord for defamation (slander or libel). It may be possible to bring a private action against them in court, but it can be very difficult to secure an attorney for a lawsuit like this. For more information on how to best utilize legal services to solve housing problems, navigate to our Legal Assistance Guide webpage.

As of June 9, 2016, a new law may allow you to get an order from the eviction court stopping tenant screening companies from using your eviction record when you apply for housing. Please see the attached document, How to Stop a Landlord from Denying your Housing Application Because of an Eviction for more details as well as sample letters and court documents.

Yes. As long as landlords are not collecting information in a discriminatory manner, there are no laws restricting what information is asked of you on a rental application. You may ask why the landlord wants the information and what they are going to do with it. They must have a legitimate business reason for requesting the information. It is at a landlord’s discretion to choose not to offer a unit to you if you do not provide the information requested, but sometimes landlords will be flexible if you have concerns.

IRS regulations specify that projects financed through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program are not required to collect social security numbers from potential residents. However, LIHTC projects still ask for social security numbers on applications and use them to determine applicants’ financial eligibility and suitability as tenants. Equivalent identification would be a Work Visa, Alien Registration Receipt Card, Temporary Resident Card, IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), or Employment Authorization Card. Failure on the part of applicants to provide social security numbers or equivalent identification could hinder or delay an LIHTC property’s ability to review their applications for housing.