Seattle Mayor Vetoes Proposed Regulations for Rental Owners

Seattle's Mayor Bruce Harrell vetoed a City Council plan to require landlords to provide financial information on their rental units to a research institution. The plan was estimated to cost between $2 and $5 million with no identified funding source in a year when Seattle is facing a budget shortfall.

In his veto letter to the City Council, the mayor attached a detailed letter from James Young, the Director of the University of Washington Center for Real Estate Research which stated in part, the following:

"As someone who has spent their career collecting and analyzing house price and rent data, the goal of collecting highly granular rental and vacancy data is laudable. However, my concern is that the legislation as drafted will not yield the level of quality of data the City requires. This is because the legislation lacks two key data collection elements crucial to success. These are: 

1. The program needs to be voluntary. A mandatory program presents a high risk that incomplete or inaccurate data will be provided, which would, in turn, lead to inaccurate results.
   
   
2. The entity collecting the data matters. Owners are concerned about the disclosure of commercially sensitive business information that could adversely affect their businesses. If owners do not trust the organization collecting rental and vacancy data, then they will not participate. These concerns revolve around keeping data confidential and aggregating data in ways that do not allow for the identification of business interests. If required to participate, then landlords would have the incentive to not provide accurate information with subsequent inaccurate results."