HB 1217 — Rent Stabilization Legislative Timeline (2025)

Welcome to the legislative timeline for HB 1217 (statewide rent stabilization). This page will be used to track HB 1217 through its legislative life cycle during the 2025 Washington State Legislative Session.

The bill that is being heard by the Senate includes the following provisions:

• Limits rent increases to 7% during any 12-month period of the tenancy
  • Landlord can still increase rent by any amount after a tenant vacates the dwelling unit and the tenancy ends.
• Prohibits a landlord from charging a tenant more than a 5% difference in rent on month-to-month leases over fixed term leases
• Requires landlords to provide tenants with a minimum of 90 days’ written notice before the effective date of any rent increase
  • Creates a new ‘Rent and Fee Increase Notice to Tenants’
• Prohibits landlords from reporting tenants to a tenant screening service provider for failure to pay the portion of the tenant’s rent that was unlawfully increased
• Requires a tenant to offer a landlord an opportunity to cure an unauthorized rent increase with a written demand 
• A tenant who terminates a rental agreement under the bill owes rent for the full month in which the tenant vacates the unit
• A tenant or the Attorney General may bring an action in court to enforce compliance with the bill. Requires a court to award certain damages and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs to the tenant if the court finds that a landlord violated the bill.
• Increases the exemption for new construction from 10 years to 12 years
• Removed the Consumer Protection Act requirement
• Removed the cap on security deposit/move-in fees and late fees
• Exemptions for:
  • Tenancies in dwelling units for which the first certificate of occupancy was issued 12 or less years before the date of the notice of the rent increase 
  • Owner-occupied duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes