(The Center Square) – The Seattle City Council unanimously approved three ordinances that address predatory home buying and allow small businesses to take over empty storefronts faster and cheaper.
Council Bills 121039, 121045 and 121047, were all unanimously passed by the Seattle City Council on Tuesday afternoon.
Council Bill 121039 requires potential homebuyers to disclose rights to the current homeowners, including how to assess fair market value of the property and their rights to appraisal. The legislation targets predatory homebuying practices in the city with violations resulting in penalties ranging from $7,500 for a first violation to $10,000 for second and subsequent violations.
“This legislation is a powerful step to safeguard homeowners from deceptive, misleading homebuying tactics,” Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said in a statement following the bill’s passage. “For far too long, these practices have targeted our senior, low-income, and Black and Brown homeowners, pushing them out of their communities and robbing them of opportunities to build generational wealth.”
Council Bill 121045 aligns Seattle’s permit review process with the default project permit review timelines of Washington state. More specifically, type one permits, which do not require a public notice or hearing, would have a deadline of 65 days. Type two permits, which do require public notice, but not a public hearing, would have a deadline of 100 days. Lastly, type three permits, which require both a public notice and a hearing, would have 170 days.
The issue around substantial alterations as part of the city’s building permitting processes has been identified by city leaders and business owners as a major barrier to small businesses looking to open in vacant storefronts in downtown and other parts of Seattle.
Over the past eight years, the city issued approximately 180 substantial alteration permits for commercial, institutional, industrial, and multi-family projects.
“With this legislation, we unlock a wide-swath of properties that would never have been considered given the substantial alteration requirement, so this change can help reactivate more than 50 small commercial storefronts by 2030,” Nelson said during Tuesday’s city council meeting. “We’re trying to remove barriers here.”
Council Bill 12047 amends Seattle’s construction codes to limit the areas for which substantial alterations are required to spaces or buildings greater than 7,000 square feet in gross area.
The Washington State Legislature has passed three separate permitting-related bills since 2023. Council Bill 12047 brings the city in alignment with these state laws.
Harrell is expected to sign the three bills. The new regulations will go into effect 30 days after that.
