Our house 'came with' three tenants when we bought back in 2020. All were paying 50% below market rates, and their utilities were included [!!]. In the two subsequent years our property taxes skyrocketed by over $4000 a year. We do have a nice house and property which we like very much, never needed or wanted to be 'landlords'. We raised rent on only one of the units, and raised it by $50 a month from $800 to $850 after the moratoria ended and we were allowed to do so. That would technically be over the threshold for paying relocation assistance. The mandated inspection would be at least $300, business license/rental registration fees another hundred or so, ridiculous considering we had thousands in on inspections and fixes when we bought the place. There's a short staircase going into one of the units that 'only' has one handrail [consistent with the current WAC building code]. The current inspection list mandates two handrails. There's a wall and concrete that would have to be torn up to install that second handrail, at least a grand there. This last year there was also a nearly passed mandate for landlords to report 'on time' rental payments. Just setting that up would have been a lot of upfront money, a couple grand was one estimate. Fortunately that didn't pass [yet].
Our inherited tenants had a great deal, we never gouged anyone. This continued targeting of 'landlords' and lumping them all into one group is going to have a very predictable effect. We now have no tenants, and never will again. Just the initiatives over the past 2 years would have taken a significant portion of our entire rental income for a year. . .and accomplished *nothing* for either us or our tenants. We would end up on Olympia's list for subsequent 'initiatives', and no doubt this nonsense will continue every year. The registry fees will fund multiple FTEs to the tune of >300$ grand a year to regulate Olympia landlords. No thanks.
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