Fair Chance Housing in King County: An Owner's Guide

Fair chance housing laws limit how landlords use criminal history when screening applicants. In King County, the rules depend entirely on where your rental sits.

Seattle has its own Fair Chance Housing Ordinance (SMC 14.09). King County's local codes reach only unincorporated areas, and they do not currently restrict criminal history screening. Cities such as Kent, Renton, and Bellevue have no fair chance housing ordinance of their own.

Federal Fair Housing Act standards, including HUD's guidance on criminal records, apply everywhere.

What Fair Chance Housing Laws Are and Why They Exist

Fair chance housing laws restrict how a landlord may consider arrest records, conviction records, and criminal history when deciding who rents a home. They exist because stable housing is one of the strongest predictors of successful reentry after involvement with the justice system, and because criminal records are not evenly distributed across the population.

HUD has documented significant racial disparities in arrest and incarceration rates. Even where no local fair chance law applies, a blanket "no criminal records" policy can create legal exposure under the federal Fair Housing Act. More on that below.

One clarification before we map the geography: Washington's statewide Fair Chance Act (chapter 49.94 RCW) covers employment, not housing.

Owners sometimes hear "fair chance law in Washington" and assume it applies to rentals statewide. It does not. For housing, the rules are local, and in King County they are very local.

Fair Chance Housing in King County: The Three-Tier Map

This is the part most websites get wrong, so here is the verified picture as of mid-2026. Criminal history screening is restricted in one tier, not three.

• Tier 1: Seattle. The City of Seattle has its own Fair Chance Housing Ordinance, Seattle Municipal Code Chapter 14.09, in effect since February 19, 2018. It applies to rental housing located within Seattle city limits and is enforced by the Seattle Office for Civil Rights.
• Tier 2: Unincorporated King County. King County's local housing codes, including its Fair Housing Ordinance (KCC 12.20) and its tenant protections (KCC 12.25), apply only to housing in unincorporated King County, places like Skyway, White Center, Fairwood, and East Renton Highlands. Here is the surprise: those county codes do not currently restrict criminal history screening. The county's own published guidance states that landlords may use the screening criteria they choose, as long as the criteria are applied in a non-discriminatory way, and criminal history is not among the county's listed protected classes.
• Tier 3: Every incorporated city other than Seattle. Kent, Renton, Bellevue, Kirkland, Federal Way, Auburn, Redmond, and the county's other cities are covered by neither Seattle's ordinance nor the county code. King County's 2025 Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice confirms that Seattle is the only city in the county that limits the use of criminal background checks in tenant screening. A city can adopt its own rules at any time, so this tier is the one to re-check periodically.

If you have seen claims that a "King County Fair Chance Housing Ordinance" bans criminal background checks countywide, or even in unincorporated areas, those claims do not match the county code or the county's own 2025 fair housing analysis.

The confusion usually comes from mixing up three separate things: Seattle's housing ordinance, the county's general Fair Housing Ordinance (which covers protected classes like race, disability, and source of income, not criminal history), and the statewide Fair Chance Act for employers.

Inside Seattle's Fair Chance Housing Ordinance

If your rental is inside Seattle city limits, SMC 14.09 controls how you handle criminal history. In plain terms, a Seattle landlord may not:

• Advertise categorical exclusions. Listings, ads, and written policies may not automatically exclude everyone with an arrest record, conviction record, or criminal history. "No felons" language is prohibited in any advertising for Seattle rental housing.
• Require disclosure of criminal history. Application forms may not require an applicant to disclose arrests, convictions, or criminal history.
• Take adverse action based on criminal history. You may not deny an application, evict, or impose different terms based on arrest records, conviction records, or criminal history, with the narrow registry exception below.

One nuance owners should know: in 2023 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the portion of the ordinance banning landlords from merely asking about criminal history violated the First Amendment. Since June 6, 2023, the Seattle Office for Civil Rights no longer enforces the inquiry ban.

Every other part of the ordinance still stands, including the bans on requiring disclosure and on taking adverse action. Asking a question you are not allowed to act on invites complaints, so most professional managers simply do not ask in Seattle.

The sex offender registry exception

Seattle landlords may consider information from a county, statewide, or national sex offender registry for adult applicants and occupants, but may take adverse action based on it only with a legitimate business reason. The ordinance defines that as a demonstrated nexus to resident safety or property protection, weighing factors such as the nature and severity of the conviction, how long ago it occurred, the person's age at the time, tenant history, and evidence of rehabilitation.

If you deny on this basis, you must give written notice stating the specific registry information behind the decision. Adverse action is not permitted based on juvenile registry information or on adult registry information stemming from a juvenile conviction.

Who is excluded from SMC 14.09

• Federally assisted housing subject to federal regulations that require denial, such as lifetime sex offender registration or methamphetamine production on federally assisted premises.
• Renting part of a single-family home that the owner occupies.
• An ADU or backyard cottage (DADU) on a lot where the owner maintains a permanent residence.

What Still Applies Everywhere: The Federal Floor

Outside Seattle, no local law in King County currently restricts criminal history screening. That does not mean anything goes.

The federal Fair Housing Act applies to every rental in every city, and HUD's guidance on criminal records, first issued by its Office of General Counsel in 2016 and reaffirmed in 2022, sets a clear framework:

• Arrest records alone are off the table. An arrest is not proof of conduct. HUD's position is that excluding applicants because of arrests, without convictions, does not serve any legitimate interest and will not hold up as a defense.
• Blanket conviction bans create disparate impact risk. A policy rejecting anyone with any conviction, no matter how old or minor, predictably screens out protected groups at higher rates. HUD treats such policies as unlikely to survive a discrimination analysis.
• Individualized assessment is the best practice. Policies that consider the nature and severity of the offense, how much time has passed, the applicant's age at the time, rental history since, and evidence of rehabilitation are far more defensible than categorical exclusions. Apply the same assessment process to every applicant so case-by-case review does not drift into inconsistent treatment.

In short: a Kent or Bellevue owner may lawfully run a criminal background check, but how the results are used still matters under federal law.

How Fair Chance Rules Interact with Written Screening Criteria

Washington law adds a layer that ties all of this together. Under RCW 59.18.257, before screening any applicant you must give written notice of what information you will access, what criteria may result in denial, and, if you use a consumer report, the name and address of the screening company and whether you accept comprehensive reusable screening reports. A screening fee may only be charged if that notice was given, and any denial requires a written adverse action notice in the statutory format.

Here is the compliance trap for multi-city owners: your published criteria must match what you actually check, and what you may lawfully check differs by jurisdiction. A single criteria sheet that says "criminal background check required" is fine in Auburn, but the same sheet attached to a Seattle listing describes a practice the ordinance prohibits.

Screening criteria need to be written per jurisdiction, not copied portfolio-wide. Our guide to tenant screening in Washington State covers the statewide notice and adverse action requirements in detail.

An Owner's Fair Chance Compliance Playbook

• Confirm your property's jurisdiction. Not your mailing city, your actual jurisdiction. Addresses near city edges can carry a "Renton" or "Kent" postal address while sitting in unincorporated King County, where county codes apply. The county parcel viewer settles it in two minutes.
• Write screening criteria per jurisdiction. Seattle units get criteria with no criminal history component beyond the registry exception. Units elsewhere can include conviction screening, but build in lookback periods and individualized assessment rather than blanket bans.
• Audit your advertising. In Seattle, categorical exclusion language in a listing is itself a violation. Everywhere else, "no felons" advertising is the kind of blanket policy HUD flags as disparate impact risk. There is no jurisdiction where it is a good idea.
• Train everyone who answers inquiries. A casual "we don't take anyone with a record" from whoever answers the phone can undo a perfectly written policy. Scripts matter as much as criteria sheets.
• Document every decision. Keep the criteria version the applicant saw, the screening results, the assessment notes, and the adverse action notice. If a complaint ever lands, contemporaneous documentation is your best defense.
• Re-verify annually. Cities adopt new tenant protections frequently, and King County's planning policies actively encourage cities to consider criminal history protections. Tier 3 is stable today; it is not guaranteed to stay that way.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the King County fair chance ordinance apply to my rental in Kent or Bellevue?

No. King County's local housing codes apply only in unincorporated King County, and even there they do not currently restrict criminal history screening. Kent, Bellevue, and every other incorporated city besides Seattle have no fair chance housing ordinance, so state and federal law govern. City councils can change that at any time, so confirm current rules before each vacancy.

Can Seattle landlords run criminal background checks at all?

After a 2023 federal appeals court ruling, Seattle no longer enforces the ban on asking about criminal history. But landlords still may not require disclosure, advertise categorical exclusions, or deny or take other adverse action based on criminal history, apart from the sex offender registry exception with a documented legitimate business reason. Since the results cannot lawfully drive the decision, most Seattle screening simply omits criminal history.

Does fair chance housing mean I have to rent to anyone who applies?

No. Income standards, rental history, references, and credit screening remain lawful everywhere in King County when applied consistently and disclosed in your written criteria under RCW 59.18.257. Remember that source of income is protected statewide, so subsidies and vouchers must be treated as lawful income.

My property has a Renton address. How do I know which rules apply?

A postal address does not determine jurisdiction. Areas like East Renton Highlands and Fairwood carry city mailing addresses but sit in unincorporated King County. Look the parcel up on King County's parcel viewer or check which government handles the property's permits; that jurisdiction's rules control your screening.

Could unincorporated King County adopt fair chance screening rules later?

Yes. King County's countywide planning policies already list criminal history protections among suggested tenant protection strategies, and the county has expanded renter protections several times in recent years. Treat the current rules as a snapshot and re-verify before each leasing cycle.

This article is general information for property owners, not legal advice. For decisions about a specific applicant or property, consult a landlord-tenant attorney familiar with the jurisdiction.

How Sagareus Handles Tenant Screening

Set the criteria up front, then apply them identically to every single applicant. Consistency is the whole game. The fastest way to a Fair Housing complaint, or a non-paying resident, is making an exception on a gut feeling. Here is how we keep it disciplined:

• Written criteria, fixed up front. Income, credit, rental history, and background standards are defined in advance, so no one is improvising once a name is attached.
• The same checks for everyone. Every applicant runs through the same review, in the order applications are completed, with verified income and documentation held to one standard.
• A second set of eyes before any decision. An assistant gathers and verifies; a leasing lead reviews the file for inconsistencies before it is approved or declined.
• Documented decisions, lawful notices. Every approval or decline is written down with its reasons, and anyone turned down receives a proper adverse-action notice.

We screen under the Fair Housing Act, Washington law, and local ordinances, including source-of-income and fair-chance rules. Lawful income like a housing voucher is counted, never penalized.

You get a real, repeatable system, not a hunch. That is what protects your home and your residents.

This is the same discipline we apply across all of Washington landlord tenant law compliance, where statewide rules, county codes, and city ordinances stack on top of each other.

Related Sagareus Services:

• Professional Leasing Services
• Tenant Screening Services