Seattle may extend eviction moratorium as tenants and small landlords deal with impacts

Seattle’s eviction moratorium is set to expire in a week, but there’s a chance it could be extended yet again.

Small landlord and tenant advocates who attended stakeholder group meetings with Mayor Bruce Harrell said that he is considering it.

In a statement, a city spokesperson said in a statement: 

The mayor is continuing to meet with stakeholder groups of small landlords and tenant advocates as outlined in his additional Executive Order announced last month. These meetings are critical for understanding the full implications of extending or ending the eviction moratorium. The Executive Order also directed an interdepartmental team of City departments to pull together data around impacted households, outstanding rent, and other key data points, as well as having other City departments identify and report available rental and utility assistance resources.

A city spokesperson said a further update is expected later this week.

Meanwhile, small landlords and tenants are both facing challenges with this ongoing issue.

Maya and Deo Chand have a rental property in South Seattle and claim the tenant has not paid rent since the fall of 2020. According to them, they are owed tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent and the couple showed FOX 13 News a water bill that had a balance exceeding $12,000.

RELATED: Mayor Harrell extends eviction moratorium until Feb. 14. 

"We saved this property so that we can move in when we are retired," said Deo. "They haven’t paid a dime of rent to us."

"We’re using all our retirement money for this mortgage, for the property tax, and it’s been almost two years, and we don’t know how we’re going to let it go for another year," said Maya.

The tenants told FOX 13 News that they have two children at home, a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old with a disability. They claim it was leased to one of their moms who passed over a year ago.

"So we’ve never, ever not wanted to give them the money. We understand that they have a family to take care of, just as we do, but they also have to consider our situation," said Adrianna Davidson.

The housing advocacy group Seattle for Growth said it's urging Mayor Harrell to focus on rent relief instead of an eviction ban.

"There are hundreds of millions of dollars available just for Washington State and rent relief," said Director Roger Valdez. "It’s mystifying to me how we have elected officials and government that would rather extend an eviction moratorium which really doesn’t do anything except make that problem worse," said Valdez.

Learn more about the King County Eviction Prevention and Rent Assistance Program here.

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