STLCA · Seattle Tenant Landlord Compliance & Accountability · · printed
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Illustration of Seattle with seven glass towers, one for each Council district, labeled with record counts: District 3 has 11,092, District 2 has 8,873, District 7 has 7,895, District 1 has 7,527, District 5 has 7,232, District 4 has 6,676 and District 6 has 6,295.
Illustration. Towers are not to scale; labels show the number of records in each Council district. 668 records could not be assigned to a district.
Investigation · Seattle renter protections

Seattle Created Renter Protections, Advisory Bodies and Enforcement Programs. Who Shows the Public Whether They Worked?

Seattle did not only pass renter protections. It built inspection, reporting, research, renter-representation and public-access systems around them. R.A.R.E. follows the public record to see whether the pieces that watch enforcement and outcomes stayed as durable and auditable as the rest.

Don't take our word for it. Follow the record.
See the enforcement chainGet the record
Total records56,258landlord-tenant, 2003–2025
No inspection date64.2%36,106 of 56,258 records
Closed, no inspection result61.6%31,236 of 50,721 closed cases
Complaints with a notice24.6%9,961 of 40,540
Inspection result on file89.8% → 12.0%records opened 2013 vs 2025
Start here

Choose a district. Open the record.

Citywide records, district dashboards, and district dossiers, organized for public review.

Citywide & District Dashboards

Key metrics, trends and outcomes for each of the seven districts.

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District Dossiers

The records, findings and evidence behind each district's story.

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Findings

Key findings, each labeled documented, analysis or open question.

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Reports

Property reports, case studies and district briefs you can request.

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Methodology

Our methods, definitions and the limits of the data.

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Source Records

Case studies and the public records that power our findings.

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Notices of violation, district by district

The red building beside each tower is that district's notices of violation.

9,961 notices of violation sit against 40,540 complaints. Choose a district to open its numbers.

DistrictRecordsComplaintsNotices of violationNotices per 100 complaintsNo inspection dateClosed, no result
Analysis

District 7 shows the lowest notice rate and the highest share of records with no inspection date.

14.7 notices per 100 complaints, against 32.2 in District 2. 71.0% of District 7 records display no inspection date, the highest of the seven districts.Citywide landlord-tenant file, 56,258 records
Limit of the record

A lower rate does not say why.

It may reflect a different mix of complaints, faster resolution, or thinner documentation. The public record alone cannot tell these apart.How STLCA reads every district figure
The mandate was explicit

Three moments in the record. Years apart.

2016

"You measure what's important to you..."

Seattle designs recurring rental-market monitoring and annual Council reporting.
2017

A formal renter voice at City Hall.

Seattle creates the Renters' Commission as an advisory body on renter policy.
2025

"Enforcement is often limited or inaccessible."

Renters are still reporting the enforcement problem.

What happened in between?

The R.A.R.E. enforcement chain

A law is not the outcome. A complaint is not the outcome. The record must show what happened next.

Every housing complaint should leave a trail. Click a step to see the record that should exist there and what the public data shows.

Findings from the record

Every finding carries its own label.

Documented

SDCI wrote that it has never prepared the annual report Ordinance 125054 requires.

"On the report you are asking for, we've never prepared such a report."SDCI RRIO manager, email of March 7, 2025
Analysis

Most closed cases show no last-inspection date.

31,227 of 50,721 closed or completed cases (61.6%) display no last-inspection date.Citywide landlord-tenant file, 56,258 records, through Dec 31, 2025. Public record only.
Documented

Six of nine 2023 City findings documents for one complex read "Admin Closure."

They include water in an elevator shaft, sewage in a bathtub, and no heat.SDCI Complaint Reports of Findings, 2023
Open question

What was inspected before those cases were closed?

The findings documents do not say.Records requested from SDCI
Open question

What became of fees and penalties on notices of violation?

Assessment and collection status has not been published for these notices.Fee records under review
Limit of the record

A missing inspection date does not prove no inspection happened.

It proves the public cannot verify that one did.How STLCA reads every field
Featured case study

Lowell Emerson Apartments, 1102 & 1110 8th Avenue · District 7

Notices of violation

172 records since 2003. 156 complaints, 83 of them since 2023. In 97 of 152 closed cases, no last-inspection date is shown.

  • Nine City findings documents from 2023: six administrative closures, one confirmed violation, two "No Violation Observed."
  • SDCI's own emails give two accounts of whether all units were inspected in October 2024.
  • SDCI has said in writing it has never prepared the annual report the ordinance requires.
Read the full case study
RecordTypeCity outcomeDate
002076-23CPHousingViolation Confirmed05/10/23
006403-23CPHousingAdmin Closure09/15/23
007134-23CPHousingAdmin Closure07/14/23
011688-23CPHousingAdmin Closure10/11/23
001999-23CPHousingAdmin Closure04/18/23
010913-23CPLandlord/TenantNo Violation Observed09/14/23
Source: SDCI Complaint Reports of Findings. The public record does not show what was inspected before each closure.
Plain accounting

What we know. What we don't.

What the record shows

  • 56,258 landlord-tenant records, 2003 to 2025; 55,872 of them tied to 20,328 street addresses.
  • 24.6% of complaints have a notice of violation (9,961 of 40,540).
  • 3,749 records still read "Under Investigation."
  • The share of records with an inspection result on file fell from 89.8% (opened 2013) to 12.0% (opened 2025).
  • SDCI says its job is to enforce the RRIO ordinance and the Housing Building Maintenance Code.

What it cannot establish

  • Whether an inspection happened where no date appears.
  • Whether a closed complaint was corrected.
  • Why any case was closed as it was.
  • Any person's intent. We do not assert it.
More ways into the record

Working pathways, marked as drafts until reviewed.

Draft · under review

Elevator & Fire-Rescue Cross-Reference

113 Seattle addresses where a Fire Department elevator-rescue dispatch, a genuine tenant elevator complaint and an uncertified elevator all appear in the record.Not a finding of wrongdoing or of current elevator condition. Certification status can change. Case study

Lowell Emerson Apartments

172 records, the City's own findings documents, and SDCI's written statements, with what the record cannot show.1102 & 1110 8th Ave · District 7 Coming from the record

Property timelines

Record-by-record histories for the most-complained-about addresses, rebuilt from the reconciled dataset.Available on request as a Property Outcome Report
Get the record

Reports, case studies and property-level outcomes, built from public records.

Journalists can use it. Researchers can cite it. Policymakers can reference it. Analysts can audit it. Critics have a harder time dismissing it.

Tenants, buyers, attorneys

Property Outcome Report

  • Any address in the record
  • Complaint and violation history, open cases, closure basis
  • Timeline, the City's own findings, and limits
Request a report
Journalists, researchers

Building Case Study

  • End to end, source-linked, review-ready
  • Documented fact separated from open questions
  • Evidence index and method
Commission a case study
Council offices, agencies

District Dossier & Policy Brief

  • Your district's complaints, outcomes and gaps
  • Denominators, dates and definitions on every figure
  • Specific asks tied to the record
Request a dossier
Analysts, tenant organizations

Data & Evidence Access

  • Address-level scorecards and district datasets
  • Methodology and provenance
  • Terms set per request
Ask about access
Cities and civic partners

Build R.A.R.E. in your city

  • The engine is designed for replication
  • Same standard, same evidence architecture
  • Operational in Seattle
Start a conversation
Funders, sponsors, supporters

Back public accountability

  • Keep the record open and free to check
  • Fund more addresses, districts and years
  • Independent. Not a City body.
Get behind the record

Pricing is quoted per request. Reports describe what the public record shows. They are not legal advice or a legal service.

Trust architecture

Evidence first. Interpretation second. Publication third.

Documented fact
A record or written statement, cited.
Analysis
What STLCA calculates from the record.
Allegation
A claim, never presented as a finding.
Open question
What the record cannot yet answer.
Limit
What the data cannot show.
Read the methodologyCouncil briefing
Public record. Independent review. Traceable findings. Data today. Change tomorrow.