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The City of Seattle
Ordinance
Council Bill
title
An ordinance relating to commercial tenancies; establishing lessor requirements to provide transparency regarding access to the lease agreement, previous certificate of occupancy for the space, the existing conditions of the space, and triple net expenses; and amending Sections 6.104.020, 6.104.030, 6.104.060, 6.104.070, and 6.104.080 of the Seattle Municipal Code.
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Recitals:
The Washington Constitution provides in Article XI, Section 11 that "[a]ny city, county, town or township may make and enforce within its limits all such local police, sanitary and other regulations as are not in conflict with general laws."
Owners of small businesses are less likely than owners of large businesses to own the properties from which those businesses are conducted, thus any requirements that affect commercial lease agreements will impact small businesses to a greater extent than they will impact large businesses.
The Office of Economic Development's 2023 "Future of the Seattle Economy" report reflects a community-informed investment agenda that will promote inclusive economic growth, especially for communities that have systematically been excluded from such opportunities, and its findings identified the need to help women- and minority-owned business enterprises (WMBEs) and small business enterprises (SBEs).
The Office of Economic Development has encountered recurring issues in its efforts to support small businesses negotiate lease agreements and resolve tenant-landlord disputes, which include small businesses unable to acquire a copy of their lease, misunderstanding the allowed use of the space, discovering faulty conditions or inadequate utilities only after signing a lease, and being subject to substantial increases in triple net expenses with limited understanding about how the costs are incurred by the lessor or ca...
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