Bellingham Rental Fee and Pet Charge Caps 2025: $50 Application Fee Limit and Other Charges

That list targets a different category of charge than the capped fees; these aren't fees being limited to a maximum amount, they're fees being eliminated entirely, which means a landlord currently charging any item on this list needs to remove it altogether rather than simply reducing it to a lower amount.

5. Why the pet-fee interaction with the prohibited-fees list matters for compliance

The ordinance separately flags that a pet fee exceeding 2% of monthly rent is prohibited if a pet deposit is also being charged, reinforcing the either-or structure from a different angle.

[Cite: Bellingham Municipal Code 6.16]

A landlord auditing current pet-charge practices should check both provisions together; a fee structure that technically keeps each individual charge under its own cap could still run afoul of the ordinance if it combines a deposit and ongoing rent in a way the either-or rule doesn't allow.

6. Why the violation or compliance fee requires a documented warning first

A landlord can charge up to $75 per month for a tenant's violation of the rental agreement, but only after giving prior written warning and a reasonable opportunity to cure the violation.

[Cite: Bellingham Municipal Code 6.16]

That procedural requirement means this fee isn't available as an immediate charge the moment a violation occurs; a landlord needs the documented warning and cure opportunity in place first, which makes this a fundamentally different kind of fee than a flat administrative charge imposed without any advance notice.

7. Why the all-in transparency requirement changes how units get advertised

Advertisements, listings, and lease agreements now have to disclose the rent amount, which utilities are included versus tenant-responsible, and all fee amounts upfront.

[Cite: Bellingham Municipal Code 6.16]

That requirement means a listing can't advertise an attractively low base rent while leaving mandatory fees for later disclosure; the advertised figure and accompanying information have to reflect the real cost structure a tenant would actually face from the start.

8. Why manufactured home communities follow a related but separate set of rules

A separate section, Bellingham Municipal Code Chapter 6.19, governs prohibited fees in manufactured home communities, including its own distinct late fee cap of 1% of outstanding monthly rent, different from the 2% cap that applies to standard residential rentals.

[Cite: Bellingham Municipal Code 6.19]

A property manager operating both standard rental units and a manufactured home community needs to track these as 2 separate fee frameworks rather than assuming the same caps apply uniformly across both property types.

9. Why removing banned fees requires more than just adjusting a number on an invoice

Since several prohibited items, appliance usage fees, common area access charges, payment-processing fees, aren't being capped but eliminated entirely, a landlord's existing billing systems and lease templates likely need structural changes rather than a simple rate adjustment.

[Cite: Bellingham Municipal Code 6.16]

A landlord who simply lowers a banned fee to a smaller amount, rather than removing it altogether, hasn't actually complied; the ordinance's prohibited-fees list functions as a true ban on those specific charges, not a reduced-rate allowance.

10. Why this ordinance reflects a broader statewide and local trend toward fee transparency

Bellingham's fee caps and prohibited-fees list arrived around the same general period as several other Washington jurisdictions adopting similar junk-fee restrictions and all-in cost disclosure requirements.

[Cite: Bellingham Municipal Code 6.16]

A property manager operating across multiple Washington cities should expect this kind of fee-transparency framework, capped categories alongside an outright-banned list, plus upfront cost disclosure, to keep appearing in other jurisdictions, and should build compliance processes general enough to adapt as more cities adopt comparable rules.

11. What property managers should do now

The practical starting point is auditing every current fee line item against 3 separate categories: the capped fees (screening, deposit, pet charges, late fees), the outright-banned fees (appliance usage, common area access, payment processing, mail collection), and the conditional violation fee requiring prior written warning.

Updating lease templates and advertising materials to reflect the required all-in cost disclosure keeps a Bellingham portfolio compliant with both the fee structure itself and the transparency requirement that applies on top of it.