Can a Seattle HOA or Condo Association Restrict Long-Term Rentals?

Washington's Condominium Act treats a leasing restriction as a restriction on "use," and use restrictions get special protection under the amendment rules. Most declaration amendments need agreement from owners holding 67 percent of the association's votes. Changing the uses a unit is restricted to, including adding or removing a leasing cap, needs 90 percent, along with the individual agreement of any owner particularly affected.

That gap between 67 and 90 percent is the practical reality landlords need to plan around. A building that already restricts rentals is unlikely to remove that restriction easily, since it takes the same 90 percent bar to undo it. A building with no restriction today is just as unlikely to add one quickly, since getting 90 percent of owners to agree on anything is difficult in practice. Either way, the building's current policy is a reasonably reliable baseline, not something likely to shift under you within a normal ownership timeline.

Washington is mid-transition between two condominium statutes. Condos created after 1 July 1990 are generally governed by the Washington Condominium Act, RCW 64.34. A newer law, the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (WUCIOA, RCW 64.90), took effect 1 July 2018 and applies immediately to associations formed after that date, while older associations continue under their original statute until a mandatory transition deadline of 1 January 2028, with limited exceptions for commercial-only properties, small condominiums of 6 units or fewer, and small HOAs meeting specific assessment thresholds.

Non-condominium HOAs, typically detached single-family or townhouse communities organized under a declaration of covenants rather than a condominium structure, generally fall under a separate statute, RCW 64.38, rather than either condominium act.

Washington's statute doesn't use the word grandfathering, but the practical effect of the 90 percent threshold functions like it. An owner who bought into a building before a rental restriction existed, and who has continuously rented the unit since, may have a stronger position if the association later tries to enforce a new restriction against that specific unit, since the amendment provision itself requires the individual agreement of each owner particularly affected, not just the 90 percent vote. Whether that protection actually applies to a specific unit depends on the exact language of the amendment and when it was adopted, not a general assumption.

Seattle's Just Cause Eviction Ordinance requires a landlord to have one of a defined list of reasons to end a tenancy, and one of those reasons, the owner's intent to sell the property, applies only to a detached single-family dwelling unit. Condos, townhouses, duplexes, and apartments are explicitly excluded from using that ground.

This matters specifically for a condo owner weighing whether to rent out a unit they might want to sell and vacate later. A single-family homeowner can end a tenancy to sell; a condo owner in the same city generally cannot rely on that same ground.

Get the current declaration and any amendments directly from the association's managing agent, along with the vote record for any amendment that added or removed a leasing restriction. Confirm the association's formation date to establish which statute currently governs it, and ask directly whether a WUCIOA transition is planned or underway. If you're already renting the unit, keep documentation of continuous rental history in case a "particularly affected" argument becomes relevant later.

Substantive review means an editor or reviewer checked this article against the current statute text and the cited third-party guidance. Washington's condominium law is in an active, multi-year transition between RCW 64.34 and RCW 64.90, verify which statute currently governs the specific building before relying on this for a leasing decision. This is general information, not legal advice. Corrections: compliance@platuni.com