Department:

City of Seattle

Department of Finance and Administrative Services Rule No:

STR-6 Supersedes:

New

Publication:

12/6/2018

Effective:

1/1/2019

Subject:

Short-Term Rental Regulations and Public Disclosure

Code and Section Reference(s):

SMC 6.600

Approved:

Division Director

Business Unit Officer

Calvin W. Goings, Department Director

Date

Date

Date

City of Seattle Rules for Short-Term Rentals

Director's Rule STR-6, Short-Term Rental Regulations and Public Disclosure

SMC 6.600

This rule describes public disclosure requests as they apply to the City's administration of short-term rental (STR) regulations.

Background

The Public Records Act broadly defines public records as any writing containing information relating to the conduct of government or the performance of any governmental or proprietary function prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristic. It includes records prepared at the direction of a governmental agency or records used by an agency in connection with any governmental or proprietary function regardless of whether they are in the possession of the agency at the time a public records request is made.

General Application

If the City receives a public records request for records designated as confidential by the STR operator, bed and breakfast operator and/or STR platform that submitted those records (the submitting party), the City will notify the submitting party in writing of the request and will postpone disclosure for up to ten (10) calendar days. During that time, the STR operator, bed and breakfast operator and/or STR platform will be allowed an opportunity to obtain and serve the City with a court order to enjoin the City from releasing the records.

Third-Party Data Mining Service

To help enforce short-term regulations and ensure operator compliance, the City may use the services of a third-party data mining vendor. Such a vendor would regularly provide City staff with aggregated data and information on short-term rental and bed and breakfast listings across various STR platforms. These aggregated data and information could include the following:

Operator's name

Operator's contact information (email address, phone number and mailing address)

Property owner's name

Property owner's contact information (email address, phone number and mailing address)

Unit's address

Screenshot of the unit's online listing

Parcel number

Land use compliance status

Meets definition of a short-term rental (i.e., unit rents for fewer than 30 consecutive nights)

Number of nights booked

Booking price (weekday and weekend)

Platform(s) on which unit is listed

City issued license number

Data and information received from a third-party vendor are subject to public disclosure.

Audit

All records required to be maintained under SMC 6.600 are subject to inspection, copying and audit by the Department of Finance and Administrative Services (FAS) Director or his or her designee, with reasonable prior notice, during regular City business hours.