Seattle Housing Authority Listening Session & Project Culmination

Right to Organize

TU Victory! This law exists because members of the Tenants Union worked together and fought for it. If you have benefited from this law, go to Tenants Union Membership to find out more about becoming a member to support the TU’s work for housing justice.

Under the Seattle Housing and Building and Maintenance Codes, Seattle landlords are prohibited from preventing or discriminating against tenants who are organizing in their buildings. Organizing activities include passing out and posting flyers and information to your neighbors and in common areas, creating connection with your neighbors and inviting them to get involved, and holding meetings that are unattended by management or agents of the landlord in the building. If the landlord takes any undue negative action against a tenant who has participated in one of these organizing activities, it is automatically assumed to be retaliation and is illegal. If you would like more information, or want to report retaliation by your landlord for organizing in your building, contact the Department of Construction and Inspection at 206-684-5700, or you can file a report online at Filing A Complaint.

Tenants Union Tenant Counselors are not attorneys, and this information should not be considered legal advice. Please read our full Tenant Union Disclaimer.