How Will Washington’s House Bill 1110 Affect Homeowners Associations?

House Bill 1110 bans single-family zoning in many Washington cities. But will this law affect homeowners associations, too?

Understanding House Bill 1110

The newly passed House Bill 1110 is an ambitious piece of legislation that overrules cities’ authority to restrict land zoning to consist of only single-family homes. Under the new law, duplexes, fourplexes, and even sixplexes will soon be legal.

According to the bill, cities with over 25,000 people in Washington must permit duplexes at the very least. Cities with over 75,000 people, on the other hand, must permit at least fourplexes. However, all of Seattle’s suburbs must permit duplexes no matter the size.

Exemptions to the Law

Interestingly, the newly passed law will not affect some of the richest communities in Washington. These include Seattle’s Broadmoor and Shoreline’s Innis Arden. This is because of an exemption under House Bill 1110.

As per the exemption, homeowners associations and common interest communities whose governing documents or internal contracts only allow zoning for single-family homes will not be forced to comply. This means that HOAs with preexisting contracts concerning zoning rules do not need to permit duplexes, fourplexes, or sixplexes in their communities.

Rep. Jessica Bateman says that the bill cannot retroactively change the legal agreements HOAs have with homeowners. Bateman serves as the lead sponsor of the bill.

This is in contrast to previous laws the state passed that had sweeping influence over associations and their rules, such as the law prohibiting HOAs from banning child care centers.

The bill, however, does expressly name homeowners associations. According to the bill, HOAs cannot make any new contracts or zoning rules that go against the bill’s stipulations after it comes into effect.

With Washington’s population growing, housing is understandably lagging behind. And the bill is the state’s answer to providing more homes to residents.

House Bill 1110 is set to take effect in July.