Burien, WA Rental Property Rules: Repairs & Habitability (2026)

Burien measures rental habitability through a Director-published checklist rather than a fixed list of standards printed in the chapter. Under BMC 5.62.070(2), the Community Development Director is authorized to create and publish a checklist for declarations of compliance and inspections, and to add standards including those within the building code (Chapter 15.40 BMC), the fire code (Chapter 15.20 BMC) and RCW 59.18.060.

Landlords certify against that checklist. A declaration of compliance must state that each unit complies with the requirements of the chapter and that no conditions in the units endanger or impair the health or safety of a tenant (BMC 5.62.040(2)(d)). A certificate of inspection must state that all units subject to inspection have been inspected and comply with the checklist, must rest on a physical inspection done not more than 90 days before the certificate date, and must list and show compliance with the minimum standards for each inspected unit (BMC 5.62.070(3) to (5)).

Failure carries housing consequences, not just fines. Under BMC 5.62.080 the Director can notify an owner that it is unlawful to rent or let a tenant continue to occupy a unit until a valid certificate or declaration is provided, and the unit is then placarded as an unlawful or unsafe structure or unfit for human occupancy under International Property Maintenance Code Section 111.1, 111.1.3 or 111.1.4. After 30 days of noncompliance the property is deemed uninhabitable, the business license is deemed revoked as of the thirty-first day, and the owner becomes financially responsible for tenant relocation under RCW 59.18.090. BMC 5.62.120 preserves the city's ability to inspect and cite conditions that could amount to an immediate health or safety threat. BMC 8.25.300 also adopts KCC 8.36.010, titled Use of certain dwellings prohibited, by reference.