How we counted
Read the words.
Keep the record intact.
A complaint describes a reported problem. A staff note describes the City’s handling of it. An inspection date and a case status each tell another part of the story. They are read separately.
The basics
What goes into a finding?
Start with what the tenant reported.
The physical-condition counts use clear wording in the complaint description. A complaint about no heat and an elevator outage can belong to both topics. Counting topics is different from counting complaints.
Rent, notices, deposits, leases, entry disputes, and information-only contacts are kept separate from physical-condition complaints.
Keep the complaint and the staff note separate.
The complaint description and the City’s handling notes are retained as separate text. A staff label is not automatically treated as something the tenant reported.
For technical readers: DESCRIPTION is treated as the complaint-side narrative; DESCRIPTION1 is treated as the staff or handling narrative. Those field roles are analytical conventions for this source.
Keep uncertain wording out of the clear-match totals.
Clear text matches, uncertain wording, and inferences from City labels remain separate. “Strict habitability” means the complaint text clearly matches a physical housing-condition category. It does not mean a violation has been legally established.
Keep the words behind the classification.
Source text, counting rules, accepted and rejected matches, wording variants, and review records are retained so classifications can be examined against the original wording.
What the fields mean
A date, a status, and a repair
are different pieces of evidence.
An empty date leaves the inspection question open.
The public field does not provide an inspection date. The underlying case record is needed to establish whether an inspection occurred.
A recorded date is not the whole inspection history.
A populated field alone does not establish that a physical inspection occurred or describe what was inspected.
A closed case needs an explanation.
Closed and Completed are case statuses. Evidence of correction and verification must be considered separately.
Different complaints need different responses.
A question about a lease may be resolved without a physical inspection. That is why the analysis separates physical conditions from other contacts.
Sources and coverage
Know which record you are reading.
The source is Seattle’s public code-complaint and violation records. The summary release is dated October 27, 2026 and covers landlord-tenant records from 2003–2025.
Individual map cards link to the City record. A complaint describes an allegation or reported concern; its appearance on a map does not establish a confirmed violation.
| Source layer | What it contributes | Important limit |
|---|---|---|
| City public records | Record numbers, types, statuses, dates, addresses, and complaint and staff text. | A public field is not a complete case history. |
| Complaint-text classification | Topics identified from the wording in each record. | A classification does not replace the source text or establish a violation. |
| Case histories and documents | Related records, inspections, findings, and enforcement evidence where available. | Underlying documents are needed to test what a summary field represents. |
| Complaint maps | Locations and topics from the existing map source snapshot. | The maps and summary findings use separate source versions. Their totals are not interchangeable. |
Map source snapshot and record access
The embedded maps identify their source as LLT_APPROVED_THROUGH_20251231.json, with build date 2026-10-19 22:16 UTC on the citywide map. The citywide source hash prefix is 08216c8ac73b; topic rules are identified as LLT_VOCAB_AUDIT_20261018. Each map retains its own source metadata.
Open an individual map record to follow its link to the Seattle Services Portal. The map cards provide access to individual City records; the full source datasets are outside this site.
What this release does not cover
Property-level P.I.E.R. reports, comparisons with the Rental Registration and Inspection Ordinance (RRIO) program and permits, full case-disposition coding, and additional record-group reports are outside these published findings.
Differences between records need individual review. A discrepancy alone does not establish deception or intent.