Title 6, Housing and Building Restrictions and Regulations.

(a) A Board of Zoning Adjustment is hereby created which shall be composed of 1 member of the National Capital Planning Commission or a member of the staff thereof to be designated in either case by such Commission and appointed by the Mayor of the District of Columbia; 1 member …

A copy of any map established by said Zoning Commission and of its zoning regulations shall be filed in the Office of the Mayor of the District of Columbia. A copy of any regulation or any amendment adopted after June 20, 1938, shall be published once in 1 or more daily newspaper…

(a) It shall be unlawful to erect, construct, reconstruct, convert, or alter any building or structure or part thereof within the District of Columbia without obtaining a building permit from the Director of the Department of Buildings, and said Director shall not issue any permi…

(a) The Mayor of the District of Columbia shall enforce the regulations adopted under the authority of this subchapter. Nothing contained in this subchapter shall be construed to limit the authority of the Mayor or Council of the District of Columbia to make municipal regulations…

Wherever the regulations made under the authority of this subchapter require a greater width or size of yards, courts, or other open spaces, or require a lower height of buildings or smaller number of stories, or require a greater percentage of lot to be left unoccupied, or impos…

The word “amend,” “amendment,” “amendments,” or “amended,” when used in this subchapter in relation to the zoning regulations, shall be deemed to include any modification of the text or phraseology of the regulations or of any provision of the regulations or any regulations or an…

Appropriations are hereby authorized to carry out the provisions of this subchapter for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1938, and thereafter the Mayor of the District of Columbia is authorized and directed to include in his annual estimates such amounts as may be required for sal…

The Act of March 1, 1920 (41 Stat. 500, ch. 92), excepting the provisions of § 6-621.01 creating the Zoning Commission, providing for its membership and service without additional compensation, are hereby repealed. All laws or parts of other laws in conflict with the provisions o…

The provisions of this subchapter shall not apply to federal public buildings; provided, however, that, in order to ensure the orderly development of the national capital, the location, height, bulk, number of stories, and size of federal public buildings in the District of Colum…

After October 13, 1964, no building or chancery being used by a foreign government in the District of Columbia shall be transferred to or used by another foreign government unless such use is in accordance with § 6-641.06, as amended, or unless such use was in accordance with app…

Sections 6-651.01 and 6-651.02 shall not be administered in such a way as to discriminate against any foreign government on the basis of the race, color, or creed of any of its citizens.

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the Mayor of the District of Columbia is hereby authorized and directed, from time to time, to prescribe a schedule of fees to be paid for permits, certificates, and transcripts of records issued by the Director of the Dep…

In any case where building permits have been issued and no work has been begun thereunder, the person who has paid the fee for said permit may return said permit for cancellation, and upon the cancellation thereof there shall be refunded to him, in the manner prescribed by law fo…

(a) The Mayor of the District of Columbia is authorized and directed, from time to time, to prescribe a schedule of fees to be paid for inspecting passenger elevators and for inspecting hotels, public halls, moving-picture shows, theaters, and other places of amusement which are …

The Mayor of the District of Columbia may enter into an interstate agreement with the Commonwealth of Virginia or with the State of Maryland, or with both, which shall stipulate that any person: (1) who operates in the District of Columbia and in the state which is a party to the…

The Council of the District of Columbia, for protection against fire, is hereby authorized, after public hearing, to promulgate regulations to require the owner entitled to the beneficial use, rental, or control of any building now existing or hereafter erected, other than a priv…

It shall be unlawful for any person to occupy any building 30 days after notice in writing from the Mayor of the District of Columbia or his designated agents that the owner entitled to the beneficial use, rental, or control of any building has failed or neglected to comply with …

The notice from the Mayor of the District of Columbia requiring the erection of means of egress and other appliances required by the regulations promulgated under § 6-703.03 shall specify the character and number of means of egress or other appliances to be provided, the location…

Any owner entitled to the beneficial use, rental, or control of any building failing or neglecting to provide means of egress, guide signs, guide lights, exit lights, hall and stairway lights, standpipes, fire extinguishers, alarm gongs and striking stations, or other appliances …

Any notice required by §§ 6-703.03 to 6-703.09 shall be deemed to have been served if delivered to the person to be notified or left with any adult person at the usual residence or place of business of the person to be notified in the District of Columbia, or, if no such residenc…

In case of failure or refusal of the owner entitled to the beneficial use, rental, or control of any building required by the regulations promulgated under §§ 6-703.03 to 6-703.09 to comply with the requirements of the notice provided for in § 6-703.05, the Mayor of the District …

The Superior Court of the District of Columbia, in term time or in vacation, may upon a petition of the District of Columbia filed by its said Mayor, issue an injunction to restrain the use or occupation of any building in the District of Columbia in violation of any of the provi…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law except §§ 6-731.02 and 6-731.03, no person shall, during the period of time after the giving of a notice to vacate any rental unit (as defined by Chapter 35 of Title 42) and before the actual vacation of such unit, cause any alteration t…

Section 6-731.01 shall not apply to any person performing any alteration upon any housing accommodation if the tenants of unvacated rental units, which are the subject of notices to vacate and which can reasonably be expected to be caused by the alteration to come to be in substa…

The Mayor of the District of Columbia, or his designee, may grant an exemption from the provisions of § 6-731.01 in the event he, or his designee, inspects a housing accommodation wherein there are unvacated units subject to a notice to vacate and finds that a proposed alteration…

Any person violating § 6-731.01 shall be imprisoned for not more than 10 days, fined not more than $300, or both.

For the purposes of this subchapter, the term: (1) "Construction Codes" means the most recent edition of the codes published by the International Code Council, or by a comparable nationally recognized and accepted code development organization, as adopted and amended by the Const…

The owner of each new and existing occupied dwelling unit shall be responsible for installing smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in accordance with the Construction Codes.

(a) The Mayor shall develop a program to test and install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and batteries in District residences, and to educate District residents on the use of the detectors. The program shall be re-developed annually. The program may include: (1) Door-to-door…

(a)(1) No later than December 31st of each year, the Mayor shall provide to the Council an annual report on the smoke and carbon monoxide detector and battery program for the previous fiscal year. (2) The annual report on the smoke and carbon monoxide detector and battery program…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Mayor may accept gifts and grants of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, batteries, and funds to conduct a program to provide detectors and batteries free of charge to residents of the District, and to install or arrange for the in…

(a) If any building or part of a building, staging, or other structure, or anything attached to or connected to any building or other structure ("structure") or an excavation is reported to the District government as unsafe, from any cause, the Mayor shall examine the structure o…

Whenever a responsible party to whom notice has been provided pursuant to § 6-801(d) refuses or neglects to abate the unsafe structure or excavation within the time period specified by the notice, upon expiration of that time period, the Mayor shall proceed to make the structure …

(a) The existence on any lot or parcel of land, in the District of Columbia, of any uncovered well, cistern, dangerous hole, excavation, any dead, dangerous or diseased tree, or part thereof, or of any abandoned vehicles of any description or parts thereof, miscellaneous material…

(a) The Mayor shall determine the cost and expense of any work performed by him under the authority of §§ 6-801 to 6-804, including the cost of making good damage to adjoining premises (except such as may have resulted from carelessness and willful recklessness in the demolition …

(a) Any tax authorized to be levied and collected under § 6-804, may be paid without interest within 60 days from the date such tax was levied. Interest of 20% per annum shall be charged on all unpaid amounts from the expiration of 60 days from the date such tax was levied. Any s…

(a) Any notice required by this chapter to be served shall be deemed to have been served when served by any of the following methods: (1) when forwarded to the last known address of the owner as recorded in the real estate assessment records of the District of Columbia, by regist…

Whenever the Mayor finds that any building or part of a building, staging, or other structure, or anything attached to or connected with any building or other structure or excavation shall cause a building to be unsafe for human occupancy, he shall give notice of such fact to the…

(a) The Mayor may examine the habitability and sanitary condition of all buildings in the District of Columbia, to condemn those buildings which are in such insanitary condition as to endanger the health or lives of the occupants thereof or persons living in the vicinity, and to …

(a) The Mayor is directed to appoint or designate a board to consist of not less than 3 members, to perform the duties and functions required by this chapter as follows: (1) A Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings to issue appropriate orders of condemnation requiring…

(a)(1) Whenever the Building Code Official, as defined in § 6-1401(1), finds that any building or a part of any building ("building") is in such habitable or sanitary condition as to endanger the health or lives of the occupants or persons living in the vicinity, the Building Cod…

No person having authority to prevent shall permit any building or part of building condemned to be occupied, except as specially authorized by the Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings under the authority contained in this chapter, after 15 days, exclusive of Sunday…

The owner of any building or part of building condemned under the provisions of this chapter shall, within the time specified by the Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings in the order of condemnation, or any extension of time which may be granted by the Board: (1) ma…

If the owner of any building or part of building condemned under the provisions of this chapter shall make such changes or repairs as will remedy in a manner satisfactory to the Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings the conditions which led to the condemnation of suc…

(a) If the owner of any building or part of building condemned under the provisions of this chapter shall fail to remedy in a manner satisfactory to the Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings the condition or conditions which led to the condemnation thereof, by failin…

Whenever the Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings is in doubt as to the ownership of any building or part of a building, the condemnation of which is contemplated, because the title thereto is in litigation, said Board may notify all parties to the suit and may repo…