Title 42, Real Property.

Each disclosure required by this chapter shall be made in good faith. For the purposes of this chapter, “good faith” means honesty in fact in the making of the disclosure.

The specification of items for disclosure in this chapter does not limit or abridge any obligation for disclosure created by any other provision of statutory law regarding fraud, misrepresentation, or deceit in transfer transactions. If the transferor provides to the prospective …

Any disclosure made pursuant to this chapter may be amended in writing by the transferor, but the amendment is subject to the requirements of § 42-1302.

Delivery of a disclosure statement required by this chapter shall be by personal delivery, facsimile delivery, or by registered mail to the prospective transferee. Execution by the transferor of a facsimile counterpart of the disclosure statement shall be considered to be executi…

A transfer subject to this chapter shall not be invalidated solely because of the failure of any person to comply with any provisions of this chapter.

The duty to comply with this chapter is imposed on a transferor, and not on any real estate agent or real estate broker of a transferor. A real estate agent or real estate broker of a transferor shall not be liable for any error, inaccuracy or omission in any information delivere…

Where real estate is limited to 1 or more for life, with a contingent limitation over to such issue of 1 or more of the tenants for life as shall be living at the death of their parent or parents, and the deed or will does not prohibit a sale, said court may, on the application o…

Any application for such sale shall be by bill, verified by the oath of the party or parties, in which all the facts shall be distinctly set forth upon the existence of which it is claimed that such sale should be decreed, which facts shall be proved by competent testimony. All o…

The proceeds of sale of said real estate shall be held under the control and subject to the order of the court, and shall be invested under its order and supervision upon real and personal security, and the same shall, to all intents and purposes, be deemed real estate and stand …

Wherever 1 or more persons shall be entitled to an estate for life or years, or a base or qualified fee simple, or any other limited or conditional estate in lands, and any other person or persons shall be entitled to a remainder or remainders, vested or contingent, or an interes…

Where lands, tenements, or hereditaments are conveyed or devised to one person, whether for years or for a freehold estate, to the use of or in trust for another, no estate or interest, legal or equitable, shall vest in the trustee, but the person entitled, according to the true …

Where divers and many persons be, or hereafter shall happen to be jointly seized of and in any lands, tenements, rents, reversions, remainders, or other hereditaments, to the use, confidence, or trust of any of them that be so jointly seized, in every such case those person or pe…

No implied or resulting trust shall be alleged or established to defeat or prejudice the title of a purchaser for a valuable consideration and without notice of such trust; and where an express trust is created, but is not contained or declared in the conveyance to the trustee, s…

A man from henceforth shall have a writ of waste in the chancery against him that holdeth by law, or otherwise for term of life, or for term of years; and he which shall be attainted of waste, shall lease the thing that he hath wasted, and moreover shall recompense thrice so much…

Fermors, during their terms, shall not make waste, sale or exile of house or woods, nor of anything belonging to the tenements, that they have to ferm, without special license had by writing of covenant, making mention that they may do it; which thing if they do, and thereof be c…

Because that diverse people in times past have let their lands and tenements to divers persons, that is to say, some for term of life or of another man’s life, and some for term of years, the said tenants have oftentimes let and granted their estate which they had in the same lan…

Any joint tenant or tenant in common may maintain an action for waste committed by his cotenant, or in a suit for a partition, or a sale for purpose of partition may have said waste charged against the share of the cotenant committing the same.

The purposes of this subchapter are to protect the public against incompetence, fraud and deception in real estate transactions; to establish a Real Estate Guaranty and Educational Fund to compensate victims of unlawful real estate practices; and for other purposes.

For purposes of this subchapter: (1) The term “advance fee” means any fee, commission, or other valuable consideration contracted for, claimed, demanded, charged, received, or collected prior to the listing, advertisement, or offer to sell or lease real estate, paid or offered to…

(1) A licensee engaged by a seller shall: (A) Perform in accordance with the terms of the brokerage relationship; (B) Promote the interests of the seller by: (i) Seeking a sale at the price and terms agreed upon in the brokerage relationship or at a price and terms acceptable to …

(a) In any real estate transaction in which any person is entrusted, receives, and accepts, or otherwise holds or deposits monies or other trust instruments, of whatever kind or nature, pending consummation or termination of the transaction involved, whether or not the person is …

A written listing contract is required in the District for the sale of all real property. A licensee shall not receive payment of a commission in the absence of a written listing agreement.

(a) There is established a Real Estate Guaranty and Education Fund (“Fund”). (b) Except as provided in § 42-1707(k), on or after March 10, 1983, every real estate broker, real estate salesperson and property manager licensed under this subchapter shall, as a condition for renewin…

(a) Any person who: (1) obtains a final judgment, including a settlement reduced to a final judgment, in any court of competent jurisdiction in the District against any other person on the grounds of fraud, misrepresentation, deceit, embezzlement, false pretenses, forgery, failur…

(a) Any person who knowingly files with the Mayor any application, notice, or other document required to be filed under this subchapter or any rule issued thereunder, which is false or fraudulent or contains any material misstatement of fact, shall, upon conviction, be punished b…

(a) The repeal of any provision of §§ 42-1721 to 42-1738 [repealed], or any rule issued pursuant to this subchapter, shall not affect any act done, or any right accruing or accrued on any liability arising, or any suit or proceeding had or commenced in any civil cause under §§ 42…

(a) This chapter shall apply to all condominiums created in the District of Columbia; provided, that except as otherwise expressly set forth in this chapter, any provision of this chapter that became effective after the creation of a condominium, horizontal property regime, or co…

For the purposes of this chapter: (1) “Common elements” shall mean all portions of the condominium other than the units. (2) “Common expenses” shall mean all lawful expenditures made or incurred by or on behalf of the unit owners’ association, together with all lawful assessments…

Each condominium unit shall constitute for all purposes a separate parcel of real estate, distinct from all other condominium units. Any condominium unit may be owned by more than 1 person as joint tenants, as tenants in common, as tenants by the entirety (in the case of spouses …

(a) If there is any unit owner other than the declarant, a tax or assessment shall not be levied on the condominium as a whole or against any common elements, but only on the individual condominium units. A condominium unit shall be carried on the records of the District of Colum…

No zoning or other land use ordinance or regulation shall prohibit condominiums as such by reason of the form of ownership inherent therein. Neither shall any condominium be treated differently by any zoning or other land use ordinance or regulation which would permit a physicall…

(a) If any portion of the common elements is taken by eminent domain, the award therefor shall be allocated to the unit owners in proportion to their respective undivided interests in the common elements, except that the portion of the award attributable to the taking of any perm…

Except as expressly provided by this chapter, a provision of this chapter may not be varied by agreement and any right conferred by this chapter may not be waived. A declarant may not act under a power of attorney or use any other device to evade a limitation or prohibition of th…

In the application or construction of the provisions of this chapter, the courts of the District of Columbia shall give due regard to judicial decisions and rulings in states that have enacted the Uniform Condominium Act or any other condominium statute that contains provisions s…

No condominium shall come into existence except by the recordation of condominium instruments pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. No condominium instruments shall be recorded unless all units located or to be located on any portion of the submitted land, other than within…

(a) At the time of the conveyance to the first purchaser of each condominium unit following the recordation of the declaration, every mortgage, deed of trust, any other perfected lien, or any mechanics’ or materialmen’s liens, affecting all of the condominium or a greater portion…

After the creation of the condominium, no description of a condominium unit shall be deemed vague, uncertain, or otherwise insufficient or infirm which sets forth the identifying number of that unit, the name of the condominium and the instrument number and date of recordation of…

The declaration and bylaws, and any amendments of either made pursuant to § 42-1902.19, shall be executed by or on behalf of all of the owners and lessees of the submitted land. But the phrase “owners and lessees” in the preceding sentence and in § 42-1902.19 does not include, in…

All amendments and certifications of the condominium instruments shall set forth the instrument number and date of recordation of the declaration and, when necessary, shall set forth the condominium book and page number where the plats and plans are recorded. All condominium inst…

Except to the extent otherwise provided by the condominium instruments: (1) The terms defined in § 42-1901.02 shall be deemed to have the meanings therein specified wherever they appear in the condominium instruments unless the context otherwise requires; (2) To the extent that w…

The condominium instruments shall be construed together and shall be deemed to incorporate one another to the extent that any requirement of this chapter as to the content of one shall be deemed satisfied if the deficiency can be cured by reference to any of the others. If any co…

(a) All provisions of the condominium instruments shall be deemed severable, and any unlawful provision thereof shall be void. (b) No provision of the condominium instruments shall be deemed void by reason of the rule against perpetuities. (c) No restraint on alienation shall dis…

(a) Any lack of compliance with this chapter or with any lawful provision of the condominium instruments shall be grounds for an action or suit to recover damages or injunctive relief, or for any other available remedy maintainable by the unit owners’ association, the unit owners…

(a) The declaration for every condominium shall contain: (1) The name of the condominium, which name shall include the word “condominium” or be followed by the words “a condominium”; (2) A legally sufficient description of the land submitted to this chapter; (3) A description or …

(a) The declaration may allocate to each unit depicted on plats and plans that comply with subsections (a) and (b) of § 42-1902.14 an undivided interest in the common elements proportionate to either the size or par value of each unit. (b) Otherwise, the declaration shall allocat…

(a) If a condominium contains any convertible land or is an expandable condominium, then the declaration shall not allocate undivided interests in the common elements on the basis of par value unless the declaration: (1) Prohibits the creation of any units not substantially ident…