Title 42, Real Property.

Proceedings for judicial review of mayoral actions shall be subject to and be in accordance with the District of Columbia Administrative Procedure Act (§ 2-501 et seq.) applicable to “rule-making”; provided, however, that review of mayoral actions pursuant to § 42-1904.06 shall b…

(a) Any person who wilfully violates any provision of this chapter or any rule adopted under or order issued pursuant to § 42-1904.12 or any person who wilfully in an application for registration makes any untrue statement of a material fact or omits to state a material fact shal…

If any provision of this chapter, or any paragraph, section, sentence, clause, phrase or word or the application thereof, in any circumstances is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this chapter, and of the application of any such provision, paragraph, section, sentenc…

This subchapter, including its table of contents, may be cited as the “Horizontal Property Act of the District of Columbia.”

Unless it is plainly evident from the context that a different meaning is intended, as used herein: (1) “Unit” or “condominium unit” means an enclosed space, consisting of 1 or more rooms, occupying all or part of 1 or more floors in buildings of 1 or more floors or stories regar…

Whenever the owners or the co-owners of any square or lot shall subdivide the same into a condominium project in conformity with § 42-2009 with a plat of condominium subdivision there shall be established a horizontal property regime.

Once the property is subdivided into the horizontal property regime, a condominium unit in the project may be individually conveyed, leased, and encumbered and may be inherited or devised by will, as if it were sole and entirely independent of the other condominium units in the p…

Any condominium unit may be held and owned by more than 1 person as joint tenants, as tenants in common, as tenants by the entirety (in the case of husband and wife), or in any other real property tenancy relationship recognized under the laws of the District of Columbia.

(a) A condominium unit owner shall have the exclusive fee simple ownership of his unit and shall have a common right to a share, with the other co-owners, of an undivided fee simple interest in the common elements of the property, equivalent to the percentage representing the val…

(a) The common elements, both general and limited, shall remain undivided. No unit owner, or any other person, shall bring any action for partition or division of the co-ownership permitted under § 93, and related provisions, of the Act of March 3, 1901 (31 Stat. 1203), as amende…

(a) Each co-owner may use the elements held in common in accordance with the purposes for which they are intended, without hindering or encroaching upon the lawful rights of the other co-owners. (b) The manager, board of directors or of administration, as the case may be, shall h…

(a) Whenever the owner or the co-owners of any square or lot duly subdivided in conformity with § 1-1320 or other applicable laws of the District of Columbia shall deem it necessary to subdivide the same into a condominium project of convenient condominium units for sale and occu…

When a plat of a condominium project and subdivision shall be so certified, examined, and recorded, the purchaser of any condominium unit thereof or any person interested therein may refer to the plat and record for description in the same manner as to squares and lots divided be…

(a) All the co-owners or the sole owner of a project constituted into a horizontal property regime may terminate and waive this regime and regroup or merge the individual and several condominium units with the principal property; such termination and waiver shall be by certificat…

The merger provided for in the preceding section shall in no way bar the subsequent constitution of the property into another horizontal property regime whenever so desired and upon observance of the provisions of this subchapter.

(a) The administration of every project constituted into a horizontal property regime shall be governed by the bylaws as the council of co-owners may from time to time adopt, which said bylaws together with the declaration, including recorded attachments thereto, referred to in §…

(a) The bylaws must necessarily provide for at least the following: (1) Form of administration, indicating whether this shall be in charge of an administrator, manager, or of a board of directors, or of administration, or otherwise, and specifying the powers, manner of removal, a…

The manager, administrator, or the board of directors, or of administration, or other form of administration specified in the bylaws, shall keep books with detailed accounts in chronological order, of the receipts and of the expenditures affecting the project and its administrati…

(a) The common profits of the property shall be distributed among and the common expenses shall be charged to the unit owners according to the percentages established by § 42-2006; provided, that for purposes of the application of subchapter II of Chapter 18 of Title 47, the coun…

(a) The lien determined, levied and assessed in accordance with § 42-2016 shall have preference over any other assessments, liens, judgments, or charges of whatever nature, except the following: (1) Real estate taxes, other taxes arising out of or resulting from the ownership, us…

The purchaser of a condominium unit in a voluntary sale shall be jointly and severally liable with the seller for the amounts owing by the latter under § 42-2016 upon his interest in the condominium unit up to the time of conveyance; without prejudice to the purchaser’s right to …

(a) In addition to proceedings available at law or equity for the enforcement of the lien established by § 42-2016, all the owners of property constituted into a horizontal property regime may execute bonds conditioned upon the faithful performance and payment of the installments…

The manager or the board of directors, if required by the bylaws or by a majority of the co-owners, or at the request of a mortgagee having a first mortgage of record covering a unit, shall have the authority to, and shall, obtain insurance for the property against loss or damage…

(a) In case of fire or other disaster the insurance indemnity shall, except as provided in the next succeeding subsection of this section, be applied to reconstruct the project. (b) Reconstruction shall not be compulsory where destruction comprises the whole or more than two-thir…

Where the project is not insured or where the insurance indemnity is insufficient to cover the cost of reconstruction the new project costs shall be paid by all the co-owners in the same proportion as their proportionate ownership of the common elements of the condominium project…

(a) For the purposes of assessment and taxation of property constituted into a horizontal property regime and to conform to the system of numbering squares, lots, blocks, and parcels for taxation purposes in effect in the District of Columbia, each condominium unit duly situate u…

(a) Without limiting the right of any co-owner, actions may be brought on behalf of 2 or more of the unit owners, as their respective interests may appear, by the manager, or board of directors, or of administration with respect to any cause of action relating to the common eleme…

(a) Subsequent to establishment of a horizontal property regime as provided in this subchapter, and while the property remains subject to this subchapter, no lien shall thereafter arise or be effective against the property. During such period liens or encumbrances shall arise or …

The rule of property known as the rule against perpetuities, and the rule of property known as the rule restricting unreasonable restraints on alienation, §§ 42-302 and 42-304 [repealed], shall not be applied to defeat any of the provisions of this subchapter, or of any declarati…

The provisions of the subchapter shall be in addition to and supplemental to all other provisions of law of the District of Columbia and wheresoever there appears in the provisions the words “square”, “lot”, “land”, “ground”, “parcel”, “property”, “block”, or other designation de…

In order to bring horizontal property regimes into compliance with the laws and regulations in effect in the District of Columbia, the Council of the District of Columbia and the Zoning Commission of the District of Columbia are each hereby authorized to adopt such regulations as…

(a) This subchapter shall be interpreted in such a manner as to require each condominium unit and each horizontal property regime to be in compliance with all District of Columbia laws and regulations relating to property of like type, whether it be designed for residence, for of…

(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this subchapter, the developer or co-owners of any horizontal property regime shall have the right to have installed for each and every individual unit a separately metered water service. Such installations shall be subject to all laws and reg…

Nothing in this subchapter or in any amendments made by this subchapter shall be construed so as to affect the authority vested in the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia by Reorganization Plan No. 5 of 1952 (66 Stat. 824). The performance of any function vested by…

In addition to other authority delegated to it, and in accordance with § 406 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967, the Council of the District of Columbia is authorized, by regulation, to prohibit the establishment, after the effective date of such regulation, of any horizontal p…

The Council of the District of Columbia (“Council”) finds that: (1) There exists an immediate crisis regarding the critical shortage of decent and affordable low- and moderate-income housing resulting in significant measure from the lack of maintenance and the deterioration of re…

In enacting this chapter, the Council supports the following statutory purposes: (1) To provide decent and affordable rental opportunities for low-income persons and homeownership opportunities to low-and moderate-income persons; (2) To enable organized groups of low-and moderate…

For the purposes of this chapter, the term: (1) Repealed. (1A) “Commercial property” means income producing property as identified under zoning classifications, that would allow for such uses as office buildings, retail stores, restaurants, and service facilities pursuant to Chap…

(a) There is established a Homestead Housing Preservation Program (“Program”), to be administered by the Mayor, the purpose of which is to provide a program under which title to property acquired by the District pursuant to §§ 47-847 and 47-1303, or through District-initiated for…

(a) The Mayor shall identify and publish in the D.C. Register on an annual basis a list of properties, the titles to which are available for transfer under the Program. The properties shall be properties for which the statutory redemption period has lapsed. In addition to publica…

The Mayor may contract with, and pay all reasonable costs of, any person to research and quiet title to properties to be included in the Program. If services are provided by a person under this section and the property is subsequently redeemed by the owner or another party having…

(a) Proposals for large multi-family dwellings shall be considered only in accordance with the following rules of priority: (1) A proposal from a qualified tenant association shall be considered first. (2) If there is no proposal from a qualified tenant association or if the prop…

(a) The Mayor shall sell each residential building in the Program for $250 per dwelling unit and each commercial building for up to $5,000 per unit. Commercial, single-family and small multi-family dwellings shall be sold at prices determined by the Mayor after considering the in…

(a) At the time of settlement, the homesteader shall take free and clear title to property subject only to the terms of an abatement agreement and this chapter. Each homesteader at the time of property settlement shall enter into an abatement agreement with the District, which sh…

(a) The Mayor shall issue a RFP inviting organizations to submit proposals for the development and implementation of a Technical Training Program consistent with this chapter and rules promulgated pursuant to this chapter. (b) The Technical Training Program shall contain, at mini…

(a) There may be appropriated out of revenues available to the District sufficient funds to administer the Program. Beginning with the budget submission for Fiscal Year 1988, the Mayor shall include in the budget submission to the Council a statement of goals and objectives regar…