Title 42, Real Property.

It shall and may be lawful for any person or persons, having any rent in arrear, or due upon any lease or demise for life or lives, to bring an action or actions of debt for such arrears of rent, in the same manner they might have done, in case such rent were due, and reserved up…

It shall and may be lawful to and for the landlord or landlords, where the agreement is not by deed, to recover a reasonable satisfaction for the lands, tenements, or hereditaments, held or occupied by the defendant or defendants, in an action on the case, for the use and occupat…

In all cases where any person with a mental disability is or shall be entitled or has right to renew any lease or leases made or granted, or to be made or granted, for the life or lives of 1 or more person or persons, or for any term or number of years, absolute or determinable o…

All and every such lease or leases so to be made or executed shall be deemed as good and valid, and effectual in the law, to all intents and purposes, as if the person with a mental disability was at the time of making or executing thereof of without a mental disability.

All fines, premiums, foregifts, and sums of money, which shall or may be had, received, or paid for, or on account of the renewing of any such lease or leases as aforesaid, shall (after a deduction of all necessary incident charges and expenses) be paid to the guardian or guardia…

In all cases where any person under the age of 18 years, or any person with mental illness, is or shall become interested in or entitled to any lease or leases made or granted, or to be made or granted, by any person or persons, bodies politic, corporate or collegiate, aggregate …

All and every sum and sums of money and other consideration, paid or advanced by any such guardian, trustee, committee or other person, for or on account of the renewal of any such lease or leases, and all reasonable charges incident thereto, shall be paid out of the estate or ef…

The respective leases to be so renewed, shall operate, and be to the same uses, and be liable to the same trusts, charges, incumbrances, dispositions, devises and conditions, as the leases to be, from time to time, surrendered as aforesaid, were or would have been subject to, in …

Every such surrender, and such lease or leases granted thereupon, shall be, and be deemed as valid and legal, to all intents and purposes, as if such surrender had been made by and on the behalf of a person of full age, or sane mind.

In case any lease shall be duly surrendered, in order to be renewed, and a new lease made and executed by the chief landlord or landlords, the same new lease shall, without a surrender of all the underleases, be as good and valid, to all intents and purposes, as if all the underl…

The grantee or assignee of the reversion of any leased premises shall have the same right of action against the lessee, his personal representatives, heirs, or assigns, for rent or for any forfeiture or breach of any covenant or condition in the lease which the grantor or assigno…

All grants or conveyances of any manors or rents, or of the reversion or remainder of any messuages or lands, shall be good and effectual, to all intents and purposes, without any attornment of the tenants of any such manors, or of the land out of which rent shall be issuing, or …

All and every fraudulent attornment and attornments of any tenant or tenants of any messuages, lands, tenements, or hereditaments, shall be absolutely null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever; and the possession of their respective landlord or landlords, lessor or les…

For the purposes of this chapter, the term: (1) “Dwelling unit” means any habitable room or group of habitable rooms located within a residential building and forming a single unit which is used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, and the preparation and eating of meals;…

(a) The Mayor shall require the owner of a multiple dwelling to order a water lead level test kit from WASA to sample the tap water in a dwelling or rooming unit for the presence of lead within 15 calendar days of a written request to do so by a rental tenant or owner-occupant of…

(a) Whenever the Mayor finds reasonable grounds to believe that a violation of any provision of this chapter exists, he or she shall give notice of the alleged violation to the person or persons responsible for that violation. Each notice of violation shall be in writing and shal…

The Mayor is authorized to promulgate rules and to establish procedures to implement this chapter.

Civil fines, penalties, and fees may be imposed as sanctions for any infraction of the provisions of this chapter, or the rules.

For the purposes of this chapter: (1) The term “apartment house” means any building or part thereof, not used primarily for transient occupancy, in which there are 3 or more apartments, each with 1 or more habitable rooms with kitchen and bathroom facilities exclusively for use o…

(a) Wherever an owner, agent, lessor or manager of an apartment house is billed directly by a company, electricity supplier, natural gas supplier, or gas company (any of which shall be referred to as “company”) for service furnished to such apartment house not occupied exclusivel…

(a)(1) Upon nonpayment of a delinquent account by the owner, agent, lessor, or manager of an apartment house who is billed directly by a company, electricity supplier, or gas company (any of which shall be referred to as “company”) for service furnished to such apartment house, s…

Any wilful or malicious violation of this chapter by any owner, agent, lessor, manager or any electric company, electricity supplier, gas company, or natural gas supplier shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or both.

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prevent the tenant of such apartment house from pursuing any other action or remedy at law or equity that it may have against the owner, agent, lessor, manager or company.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any electric company, electricity supplier, gas company, or natural gas supplier to terminate service at the request of the owner, agent, lessor, or manager of an apartment house subject to this chapter, unless the Public Service Commission first make…

The Public Service Commission shall adopt regulations necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter. Such regulations shall include, but not be limited to, establishing procedures by which the company shall notify tenants of an affected apartment house that monies are owed …

(a) The Council of the District of Columbia finds that: (1) There is a continuing housing crisis in the District of Columbia. (2) There is a severe shortage of rental housing available to the citizens of the District of Columbia. The percentage of all rental housing units within …

In enacting this chapter, the Council of the District of Columbia supports the following statutory purposes: (1) To discourage the displacement of tenants through conversion or sale of rental property, and to strengthen the bargaining position of tenants toward that end without u…

As used in this chapter, the term: (1) “Appraised value” means the value of a housing accommodation as of the date of the appraisal, based on an objective, independent property valuation, performed according to professional appraisal industry standards. (2) “Bona fide offer of sa…

For purposes of this chapter, the provisions of § 42-3505.01(n) shall apply.

This subchapter may be cited as the “Conversion of Rental Housing to Condominium or Cooperative Status Act of 1980‘.

(1) An owner shall not convert a housing accommodation into a condominium or a cooperative until the Mayor certifies compliance with the provisions of this chapter. (2) Only an owner may request a tenant election to convert, send notice of intent to convert, or convert an accommo…

An owner who seeks to convert shall provide each tenant and the Mayor a written request for a tenant election by first class mail and post the request for an election in conspicuous places in common areas of the housing accommodation. The written request shall include, at a minim…

For the purposes of this section, the term “low-income” means annual household income, as determined by the Mayor, no greater than 80% of the area median income, as defined in § 42-2801(1)). An owner who converts a housing accommodation, including vacant buildings, into a condomi…

An owner who seeks to convert must pay the Mayor a certification fee. The Mayor is authorized to collect and establish the amount of the fee. The certification fee shall be sufficient to cover the cost of administering this subchapter.

(a) The Mayor may impose and collect fees for the processing of an application for conversion and other services provided by the Mayor or the Department of Housing and Community Development to implement this chapter. The Mayor shall establish the fees by rulemaking pursuant to su…

An owner shall provide each tenant with prior written notice of an intent to convert of at least 120 days by first class mail and by conspicuous posting in common areas of the housing accommodation. An owner shall not provide notice prior to the Mayor’s certification of complianc…

(1) For the purposes of this subsection, the term “qualifying income” means a total annual household income, as determined by the Mayor, no greater than 95% of the area median income, as defined in § 42-2801(1). (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, Chapter …

The Mayor shall not require the owner of a converted condominium unit occupied by a low-income tenant to pay real property tax for the unit. The proportionate value for a unit in a converted cooperative housing accommodation occupied by a low-income tenant shall be exempt from re…

(a) This subchapter shall remain in effect until the Mayor declares that a housing crisis no longer exists pursuant to § 42-3405.12. (b) The rights granted under § 42-3402.08 to eligible elderly and disabled tenants shall not be abrogated or reduced notwithstanding such a declara…

With respect to conversions of housing accommodations by owners or contract purchasers who received a notice of filing or filed articles of incorporation as a housing cooperative prior to August 10, 1980 (the effective date of the Rental Housing Conversion and Sale Emergency Act …

This subchapter may be cited as the ‘Relocation and Housing Assistance Act of 1980”.

If an owner converts a housing accommodation into a condominium or cooperative pursuant to this chapter, the owner shall provide a relocation payment to each tenant who does not purchase a unit or share or enter into a lease or lease option of at least 5 years’ duration. An owner…

The Mayor shall provide relocation assistance to low-income tenants who move from a housing accommodation which is converted into a condominium or cooperative. The Mayor shall provide service in the manner required by § 6-333.01.

If an owner converts a housing accommodation into a condominium or cooperative pursuant to this chapter, the Mayor shall provide housing assistance payment for 3 years to each low-income tenant who does not purchase a unit or share. Housing assistance payments shall be administer…

Relocation and housing assistance payments are not income to the recipient for purposes of the District of Columbia Income and Franchise Tax Act of 1947 (§ 47-1801.01 et seq.).

The Mayor shall include tenant rights to relocation payments, relocation services, and housing assistance payments in the summary of tenant rights required for publication in the D.C. Register. When an owner sends notice of intent to convert a housing accommodation into a condomi…