Title 42, Real Property.

If the tenant, after having given notice of his intention to quit as aforesaid, shall refuse, without reasonable excuse, to surrender possession according to such notice, he shall be liable to the landlord for rent at double the rate of rent payable according to the terms of tena…

Nothing herein contained shall be construed as preventing the parties to a lease, by agreement in writing, from substituting a longer or shorter notice to quit than is above provided or to waive all such notice.

Whenever real and personal property are leased together, as, for example, a house with furniture contained therein, the landlord, either in an action of ejectment or in the summary proceeding for possession, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, may have a judgment f…

Whenever a lease for any definite term shall expire, or any tenancy shall be terminated by notice as aforesaid, and the tenant shall fail or refuse to surrender possession of the leased premises, the landlord may bring an action of ejectment to recover possession in the Superior …

(a) At the time of an ejectment not subject to Chapter 35 of this title, the landlord shall change the locks on the leased premises in the presence of the United States Marshals Service ("Marshals"), at the landlord's expense, and take legal possession of the leased premises by r…

In either case the landlord may join with his claim for recovery of the possession of the leased premises a claim for all arrears of rent accrued to the termination of the tenancy, and, when the tenant has given the notice, for double rent from the termination of the tenancy to t…

If actions be brought separately for arrears of rent and for the possession, they may be afterwards consolidated and 1 judgment rendered in them for the possession and also for the rent.

The landlord shall have a tacit lien for his rent upon such of the tenant’s personal chattels, on the premises, as are subject to execution for debt, to commence with the tenancy and continue for 3 months after the rent is due and until the termination of any action for such rent…

The said lien may be enforced: (1) By attachment, to be issued upon affidavit that the rent is due and unpaid; or, if it be not due, that the defendant is about to remove or sell some part of said chattels; (2) By judgment against the tenant and execution, to be levied on said ch…

Such attachment may be issued in any action for the recovery of the possession of the leased premises by the landlord, in which the rent in arrear, or double rent, or both, shall be claimed as aforesaid, and it shall be lawful for any officer to whom the writ of attachment shall …

No goods or chattels whatsoever, lying or being in or upon any messuage, lands, or tenements, which are or shall be leased for life or lives, term of years, at will, or otherwise, shall be liable to be taken by virtue of any execution on any pretence whatsoever, unless the party …

Where any distress shall be made for any kind of rent justly due, and any irregularity or unlawful act shall be afterwards done by the party or parties distraining, or by his, her, or their agents; the distress itself shall not be therefore deemed to be unlawful, nor the party or…

If any tenant or lessee shall fraudulently remove and convey away his or her goods or chattels, or if any person or persons shall wilfully and knowingly aid or assist any such tenant or lessee in such fraudulent conveying away or carrying off of any part of his or her goods or ch…

Where any tenants for life shall happen to die before or on the day, on which any rent was reserved or made payable upon any demise or lease of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, which determined on the death of such tenant for life, the executors or administrators of such t…

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.

(a) The owner of a dwelling unit shall provide a tenant, before the tenant is obligated under any contract to lease or renew the lease of the dwelling unit, the lead disclosure form provided by the Mayor pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, complete with any information th…

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) "Accessory dwelling unit" means a rental unit that is secondary to the principal single-family dwelling in terms of gross floor area, intensity of use, and physical character, but which has kitchen and bath facilities separate from the princ…

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…