In the time crunch before the end of the Council Period, it seems that the years-in-the-making legislation to quell the practice of rent concessions will finally come to fruition. Brief history lesson: prior to 2006 Rent Control was based on a system of rent ceilings. The “ceiling” was the maximum chargeable rent under the statute. For a variety of reasons, the “ceiling” would typically be substantially higher than the market rent.

In October the Council took a preliminary vote to adopt among the most restrictive short-term housing regulations (AirBnB Law) in the Country. This week the Council passed the final version of the law, with only small changes. The new law will be a potentially huge impediment for owners who earn money renting out their property via sites like AirBnB, Homeaway, or VRBO.

Two or more people own a house, and one co-owner decides that he or she no longer wants to be an owner. What, can be done? It’s called ‘partition’ and it happens all the time, in a variety of circumstances.

On Tuesday October 2, 2018, the D.C Council took a preliminary, unanimous, vote to enact one of the most stringent regulations in the Country on short-term housing rentals such as Airbnb , HomeAway, and VRBO. If the bill becomes law in its present form, homeowners would only be allowed to rent out rooms in their main residence for 90 days per year while they are absent – so called “vacation rentals.” However, there is no limit on rentals while the host is present, i.e. spare bedroom “house sharing.”

A week ago the D.C. Court of Appeals handed down a decision that answered lingering questions about condo super priority lien foreclosures. It is a potentially a huge blow to mortgage lenders and a windfall to the investors who bought up these foreclosures by the dozen.

A couple of months ago, I posted that the U.S. Marshals Service announced changes to DC eviction procedures. Broadly speaking the Marshals decided that they would no longer supervise the removal of tenant belongings from a unit, but merely allow the landlord to execute a lock change at eviction.

Here is a scenario I’ve seen a half-dozen or so times. A homeowner hires a professional property manager to rent out the owner’s house after a move out-of-state. The management contract contains fairly standard language stating that if the Owner sells the property to a tenant, the Property Manager is entitled to a sales commission as the procuring source. The owner at some point decides to sell, hires an agent, and either via TOPA or directly, the tenant purchases.

For years landlords and tenants alike have complained that the DC eviction procedures are unfair. Landlords complain that the process is inefficient and slow, as a result, it takes too long to regain possession of the rental unit after an eviction order. Tenants have decried the process as inhumane and resulting in damage, destruction, and theft of personal belongings.

The DC Rent Contol Law is actually a convoluted stew of esoteric code and regulation sections. If you are burdened by logic and reason, you have little hope of understanding this flaming trash heap of a statutory scheme. However, for all of its shortcomings, it is actually clear on one point. IF a landlord is eligible for a Rent Control exemption, he or she MUST, file the exemption AND serve the affected tenants SIMULTANEOUSLY with the filing. If the landlord fails to do this, the exemption is VOID. 14 DCMR § 4101.6; Levy v. District of Columbia Rental Housing Commission 126 A.3d 684 (D.C. 2015)

Recently one of my clients asked if co-owners can simultaneously serve on a condo board in DC? My first thought was, “of course they can’t, that’s ridiculous.” As it turns out, there is no DC law, or case, prohibiting condo board service by co-owners of the same unit. So unless the Bylaws address the situation, it is totally permissible.

In the midst of the oversight season, the Council pressed forward with its legislative agenda. On March 6, 2018, they passed a somewhat controversial TOPA Amendment, exempting owner-occupied single family homes.

If you have ever lived through a home improvement project you know it is a flat out, unmitigated pain-in-the-ass. There is constant dust, noise, and vibration. Not to mention strangers invading your property, and losing the use of facilities and utilities, sometimes for days. At the end of it, you have a nice new kitchen, bathroom or refinished basement to show for it. However, neighbor construction projects are far more frustrating. You have to put up with all of the noise and inconvenience and get none of the payoff. In fact, sometimes, your property could end up in worse shape because of someone else’s improvements. Frustrating.

One of the things the District has gotten right is establishing, maintaining and expanding one of the most protective Human Rights laws in the nation. I am very proud to live in a place where wrongful discrimination, of any kind, is simply not tolerated. Did you know that the DC Human Rights Act also protects the criminal record of rental housing applicants?

I’ve handled dozens of condominium and cooperative projects for owners and developers and by far the biggest complaint is the amount of time that the process takes from beginning to end. As experienced DC real estate developers and agents can tell you, timing is extremely important to the success of any sales project.

In 2008, the Council passed the District Opportunity to Purchase Act (DOPA). As the name suggests, DOPA gives the District the right to purchase residential buildings, in certain circumstances, where the owner seeks to sell to a third party. The 2008 Act left many open questions for the Agency to resolve by promulgating regulations. On December 22 2017, only nine (9) years later, DHCD has finally answered the bell, and published proposed regulations.

The local media, government officials (usually when seeking re-election), housing advocates and the legal services community throw around the amorphous term “slumlord” to describe a landlord that treats tenants badly by failing or refusing to make needed repairs to a rental unit. The point at which a landlord crosses over into ‘slumlord’ territory was anybody’s guess, until now. On November 7 the D.C. Council has proposed an official definition of “slumlord.” (in a sense). The “Slumlord Deterrence Amendment Act of 2017” imposes harsh sanctions on people that own an interest in a rental property which amasses more than five (5) Class 1 violations in a year. Specifically, the slumlord in question may be denied a Basic Business License (including renewal) or Building Permit, of any...

On November 7, 2017, Council members Bonds and Nadeau introduced legislation to limit the rent that a landlord may charge for a unit after termination of a Federal or District subsidy. The Rental Housing Affordability Re-establishment Act of 2017 essentially provides, that upon termination of a tenant subsidy, a landlord may only charge a tenant the rent charged for that unit prior to the subsidy, plus, an increase of “general applicability” for each year that the subsidy based exemption was in place.

It is now legal for restaurant owners to allow patrons to bring pets into the outdoor seating areas provided certain conditions are met. Personally, I had no idea that allowing dogs in outdoor seating areas of restaurants was illegal. I have seen this, for years, all over the city, and frankly, thought nothing of it. I have never come across or even heard of an establishment receiving a violation for allowing dogs in outdoor areas. Apparently, during the summer months, the Department of Heath, cracked down on such conduct, issuing a slew of enforcement notices to restaurants with outdoor seating.