DC Bill Would Place Time Limits on Housing Code Violations

• December 7, 2017

by Nena Perry-Brown

This year, much attention was given to landlords in DC who are repeat housing code violators, with property owners like Sanford Capital making headlines regularly.

On Tuesday, Councilmembers Anita Bonds, Brianne Nadeau, Robert White and Trayon White co-introduced a bill that would standardize the timeframes that property owners have to correct building code infractions.

Currently, the appeals process allows property owners to defer and delay correcting poor living conditions for years after being issued an infraction from the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. The Housing Code Enforcement Integrity Amendment Act of 2017 establishes standard deadlines for appeal hearings and violation corrections.

If passed, the bill would require that hearings for all violation appeals take place within 10 days after notice is received, preventing property owners from filing a series of deadline extension requests. Any Class 1, 2 or 3 violations that go unaddressed for six months would enable the city to penalize the owner via their real property tax assessment.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dc_bill_would_place_time_limits_on_housing_code_violations/13340