Public Hearing Covers DC Condo Bill of Rights, Strengthening of Tenant Rights

• December 7, 2015
• 2 Comments

by Tianna Mañón

On Monday, a public hearing will be held that will address two pieces of proposed housing legislation for DC.

The Condominium Owner Bill of Rights Amendment Act of 2015 was introduced by Councilmember Anita Bonds in October. The bill would require mediation before a condominium board in a building is allowed to foreclose on one of the unit owners. It would also establish a condominium owner bill of rights that would need to be furnished to unit owners in condominium buildings around the city.

The Residential Lease Amendment Act of 2015, introduced by Councilmember Mary Cheh, will also be considered Monday. This bill aims to further strengthen tenant rights in the District by:

• Prohibiting housing providers from requiring tenants to pay fees in excess of the maximum monthly rent.
• Restricting providers from “unreasonably withholding consent if a tenant desires to sublet or assign their lease as required by a provision in their lease.”
• Prohibiting housing providers from entering a tenant’s unit without first receiving permission or entering at unreasonable times or for unreasonable purposes.

The hearing will be held in the Wilson Building at 11:00 a.m.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/public_hearing_to_discuss_condo_and_rental_rights/10665

2 Comments

1. monademarkpv said at 4:56 pm on Monday December 7, 2015:
   All the things in the article, I agree with and should be done. If DC really wants to talk about affordable housing they need to look into the very slanted Landlord/Tenant rules that make most landlords very hesitant to rent to anyone but market rate renters. If the laws were so slanted toward the tenants and gave a landlord some recourse they could have a quick solution to the affordable housing issues.

1. Leonard said at 10:05 pm on Monday December 7, 2015:
   The condo act is terrible! I wish I knew it was going on today. There are condo owners who have not paid their fees for YEARS and it hurts the association from paying their bills. The association already has to spend 10's of thousands on legal fees on some slack condo owners and now more!