$210,000 Settlement Reached Against Company That Ran DC Apartments Like Hotel Rooms

The interior of one of Ginosi’s listed DC “apartels”
In the midst of short-term rental regulatory hearings earlier this year, DC Attorney General Karl Racine filed suit against Armenian company Ginosi USA for operating four apartment complexes in DC as “illegal hotels”.
Yesterday, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) announced that the office reached a settlement regarding two of the buildings. Daro Management Services and Daro Realty have agreed to return approximately $210,000 to tenants of the two rent-controlled buildings where units were being advertised for short-term rentals.
story continues below
loading...story continues above
The suit complained that Ginosi partnered with the above companies to run apartments at The Phoenix (1421 Massachusetts Avenue NW) and The Rodney (1911 R Street NW) similarly to hotel rooms, advertising these living quarters as “apartels”. Ginosi had allegedly operated up to 46 units in these buildings as apartels since at least August 2015.
The $210,000 in restitution will be transferred to long-term residents of those buildings via rent refunds or $132 monthly credits for each month the tenant lived in the building while Ginosi ran its apartels. An additional $100,054 penalty will be paid to the District.
“Rent-control laws are crucial to maintaining affordable housing in the District, and this settlement helps prevent those laws from being flouted,” Attorney General Racine said in the statement.
Settlement has not yet been reached in regards to the other two buildings cited in the lawsuit.
See other articles related to: short-term rental, rent control dc, rent control
This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/settlement_reached_against_company_that_ran_dc_apartments_like_hotel_rooms/13065
Most Popular... This Week • Last 30 Days • Ever

UrbanTurf is re-running its primer on property taxes which outlines a few things that... read »
UrbanTurf has compiled virtual looks at large new developments around the DC region.... read »

The 11th Street Bridge Park project is progressing through the approval process.... read »

Another 30-day public comment period is currently underway.... read »

To illustrate the rise in prices, UrbanTurf analyzed four charts that show the path o... read »
DC Real Estate Guides
Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market
We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Visit guides.urbanturf.com or start browsing below!
First-Timer Primers
Intro guides for first-time home buyers
Unique Spaces
Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro