D.C. Attorney General Sues 14 Of The City’s Biggest Landlords For Colluding To Inflate Rental Prices

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be awesome if our AG stopped filing frivolous lawsuits and maybe did something about crime.

I find the timing of this curious, what with the little carjacker getting killed and the increasing media coverage about juvenile crime and all. It has a “look over here, look over here” distraction feel about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for positing. This story will be invisible on housing twitter just like the original story about RealPage was. Anyone who claims to be an affordable housing advocate and doesn’t applaud the AG’s effort isn’t interested in affordable housing so much as they are in making sure landlords make giant profits.

Fact check: false.

-person on housing Twitter

Serious question: where has housing twitter/urbanist twitter/local DC twitter gone? Is everyone on IG now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for positing. This story will be invisible on housing twitter just like the original story about RealPage was. Anyone who claims to be an affordable housing advocate and doesn’t applaud the AG’s effort isn’t interested in affordable housing so much as they are in making sure landlords make giant profits.

Fact check: false.

-person on housing Twitter

Name one account where you’ve seen it. Because all I see is the usual posts about zoning and a couple of misleading posts about taxes.

Expand your follows.

So you can’t name one. The market urbanists would prefer this practice was never discovered.

But what about the housing?! DC needs more housing! Lots more luxury upscale, er I mean, affordable housing!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for positing. This story will be invisible on housing twitter just like the original story about RealPage was. Anyone who claims to be an affordable housing advocate and doesn’t applaud the AG’s effort isn’t interested in affordable housing so much as they are in making sure landlords make giant profits.

Fact check: false.

-person on housing Twitter

Serious question: where has housing twitter/urbanist twitter/local DC twitter gone? Is everyone on IG now?

Some of it is on Bluesky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be awesome if our AG stopped filing frivolous lawsuits and maybe did something about crime.

There’s nothing frivolous about this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be awesome if our AG stopped filing frivolous lawsuits and maybe did something about crime.

I find the timing of this curious, what with the little carjacker getting killed and the increasing media coverage about juvenile crime and all. It has a “look over here, look over here” distraction feel about it.

You think the AG made the decision to file the lawsuit and put the whole thing together and actually did file it, all between Saturday night and Wednesday?

[Anonymous]

This is amazing!!! The clearly illegal things UDR does is next level. They are already in a suit with the city of alexandria for the illegal crap they did at their Alexandria complex. I literally hope this makes a difference. This company is diabolical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be awesome if our AG stopped filing frivolous lawsuits and maybe did something about crime.

I find the timing of this curious, what with the little carjacker getting killed and the increasing media coverage about juvenile crime and all. It has a “look over here, look over here” distraction feel about it.

You think the AG made the decision to file the lawsuit and put the whole thing together and actually did file it, all between Saturday night and Wednesday?

No, they didn’t just throw this together this weekend, but I don’t think it was pure coincidence that they chose this week to file it and make a splashy press announcement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be awesome if our AG stopped filing frivolous lawsuits and maybe did something about crime.

I find the timing of this curious, what with the little carjacker getting killed and the increasing media coverage about juvenile crime and all. It has a “look over here, look over here” distraction feel about it.

You think the AG made the decision to file the lawsuit and put the whole thing together and actually did file it, all between Saturday night and Wednesday?

No, they didn’t just throw this together this weekend, but I don’t think it was pure coincidence that they chose this week to file it and make a splashy press announcement.

right back at you.

Carjacking is not the only kind of crime. White-collar crime is also crime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the one hand I hate how DC treats landlords, and on the other hand I hate how DC treats landlord.

I hate that they go after small landlords with some of the most tenant tilted protections ever. We no longer rent our 'rental unit' due to the horror stories which = less money for us, less housing for someone else, but less hassle overall.

BUT I also hate stuff like this collusion, or that large tenants aren't disincentivized from having their properties lie fallow for years (or the inverse, which would also apply above--incentivized to rent them).

It's all so awful.

The horror stories are truly horrible. There was a case recently where two tenants in SE haven’t paid rent in 3 years, received tens of thousands in COVID rental assistance money, and still haven’t been evicted by tenant court. A friend recently listed their place for rent and has been bombarded by lawsuit trolls running FHA audits. Maybe the city doesn’t realize the protections they afford a relatively small number of total dingbats seeking a free place to live on the back of small landlords screws over just everybody trying to rent a unit in DC or maybe it just doesn’t care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be awesome if our AG stopped filing frivolous lawsuits and maybe did something about crime.

I find the timing of this curious, what with the little carjacker getting killed and the increasing media coverage about juvenile crime and all. It has a “look over here, look over here” distraction feel about it.

Please remove your tinfoil hat.

DC's OAG is a pretty large office with many divisions, all doing work at the same time. Some people are addressing crime, some are addressing public corruption, some are addressing housing, some are addressing consumer protection issues. It's not like Schlwab is sitting there saying "WE NEED A WIN! GET ME A BIG LAWSUIT TO FILE!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the one hand I hate how DC treats landlords, and on the other hand I hate how DC treats landlord.

I hate that they go after small landlords with some of the most tenant tilted protections ever. We no longer rent our 'rental unit' due to the horror stories which = less money for us, less housing for someone else, but less hassle overall.

BUT I also hate stuff like this collusion, or that large tenants aren't disincentivized from having their properties lie fallow for years (or the inverse, which would also apply above--incentivized to rent them).

It's all so awful.

The horror stories are truly horrible. There was a case recently where two tenants in SE haven’t paid rent in 3 years, received tens of thousands in COVID rental assistance money, and still haven’t been evicted by tenant court. A friend recently listed their place for rent and has been bombarded by lawsuit trolls running FHA audits. Maybe the city doesn’t realize the protections they afford a relatively small number of total dingbats seeking a free place to live on the back of small landlords screws over just everybody trying to rent a unit in DC or maybe it just doesn’t care.

One of the reasons crap landlords can't get their tenants out is because the housing isn't considered habitable enough by the Department of Buildings to consider rentable. DOB is apparently working on a workaround, because these landlords don't want to go to landlord-tenant court.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in a building owned by a company on the naughty list. I think it’s the rise in crime in the neighborhood that kept my rent the same when I renewed last month.

In DC you have the same legal rights and rent control protections if you go month to month. The upside is you are not locked in if/when you move, can give proper notice and not be on the hook for balance of lease.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the one hand I hate how DC treats landlords, and on the other hand I hate how DC treats landlord.

I hate that they go after small landlords with some of the most tenant tilted protections ever. We no longer rent our 'rental unit' due to the horror stories which = less money for us, less housing for someone else, but less hassle overall.

BUT I also hate stuff like this collusion, or that large tenants aren't disincentivized from having their properties lie fallow for years (or the inverse, which would also apply above--incentivized to rent them).

It's all so awful.

The horror stories are truly horrible. There was a case recently where two tenants in SE haven’t paid rent in 3 years, received tens of thousands in COVID rental assistance money, and still haven’t been evicted by tenant court. A friend recently listed their place for rent and has been bombarded by lawsuit trolls running FHA audits. Maybe the city doesn’t realize the protections they afford a relatively small number of total dingbats seeking a free place to live on the back of small landlords screws over just everybody trying to rent a unit in DC or maybe it just doesn’t care.

These trolls are looking to sue people's pants off, not actually place residents. It makes renting out feel like a game of 'gotcha!' for sure. We have chosen to stop renting a small, moderately priced, well-situated space. One-sided rental codes and badgering by social warrior law students? No thanks.

[Anonymous]

DC promote raising prices to jettison all the criminals running a much in DC.