DCRA Infraction/Hearing

[Anonymous]

Hi! Does anyone have any experience with or advice for a hearing after receiving a notice of infraction from DCRA? In case helpful, some background details:

I bought my house in late 2018, spent 2019 working with an architect and finally got permits in 2020. The renovation mostly took place over 2020 and I moved in late 2020 although small amounts of interior work continued through early 2021 (but nothing that needed an inspection or permitting, like, building built-ins, that sort of thing). The house is in a historic district. My contractor, architect and I definitely intended to comply with the historic regulations and to get permits, although I know many people don't.

I something certified mail last week which is a notice of infraction from DCRA which just says "exceeded scope of permit, incorrect window replacements on front and rear, not permit for rear siding in [x] historic district." I'm was surprised to receive this for many reasons, first because we did this renovation three years ago and had all our inspections and such and none of this was flagged and then second because I think we did have permits for these things.

Specifically, some questions:

1. If I deny this an appear for a hearing, what happens at the hearing? Who has the burden of proof? It feels very hard to prepare for a hearing based on the limited description of the issue in the notice of infraction. For example, should I just assume that every single window in the house DCRA is going to try and argue is incorrect?
2. What evidence can I show at the hearing? DCRA seems to not actually have particularly good photos of the house prior to the renovation. In the notice, they attached screenshots from google maps as "evidence" and they've attached no photos of the back of the house (so I'm not sure how they can prove I added the rear siding). For after photos they have tons of photos (like actually a sort of alarming number taken dozens of different dates and times over the past three years that they've attached to the notice, its kind of creepy).
3. How quickly do these hearings happen? Should I have a lawyer (I am a lawyer, but not a DC real estate lawyer...)? Who from DCRA is likely to show up?

Happy to answer any other questions if it would assist anyone in answering!

[Anonymous]

Your contractor should handle it.
We had an infraction - we replaced a fence and didn’t think about getting a permit and used a random handyman who didn’t care. I went for the meeting and in discussion got the DCRA rep, who was very nice, to halve it. Another friend had a similar issue and the contractor handled it and it was half what I paid - they want contact with the contractors who are having infractions to prevent future ones.

[Anonymous]

OP, GL here. If this is anything like what happened when we lived in the Capitol Hill Hysterical Society section, a neighbor catty corner across one side of the alley was hellbent on taking down a young couple who were renovating the rear side of their newly purchased home. The home had significant termite damage and they were just trying to get it done. Anything they were doing was better than the peeling crap siding and long unpainted window frames we could see directly across from us (the complainant had to crane his neck to see their place and still at an angle). He would routinely take photos, print them, and take them into DCRA. One day the woman knocked at our front door, in tears, begging us to sign a petition in support of their work. He was effectively bankrupting them. He lived in one of the nicest rowhouses on the alley, but couldn't give a damn about anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your contractor should handle it.
We had an infraction - we replaced a fence and didn’t think about getting a permit and used a random handyman who didn’t care. I went for the meeting and in discussion got the DCRA rep, who was very nice, to halve it. Another friend had a similar issue and the contractor handled it and it was half what I paid - they want contact with the contractors who are having infractions to prevent future ones.

OP here: Unfortunately, in part because this renovation was more than 3 years ago, my contractor moved to Utah last year.... otherwise asking him to deal with it would have been my first choice. Just for others reference if anyone reads this thread in the future, my fine is $4700 (so if there truly are issues with multiple windows on the house, will honestly be cheaper to just pay the fine than pay for new windows and labor).

OP, GL here. If this is anything like what happened when we lived in the Capitol Hill Hysterical Society section, a neighbor catty corner across one side of the alley was hellbent on taking down a young couple who were renovating the rear side of their newly purchased home. The home had significant termite damage and they were just trying to get it done. Anything they were doing was better than the peeling crap siding and long unpainted window frames we could see directly across from us (the complainant had to crane his neck to see their place and still at an angle). He would routinely take photos, print them, and take them into DCRA. One day the woman knocked at our front door, in tears, begging us to sign a petition in support of their work. He was effectively bankrupting them. He lived in one of the nicest rowhouses on the alley, but couldn't give a damn about anyone else.

Thank you! Yes, my house was in horrible condition before. The rear siding that DCRA is saying I improperly replaced was replacing siding on a sleeping porch that was so precarious and rotting on the back of the house that my contractor said no one should walk out onto the porch (although again, I don't think I actually improperly replace, my permit was clearly to "tear down and replace" the sleeping porch and I put siding up on only the replacement where there was siding when I purchased the house...).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, GL here. If this is anything like what happened when we lived in the Capitol Hill Hysterical Society section, a neighbor catty corner across one side of the alley was hellbent on taking down a young couple who were renovating the rear side of their newly purchased home. The home had significant termite damage and they were just trying to get it done. Anything they were doing was better than the peeling crap siding and long unpainted window frames we could see directly across from us (the complainant had to crane his neck to see their place and still at an angle). He would routinely take photos, print them, and take them into DCRA. One day the woman knocked at our front door, in tears, begging us to sign a petition in support of their work. He was effectively bankrupting them. He lived in one of the nicest rowhouses on the alley, but couldn't give a damn about anyone else.

I bet I know this guy, or the exact type. Seriously the worst people in the world. Historical districts should be outlawed and DCRA should only have a say in aspects work that directly impact the safety of the home, like electric & fire issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your contractor should handle it.
We had an infraction - we replaced a fence and didn’t think about getting a permit and used a random handyman who didn’t care. I went for the meeting and in discussion got the DCRA rep, who was very nice, to halve it. Another friend had a similar issue and the contractor handled it and it was half what I paid - they want contact with the contractors who are having infractions to prevent future ones.

OP here: Unfortunately, in part because this renovation was more than 3 years ago, my contractor moved to Utah last year.... otherwise asking him to deal with it would have been my first choice. Just for others reference if anyone reads this thread in the future, my fine is $4700 (so if there truly are issues with multiple windows on the house, will honestly be cheaper to just pay the fine than pay for new windows and labor).

OP, GL here. If this is anything like what happened when we lived in the Capitol Hill Hysterical Society section, a neighbor catty corner across one side of the alley was hellbent on taking down a young couple who were renovating the rear side of their newly purchased home. The home had significant termite damage and they were just trying to get it done. Anything they were doing was better than the peeling crap siding and long unpainted window frames we could see directly across from us (the complainant had to crane his neck to see their place and still at an angle). He would routinely take photos, print them, and take them into DCRA. One day the woman knocked at our front door, in tears, begging us to sign a petition in support of their work. He was effectively bankrupting them. He lived in one of the nicest rowhouses on the alley, but couldn't give a damn about anyone else.

Thank you! Yes, my house was in horrible condition before. The rear siding that DCRA is saying I improperly replaced was replacing siding on a sleeping porch that was so precarious and rotting on the back of the house that my contractor said no one should walk out onto the porch (although again, I don't think I actually improperly replace, my permit was clearly to "tear down and replace" the sleeping porch and I put siding up on only the replacement where there was siding when I purchased the house...).

This sounds absurd. You could try getting your CM involved to advocate for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, GL here. If this is anything like what happened when we lived in the Capitol Hill Hysterical Society section, a neighbor catty corner across one side of the alley was hellbent on taking down a young couple who were renovating the rear side of their newly purchased home. The home had significant termite damage and they were just trying to get it done. Anything they were doing was better than the peeling crap siding and long unpainted window frames we could see directly across from us (the complainant had to crane his neck to see their place and still at an angle). He would routinely take photos, print them, and take them into DCRA. One day the woman knocked at our front door, in tears, begging us to sign a petition in support of their work. He was effectively bankrupting them. He lived in one of the nicest rowhouses on the alley, but couldn't give a damn about anyone else.

I bet I know this guy, or the exact type. Seriously the worst people in the world. Historical districts should be outlawed and DCRA should only have a say in aspects work that directly impact the safety of the home, like electric & fire issues.

So to summarize, OP, your contractor is long gone and probably never filed with the DCRA? YOu are out of luck. My neighbor on the Hill ran into the same problem when trying to upgrade windows. She got the letter and had to stop.

[Anonymous]

Did you talk to your architect about it? If they do other work in the area they may be able to help you navigate this, or at least know some other architects they could ask.

[Anonymous]

OP you should talk to your architect. It sounds as if you didn’t get approval by whatever historic district you fall under. This is separate from the dcra inspections. I would reach out to the architect asap bc where we lived in kalorama, paying the fine was just the punishment but did not correct the problem. Otherwise everyone would have done what they wanted and paid the relatively small fine. You were fined but still had to correct the area that was not done to whatever historic guidelines are in place for that area. My neighbor had to remove his inappropriate windows and redo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you should talk to your architect. It sounds as if you didn’t get approval by whatever historic district you fall under. This is separate from the dcra inspections. I would reach out to the architect asap bc where we lived in kalorama, paying the fine was just the punishment but did not correct the problem. Otherwise everyone would have done what they wanted and paid the relatively small fine. You were fined but still had to correct the area that was not done to whatever historic guidelines are in place for that area. My neighbor had to remove his inappropriate windows and redo.

Remove perfectly good windows and redo them!! Historic districts are astonishingly wasteful and bad. They need to be dismantled. Can we please get a college student to do a TikTok on decolonializing home repairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, GL here. If this is anything like what happened when we lived in the Capitol Hill Hysterical Society section, a neighbor catty corner across one side of the alley was hellbent on taking down a young couple who were renovating the rear side of their newly purchased home. The home had significant termite damage and they were just trying to get it done. Anything they were doing was better than the peeling crap siding and long unpainted window frames we could see directly across from us (the complainant had to crane his neck to see their place and still at an angle). He would routinely take photos, print them, and take them into DCRA. One day the woman knocked at our front door, in tears, begging us to sign a petition in support of their work. He was effectively bankrupting them. He lived in one of the nicest rowhouses on the alley, but couldn't give a damn about anyone else.

I bet I know this guy, or the exact type. Seriously the worst people in the world. Historical districts should be outlawed and DCRA should only have a say in aspects work that directly impact the safety of the home, like electric & fire issues.

So to summarize, OP, your contractor is long gone and probably never filed with the DCRA? YOu are out of luck. My neighbor on the Hill ran into the same problem when trying to upgrade windows. She got the letter and had to stop.

No, no, he did file with DCRA and it went through historic review. The notice of infraction from DCRA attaches some of the permits that I had (and paid an $8k fee to DCRA for!). There were several permits, and weirdly the notice does not attach all of them, so I wonder if maybe somehow DCRA is just not realizing I had multiple permits and that is part of the issue? But it seems crazy they wouldn't pull all the permits to the address.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, GL here. If this is anything like what happened when we lived in the Capitol Hill Hysterical Society section, a neighbor catty corner across one side of the alley was hellbent on taking down a young couple who were renovating the rear side of their newly purchased home. The home had significant termite damage and they were just trying to get it done. Anything they were doing was better than the peeling crap siding and long unpainted window frames we could see directly across from us (the complainant had to crane his neck to see their place and still at an angle). He would routinely take photos, print them, and take them into DCRA. One day the woman knocked at our front door, in tears, begging us to sign a petition in support of their work. He was effectively bankrupting them. He lived in one of the nicest rowhouses on the alley, but couldn't give a damn about anyone else.

I bet I know this guy, or the exact type. Seriously the worst people in the world. Historical districts should be outlawed and DCRA should only have a say in aspects work that directly impact the safety of the home, like electric & fire issues.

So to summarize, OP, your contractor is long gone and probably never filed with the DCRA? YOu are out of luck. My neighbor on the Hill ran into the same problem when trying to upgrade windows. She got the letter and had to stop.

No, no, he did file with DCRA and it went through historic review. The notice of infraction from DCRA attaches some of the permits that I had (and paid an $8k fee to DCRA for!). There were several permits, and weirdly the notice does not attach all of them, so I wonder if maybe somehow DCRA is just not realizing I had multiple permits and that is part of the issue? But it seems crazy they wouldn't pull all the permits to the address.

do NOT underestimate the incompetency!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you should talk to your architect. It sounds as if you didn’t get approval by whatever historic district you fall under. This is separate from the dcra inspections. I would reach out to the architect asap bc where we lived in kalorama, paying the fine was just the punishment but did not correct the problem. Otherwise everyone would have done what they wanted and paid the relatively small fine. You were fined but still had to correct the area that was not done to whatever historic guidelines are in place for that area. My neighbor had to remove his inappropriate windows and redo.

Remove perfectly good windows and redo them!! Historic districts are astonishingly wasteful and bad. They need to be dismantled. Can we please get a college student to do a TikTok on decolonializing home repairs.

The annoying thing is even that I DID (at least try to) comply with the historic windows, I got all the old fashioned wooden double hung windows! And got a custom made arched window (rather than a square window in an arched space), etc etc. .

[Anonymous]

On the notice is there a number to call to talk to a human?

It sounds to me like DCRA may have made an error regarding your permits, and it would save everybody time and aggravation if you could have a conversation to sort things out, rather than just deny and then have a hearing about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the notice is there a number to call to talk to a human?

It sounds to me like DCRA may have made an error regarding your permits, and it would save everybody time and aggravation if you could have a conversation to sort things out, rather than just deny and then have a hearing about it.

There is not, the only number is to the office of administrative hearings, which I assume will control the hearing itself and won't know anything about what DCRA is doing/thinking. I tried to get information about the actual DCRA inspector to perhaps contact him directly but he has a common name that is also shared with a famous person in DC, so my googling was fruitless.