RENTERS: No license, no rent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did the CofO more than decade ago and recently had to do our renewal. It's a good process that makes sure that things are up to date and up to code. I feel better knowing everything is as a landlord. I wouldn't the liability that would come from not having these things done. Dealing with DCRA still sucks though.

This.

Thanks. I'm the PP and should have mentioned that we also did the business license. It's like $250 per year. DCRA also now requires inspections every two years and it's good that we did. You find little things that need to be fixed or updated. As long as you're maintaining the place, it's not bad. I feel better knowing that we're keeping things current and safe.

My experience too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a summary of the “draconian laws”: privacy, safety, dignity, at minimum levels.

https://realestateinthedistrict.com/dc-rental-basement-guidelines/

Yea, I get that. But the devil is in the details and in who you get as an inspector.

I’ll give you a very good example, using our place as an illustration. When we bought it it had tenants in the basement but no certificate of occupancy. The basement is so nice that it’s what sealed the deal for us. We literally thought “wow, we don’t need the upstairs at all, we could live here!”

The tenants knew the place didn’t have a C of O but didn’t care. They wanted to stay on, and we were fine with it.

The Sellers’s agent told us that the sellers did try to “make it legal,” but guess what the hold up was: the circuit breaker for the entire house is in the basement apartment, and the inspector insisted that each unit had to have access to their circuit breakers through their own unit. Tearing out the walls and moving part of the wiring upstairs in order to install a separate circuit breaker in the upstairs living room would have cost thousands and thousands of dollars with absolutely no “health or safety” enhancements whatsoever. I mean, I guess if the situation were the other way around and the whole circuit breaker system was upstairs instead of down, there might be some kind of argument that could be made that it needed to be this way for the tenants. But if the circuit breaker is downstairs, and you and the tenant agree that if an upstairs circuit ever trips - which has happened maybe twice in the many many years that we have owned the house - we could either ask the tenant to switch it back for us or, if they’re not around, go into their apartment (with permission being granted in the lease for this specific purpose), what’s the problem? Where’s the health and safety issue?

Oh, and we were also told that by paying $6000 to a private company to deal with DCRA for us we could guarantee a different result. Sounds an awful lot like facilitating a bribe to me.

If you can guarantee me that DCRA will treat my application fairly, and put money where your mouth is, I’d be happy to give it a go. Otherwise, I’ll take my chances on a fine.

By the way, have you ever gone a mile over the legal speed limit on the thinking that, hey, yea, it’s illegal but not hurting anybody?

Oh, boy, where to start with this. You know what started a fire that killed two young people on Riggs Place? An electric thing in their landlords part of the house. So you are very wrong and very very dangerous. I can only hope your renters read this board (which will also get crossposted)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don't want to rent a non-licensed rental - ask landlord for the license. All my tenants do ask. You can also check online by the property address.

But tenants who move in without asking and then stop paying blackmailing the landlord are just as equal scumbags as the landlords who rent without a license.

Yes, sure. But plenty scumbags on here saying I don’t care I’ll take my chances. Health and safety laws are stupid and I know my rental is fine.

So it’s only fair that renters know they can say I’ll take my chances too. Only the renters would be right, given the current DC Court practice. Good luck.

Every illegal rental I find out about, I will make sure to let the renters know what they can do. If the guy calls me Bruh or tries to mansplain he’s within his rights to illegally rent, I’ll also report him.

Just don't scream and cry here how poor tenants ended up in illegal rental, ok? They are just scumbags and know without you what they can do, so your nosy help is not helping anyone.
The tenants usually get a hefty discount from rent for renting non-licensed accommodations (which is why they do rent them). $1500/month vs $1900/month or so.

I have licenses for my rental, but I recommend all landlords who cannot afford increase ceiling height for COO just check credit score, get SSN from the applying tenants and never accept anyone without a min 720 score. If they don't pay, I am getting employment references requests from people who lived at my property 10 years ago. Employers do care of you pay your rent and had no legal disputes, they won't be checking who is right who is wrong. They just won't hire anyone with a non paid rent, period.

Good luck getting a job in DC with your tenant dispute, where everything requires background check.

Also, I recommend landlords make use of 90-days notice to vacate and then move the tenants' belongings to a safe storage and change locks. They would be the party hiring attorneys to gain access back into your house and good luck with that, too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don't want to rent a non-licensed rental - ask landlord for the license. All my tenants do ask. You can also check online by the property address.

But tenants who move in without asking and then stop paying blackmailing the landlord are just as equal scumbags as the landlords who rent without a license.

Yes, sure. But plenty scumbags on here saying I don’t care I’ll take my chances. Health and safety laws are stupid and I know my rental is fine.

So it’s only fair that renters know they can say I’ll take my chances too. Only the renters would be right, given the current DC Court practice. Good luck.

Every illegal rental I find out about, I will make sure to let the renters know what they can do. If the guy calls me Bruh or tries to mansplain he’s within his rights to illegally rent, I’ll also report him.

Just don't scream and cry here how poor tenants ended up in illegal rental, ok? They are just scumbags and know without you what they can do, so your nosy help is not helping anyone.
The tenants usually get a hefty discount from rent for renting non-licensed accommodations (which is why they do rent them). $1500/month vs $1900/month or so.

I have licenses for my rental, but I recommend all landlords who cannot afford increase ceiling height for COO just check credit score, get SSN from the applying tenants and never accept anyone without a min 720 score. If they don't pay, I am getting employment references requests from people who lived at my property 10 years ago. Employers do care of you pay your rent and had no legal disputes, they won't be checking who is right who is wrong. They just won't hire anyone with a non paid rent, period.

Good luck getting a job in DC with your tenant dispute, where everything requires background check.

Also, I recommend landlords make use of 90-days notice to vacate and then move the tenants' belongings to a safe storage and change locks. They would be the party hiring attorneys to gain access back into your house and good luck with that, too!

And this people is who these “landlords” are! Guess what buddy, evictions are going to be sealed if you can even get one. Renter can sue you if you contact their employer. Employers don’t care. You are delusional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a summary of the “draconian laws”: privacy, safety, dignity, at minimum levels.

https://realestateinthedistrict.com/dc-rental-basement-guidelines/

Yea, I get that. But the devil is in the details and in who you get as an inspector.

I’ll give you a very good example, using our place as an illustration. When we bought it it had tenants in the basement but no certificate of occupancy. The basement is so nice that it’s what sealed the deal for us. We literally thought “wow, we don’t need the upstairs at all, we could live here!”

The tenants knew the place didn’t have a C of O but didn’t care. They wanted to stay on, and we were fine with it.

The Sellers’s agent told us that the sellers did try to “make it legal,” but guess what the hold up was: the circuit breaker for the entire house is in the basement apartment, and the inspector insisted that each unit had to have access to their circuit breakers through their own unit. Tearing out the walls and moving part of the wiring upstairs in order to install a separate circuit breaker in the upstairs living room would have cost thousands and thousands of dollars with absolutely no “health or safety” enhancements whatsoever. I mean, I guess if the situation were the other way around and the whole circuit breaker system was upstairs instead of down, there might be some kind of argument that could be made that it needed to be this way for the tenants. But if the circuit breaker is downstairs, and you and the tenant agree that if an upstairs circuit ever trips - which has happened maybe twice in the many many years that we have owned the house - we could either ask the tenant to switch it back for us or, if they’re not around, go into their apartment (with permission being granted in the lease for this specific purpose), what’s the problem? Where’s the health and safety issue?

Oh, and we were also told that by paying $6000 to a private company to deal with DCRA for us we could guarantee a different result. Sounds an awful lot like facilitating a bribe to me.

If you can guarantee me that DCRA will treat my application fairly, and put money where your mouth is, I’d be happy to give it a go. Otherwise, I’ll take my chances on a fine.

By the way, have you ever gone a mile over the legal speed limit on the thinking that, hey, yea, it’s illegal but not hurting anybody?

Oh, boy, where to start with this. You know what started a fire that killed two young people on Riggs Place? An electric thing in their landlords part of the house. So you are very wrong and very very dangerous. I can only hope your renters read this board (which will also get crossposted)

the fire at Riggs Place was caused by non-electric (oil) heater. Tenants were locked out due to lack of fire escapes on each side. A totally different situation.

I am a landlord and my rental basement is compliant. But it took 6 months this year to extend the BBL . Inspector was total nutcase, she gave comments and then disappeared on me for months, not even appearing for scheduled appointments. I complained to DCRA manager many times. She also was totally unreasonable in her demands: the steps into the basement are in between 2 brick walls up to the waist height. There is a large landing before you go into the basement and my real estate attorney said that railing is not required by Building Code in such case. The inspector was provided the Building Code quote but insisted on me installing the rail (and spending $2000) or suggested to complain to DCRA and never extending my license for that. Oh, did I forget to say that she suggested using a "certified" rail installing company that would only do it for me for $10K?

Total blackmail and money grabbing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don't want to rent a non-licensed rental - ask landlord for the license. All my tenants do ask. You can also check online by the property address.

But tenants who move in without asking and then stop paying blackmailing the landlord are just as equal scumbags as the landlords who rent without a license.

Yes, sure. But plenty scumbags on here saying I don’t care I’ll take my chances. Health and safety laws are stupid and I know my rental is fine.

So it’s only fair that renters know they can say I’ll take my chances too. Only the renters would be right, given the current DC Court practice. Good luck.

Every illegal rental I find out about, I will make sure to let the renters know what they can do. If the guy calls me Bruh or tries to mansplain he’s within his rights to illegally rent, I’ll also report him.

Just don't scream and cry here how poor tenants ended up in illegal rental, ok? They are just scumbags and know without you what they can do, so your nosy help is not helping anyone.
The tenants usually get a hefty discount from rent for renting non-licensed accommodations (which is why they do rent them). $1500/month vs $1900/month or so.

I have licenses for my rental, but I recommend all landlords who cannot afford increase ceiling height for COO just check credit score, get SSN from the applying tenants and never accept anyone without a min 720 score. If they don't pay, I am getting employment references requests from people who lived at my property 10 years ago. Employers do care of you pay your rent and had no legal disputes, they won't be checking who is right who is wrong. They just won't hire anyone with a non paid rent, period.

Good luck getting a job in DC with your tenant dispute, where everything requires background check.

Also, I recommend landlords make use of 90-days notice to vacate and then move the tenants' belongings to a safe storage and change locks. They would be the party hiring attorneys to gain access back into your house and good luck with that, too!

Oh can’t wait! Self-help eviction is so illegal. At the point when you do the above you’ve also just committed a felony by robbing someone etc. I’ll get double popcorn for this one.

All of this to avoid getting a $250 license?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a summary of the “draconian laws”: privacy, safety, dignity, at minimum levels.

https://realestateinthedistrict.com/dc-rental-basement-guidelines/

Yea, I get that. But the devil is in the details and in who you get as an inspector.

I’ll give you a very good example, using our place as an illustration. When we bought it it had tenants in the basement but no certificate of occupancy. The basement is so nice that it’s what sealed the deal for us. We literally thought “wow, we don’t need the upstairs at all, we could live here!”

The tenants knew the place didn’t have a C of O but didn’t care. They wanted to stay on, and we were fine with it.

The Sellers’s agent told us that the sellers did try to “make it legal,” but guess what the hold up was: the circuit breaker for the entire house is in the basement apartment, and the inspector insisted that each unit had to have access to their circuit breakers through their own unit. Tearing out the walls and moving part of the wiring upstairs in order to install a separate circuit breaker in the upstairs living room would have cost thousands and thousands of dollars with absolutely no “health or safety” enhancements whatsoever. I mean, I guess if the situation were the other way around and the whole circuit breaker system was upstairs instead of down, there might be some kind of argument that could be made that it needed to be this way for the tenants. But if the circuit breaker is downstairs, and you and the tenant agree that if an upstairs circuit ever trips - which has happened maybe twice in the many many years that we have owned the house - we could either ask the tenant to switch it back for us or, if they’re not around, go into their apartment (with permission being granted in the lease for this specific purpose), what’s the problem? Where’s the health and safety issue?

Oh, and we were also told that by paying $6000 to a private company to deal with DCRA for us we could guarantee a different result. Sounds an awful lot like facilitating a bribe to me.

If you can guarantee me that DCRA will treat my application fairly, and put money where your mouth is, I’d be happy to give it a go. Otherwise, I’ll take my chances on a fine.

By the way, have you ever gone a mile over the legal speed limit on the thinking that, hey, yea, it’s illegal but not hurting anybody?

Oh, boy, where to start with this. You know what started a fire that killed two young people on Riggs Place? An electric thing in their landlords part of the house. So you are very wrong and very very dangerous. I can only hope your renters read this board (which will also get crossposted)

the fire at Riggs Place was caused by non-electric (oil) heater. Tenants were locked out due to lack of fire escapes on each side. A totally different situation.

I am a landlord and my rental basement is compliant. But it took 6 months this year to extend the BBL . Inspector was total nutcase, she gave comments and then disappeared on me for months, not even appearing for scheduled appointments. I complained to DCRA manager many times. She also was totally unreasonable in her demands: the steps into the basement are in between 2 brick walls up to the waist height. There is a large landing before you go into the basement and my real estate attorney said that railing is not required by Building Code in such case. The inspector was provided the Building Code quote but insisted on me installing the rail (and spending $2000) or suggested to complain to DCRA and never extending my license for that. Oh, did I forget to say that she suggested using a "certified" rail installing company that would only do it for me for $10K?

Total blackmail and money grabbing

And she’d be right on every count. Rain, ice etc. she saved you tons of money on a lawsuit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don't want to rent a non-licensed rental - ask landlord for the license. All my tenants do ask. You can also check online by the property address.

But tenants who move in without asking and then stop paying blackmailing the landlord are just as equal scumbags as the landlords who rent without a license.

Yes, sure. But plenty scumbags on here saying I don’t care I’ll take my chances. Health and safety laws are stupid and I know my rental is fine.

So it’s only fair that renters know they can say I’ll take my chances too. Only the renters would be right, given the current DC Court practice. Good luck.

Every illegal rental I find out about, I will make sure to let the renters know what they can do. If the guy calls me Bruh or tries to mansplain he’s within his rights to illegally rent, I’ll also report him.

Just don't scream and cry here how poor tenants ended up in illegal rental, ok? They are just scumbags and know without you what they can do, so your nosy help is not helping anyone.
The tenants usually get a hefty discount from rent for renting non-licensed accommodations (which is why they do rent them). $1500/month vs $1900/month or so.

I have licenses for my rental, but I recommend all landlords who cannot afford increase ceiling height for COO just check credit score, get SSN from the applying tenants and never accept anyone without a min 720 score. If they don't pay, I am getting employment references requests from people who lived at my property 10 years ago. Employers do care of you pay your rent and had no legal disputes, they won't be checking who is right who is wrong. They just won't hire anyone with a non paid rent, period.

Good luck getting a job in DC with your tenant dispute, where everything requires background check.

Also, I recommend landlords make use of 90-days notice to vacate and then move the tenants' belongings to a safe storage and change locks. They would be the party hiring attorneys to gain access back into your house and good luck with that, too!

And this people is who these “landlords” are! Guess what buddy, evictions are going to be sealed if you can even get one. Renter can sue you if you contact their employer. Employers don’t care. You are delusional.

I won't even file for eviction you stupider. It's my property - good luck with claiming "damages" for unpaid rent. And with free legal help while having an income. Or with paying a $10000 retainer to real estate attorney to get back into my property or claim "damages". I will move in my mom into my basement and it's totally legit taking over for personal use.

Employers contact me for reference BEFORE people are hired. I've filled out many references forms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a summary of the “draconian laws”: privacy, safety, dignity, at minimum levels.

https://realestateinthedistrict.com/dc-rental-basement-guidelines/

Yea, I get that. But the devil is in the details and in who you get as an inspector.

I’ll give you a very good example, using our place as an illustration. When we bought it it had tenants in the basement but no certificate of occupancy. The basement is so nice that it’s what sealed the deal for us. We literally thought “wow, we don’t need the upstairs at all, we could live here!”

The tenants knew the place didn’t have a C of O but didn’t care. They wanted to stay on, and we were fine with it.

The Sellers’s agent told us that the sellers did try to “make it legal,” but guess what the hold up was: the circuit breaker for the entire house is in the basement apartment, and the inspector insisted that each unit had to have access to their circuit breakers through their own unit. Tearing out the walls and moving part of the wiring upstairs in order to install a separate circuit breaker in the upstairs living room would have cost thousands and thousands of dollars with absolutely no “health or safety” enhancements whatsoever. I mean, I guess if the situation were the other way around and the whole circuit breaker system was upstairs instead of down, there might be some kind of argument that could be made that it needed to be this way for the tenants. But if the circuit breaker is downstairs, and you and the tenant agree that if an upstairs circuit ever trips - which has happened maybe twice in the many many years that we have owned the house - we could either ask the tenant to switch it back for us or, if they’re not around, go into their apartment (with permission being granted in the lease for this specific purpose), what’s the problem? Where’s the health and safety issue?

Oh, and we were also told that by paying $6000 to a private company to deal with DCRA for us we could guarantee a different result. Sounds an awful lot like facilitating a bribe to me.

If you can guarantee me that DCRA will treat my application fairly, and put money where your mouth is, I’d be happy to give it a go. Otherwise, I’ll take my chances on a fine.

By the way, have you ever gone a mile over the legal speed limit on the thinking that, hey, yea, it’s illegal but not hurting anybody?

Oh, boy, where to start with this. You know what started a fire that killed two young people on Riggs Place? An electric thing in their landlords part of the house. So you are very wrong and very very dangerous. I can only hope your renters read this board (which will also get crossposted)

the fire at Riggs Place was caused by non-electric (oil) heater. Tenants were locked out due to lack of fire escapes on each side. A totally different situation.

I am a landlord and my rental basement is compliant. But it took 6 months this year to extend the BBL . Inspector was total nutcase, she gave comments and then disappeared on me for months, not even appearing for scheduled appointments. I complained to DCRA manager many times. She also was totally unreasonable in her demands: the steps into the basement are in between 2 brick walls up to the waist height. There is a large landing before you go into the basement and my real estate attorney said that railing is not required by Building Code in such case. The inspector was provided the Building Code quote but insisted on me installing the rail (and spending $2000) or suggested to complain to DCRA and never extending my license for that. Oh, did I forget to say that she suggested using a "certified" rail installing company that would only do it for me for $10K?

Total blackmail and money grabbing

And she’d be right on every count. Rain, ice etc. she saved you tons of money on a lawsuit

She didn't save anything; rail was not required by Building Code

[Anonymous]

Many homeowners cannot afford their mortgage without rental income from the basement, nor can they find $100k to bring their 6'7" basement ceiling height up to 7'0.

OP or another poster is calling those landlords cheapskates or criminals.

What I think is that whoever started this thread is one of those developers leaving me voicemails and text messages 10 times a week trying to get me to sell them my house at a bargain so they can pop it up, down, back into three units and make bank.

Basement rentals that don't meet the ceiling height criteria are not unsafe. If you eliminate those, you eliminate the most attractive option for a prospective renter who isn't looking for views of the capitol and stainless steel but a 1-bedroom apartment near metro under $2,000/month

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To summarize:

Illegal landlords can try their luck in the short term rental market. They need a license.

Renters renting from illegal landlords should in my opinion take the cue from these law-breakers and push the envelope as far as it would go. If your rental is not licensed, most likely it can’t be and for a good reason.

For the rest of you out there, pay $200 and get yourself a license, you cheapskates.

Yes, they need a license - and they can waltz right in there and get one because they’re now far easier to get than a certificate of occupancy for a long term rental. All the new law is going to do is persuade a lot of landlords on the fence - illegal long term rental, or legal arbnb rental? - to go with arbnb. And the effect will be to remove many entirely safe and comfortable units from the long term affordable housing market.

I’m perfectly comfortable with that. You, the illegal long term landlord, will now be subject to the fair market forces. The legal landlords will get on, and there will be more units that are not basements because no Airbnb. Done.

But I don’t actually care about that. I care that your renter knows their rights and possibilities if they decide to rent your illegal rental.

Right, we know. You care more about strict enforcement of draconian laws that have no relation to health or safety even if they drive up the cost of affordable housing. We get it. I suspect the many, many basement apartment renters in this city who would be forced out of where they live for no logical reason other than overly strict laws might disagree with you.

But they do have to do with health and safety. They are very very basic rules. In fact, they are a shockingly low bar. 6’4” to 7’ height. Egress. No unsafe outlets. No mold.

What’s your excuse for not getting a $200 license?

A while back a pretty smart and well written post explained how wrong you are. Yes, they ARE health and safety regulations that are part of the certificate of occupancy process, but there are also many requirements in the process that have nothing to do with health and safety. Not only that, once you apply for the certificate of occupancy you are at the whims of whichever inspector you happen to get. Some are nitpickers because they get off on the power - or want a pay off. We are talking about the DC government, remember? Once you let them in, you won’t be able to let them out.

You’re also confusing a business license with a certificate of occupancy. I do have the license, and I do report all the income and pay all the taxes. I just don’t have the certificate of occupancy. If DC ever comes after me for that, well, I’ll pay the fine and talk over with my current tenants what they want to do. I have a very strong hunch that they won’t want to move and see their place turned into an arbnb. So I’ll take my chances.

I’d love to see you try to bribe a government official. Please do. Let me get my popcorn. Maybe 20 years ago. Liar.

You’re either not very smart or your reading skills are lacking. What I said was that I was told that I could pay a private company $6000 to deal with DCRA for me and have a guaranteed result, but I didn’t want to do that because it sounded like bribery.

Can you relax and breathe a little before angrily sending off hasty responses? It would help the dialogue considerably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don't want to rent a non-licensed rental - ask landlord for the license. All my tenants do ask. You can also check online by the property address.

But tenants who move in without asking and then stop paying blackmailing the landlord are just as equal scumbags as the landlords who rent without a license.

Yes, sure. But plenty scumbags on here saying I don’t care I’ll take my chances. Health and safety laws are stupid and I know my rental is fine.

So it’s only fair that renters know they can say I’ll take my chances too. Only the renters would be right, given the current DC Court practice. Good luck.

Every illegal rental I find out about, I will make sure to let the renters know what they can do. If the guy calls me Bruh or tries to mansplain he’s within his rights to illegally rent, I’ll also report him.

Just don't scream and cry here how poor tenants ended up in illegal rental, ok? They are just scumbags and know without you what they can do, so your nosy help is not helping anyone.
The tenants usually get a hefty discount from rent for renting non-licensed accommodations (which is why they do rent them). $1500/month vs $1900/month or so.

I have licenses for my rental, but I recommend all landlords who cannot afford increase ceiling height for COO just check credit score, get SSN from the applying tenants and never accept anyone without a min 720 score. If they don't pay, I am getting employment references requests from people who lived at my property 10 years ago. Employers do care of you pay your rent and had no legal disputes, they won't be checking who is right who is wrong. They just won't hire anyone with a non paid rent, period.

Good luck getting a job in DC with your tenant dispute, where everything requires background check.

Also, I recommend landlords make use of 90-days notice to vacate and then move the tenants' belongings to a safe storage and change locks. They would be the party hiring attorneys to gain access back into your house and good luck with that, too!

And this people is who these “landlords” are! Guess what buddy, evictions are going to be sealed if you can even get one. Renter can sue you if you contact their employer. Employers don’t care. You are delusional.

I won't even file for eviction you stupider. It's my property - good luck with claiming "damages" for unpaid rent. And with free legal help while having an income. Or with paying a $10000 retainer to real estate attorney to get back into my property or claim "damages". I will move in my mom into my basement and it's totally legit taking over for personal use.

Employers contact me for reference BEFORE people are hired. I've filled out many references forms

No buddy. Times have a-changed. Plenty of free legal resources. And yes, a felony.

[Anonymous]

By the way, I love how fantastic all these illegal rentals are — yet you go to 90% of the houses, and windows are painted shut and landlords cry over egresses and rails on this board.

The Landlord started the fire on Riggs. Their laxity led to the deaths of two amazing people. A 9-year old died since. Get a license, or do short term rental.

Brekelmans couldn’t escape, the lawsuit said, because of “inoperable windows, lack of a proper and functioning fire escape, and lack of smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and other adequate fire emergency systems.” The suit alleged that Len and Max Salas were “negligent” in not installing and maintaining proper smoke detector systems, which it said would have alerted Brekelmans to get out safely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a summary of the “draconian laws”: privacy, safety, dignity, at minimum levels.

https://realestateinthedistrict.com/dc-rental-basement-guidelines/

Yea, I get that. But the devil is in the details and in who you get as an inspector.

I’ll give you a very good example, using our place as an illustration. When we bought it it had tenants in the basement but no certificate of occupancy. The basement is so nice that it’s what sealed the deal for us. We literally thought “wow, we don’t need the upstairs at all, we could live here!”

The tenants knew the place didn’t have a C of O but didn’t care. They wanted to stay on, and we were fine with it.

The Sellers’s agent told us that the sellers did try to “make it legal,” but guess what the hold up was: the circuit breaker for the entire house is in the basement apartment, and the inspector insisted that each unit had to have access to their circuit breakers through their own unit. Tearing out the walls and moving part of the wiring upstairs in order to install a separate circuit breaker in the upstairs living room would have cost thousands and thousands of dollars with absolutely no “health or safety” enhancements whatsoever. I mean, I guess if the situation were the other way around and the whole circuit breaker system was upstairs instead of down, there might be some kind of argument that could be made that it needed to be this way for the tenants. But if the circuit breaker is downstairs, and you and the tenant agree that if an upstairs circuit ever trips - which has happened maybe twice in the many many years that we have owned the house - we could either ask the tenant to switch it back for us or, if they’re not around, go into their apartment (with permission being granted in the lease for this specific purpose), what’s the problem? Where’s the health and safety issue?

Oh, and we were also told that by paying $6000 to a private company to deal with DCRA for us we could guarantee a different result. Sounds an awful lot like facilitating a bribe to me.

If you can guarantee me that DCRA will treat my application fairly, and put money where your mouth is, I’d be happy to give it a go. Otherwise, I’ll take my chances on a fine.

By the way, have you ever gone a mile over the legal speed limit on the thinking that, hey, yea, it’s illegal but not hurting anybody?

Oh, boy, where to start with this. You know what started a fire that killed two young people on Riggs Place? An electric thing in their landlords part of the house. So you are very wrong and very very dangerous. I can only hope your renters read this board (which will also get crossposted)

the fire at Riggs Place was caused by non-electric (oil) heater. Tenants were locked out due to lack of fire escapes on each side. A totally different situation.

I am a landlord and my rental basement is compliant. But it took 6 months this year to extend the BBL . Inspector was total nutcase, she gave comments and then disappeared on me for months, not even appearing for scheduled appointments. I complained to DCRA manager many times. She also was totally unreasonable in her demands: the steps into the basement are in between 2 brick walls up to the waist height. There is a large landing before you go into the basement and my real estate attorney said that railing is not required by Building Code in such case. The inspector was provided the Building Code quote but insisted on me installing the rail (and spending $2000) or suggested to complain to DCRA and never extending my license for that. Oh, did I forget to say that she suggested using a "certified" rail installing company that would only do it for me for $10K?

Total blackmail and money grabbing

Thank you for sharing this experience. It’s exactly why I’m willing to take my chances. As for the other poster, once again she isn’t reading my posts carefully before spitting out angry responses. As I said, the circuit breaker is in the TENANT’S apartment, not mine. Maybe I’m an idiot, but can someone explain to me how having the circuit breaker for the whole house in the tenant’s basement apartment is a safety hazard for the tenant? Seriously, I’m all ears. Because I’d that’s truly the case then I’ll move the breakers - not to comply with the law but because I care about the tenant’s safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don't want to rent a non-licensed rental - ask landlord for the license. All my tenants do ask. You can also check online by the property address.

But tenants who move in without asking and then stop paying blackmailing the landlord are just as equal scumbags as the landlords who rent without a license.

Yes, sure. But plenty scumbags on here saying I don’t care I’ll take my chances. Health and safety laws are stupid and I know my rental is fine.

So it’s only fair that renters know they can say I’ll take my chances too. Only the renters would be right, given the current DC Court practice. Good luck.

Every illegal rental I find out about, I will make sure to let the renters know what they can do. If the guy calls me Bruh or tries to mansplain he’s within his rights to illegally rent, I’ll also report him.

Just don't scream and cry here how poor tenants ended up in illegal rental, ok? They are just scumbags and know without you what they can do, so your nosy help is not helping anyone.
The tenants usually get a hefty discount from rent for renting non-licensed accommodations (which is why they do rent them). $1500/month vs $1900/month or so.

I have licenses for my rental, but I recommend all landlords who cannot afford increase ceiling height for COO just check credit score, get SSN from the applying tenants and never accept anyone without a min 720 score. If they don't pay, I am getting employment references requests from people who lived at my property 10 years ago. Employers do care of you pay your rent and had no legal disputes, they won't be checking who is right who is wrong. They just won't hire anyone with a non paid rent, period.

Good luck getting a job in DC with your tenant dispute, where everything requires background check.

Also, I recommend landlords make use of 90-days notice to vacate and then move the tenants' belongings to a safe storage and change locks. They would be the party hiring attorneys to gain access back into your house and good luck with that, too!

Oh can’t wait! Self-help eviction is so illegal. At the point when you do the above you’ve also just committed a felony by robbing someone etc. I’ll get double popcorn for this one.

All of this to avoid getting a $250 license?!

Sigh. I have the $250 license. How many times do I have to say that? The license is nothing. It’s getting the runaround on the C of O that is the issua.

Please, I beg of you, READ comments before reacting.