D.C. Tenants' Rights Center

Hello! In the District of Columbia, a highly offensive disclosure of private information, where the matter is not of legitimate concern to the public, may constitute an unlawful invasion of privacy. We are unable to predict, here, whether the particular disclosure you're describing would be deemed unlawful.

Hi. In D.C., if a landlord provides air conditioning, then the landlord is require to keep that air conditioning operating in good condition. So if a repair or replacement is needed, then the landlord should be making that repair or replacement. If the landlord refuses, then making the repair/replacement yourself and withholding that amount of rent is generally a lawful option, but we would want to talk to you about it before recommending that course of action. Showing the landlord the D.C. Housing Code might be a good first step.

Hi, if you're a tenant in the home, please give us a call. (We only work with tenants.)

In D.C., a landlord is required to keep a home in basic repair, including keeping a home reasonably pest-free. Some options: call DCRA for a housing code inspection; ask a judge to order repairs; or find other ways to persuade the landlord to make the needed repairs.

We'd like to understand this situation better, and what the extra keys would be for. It would also be helpful to know whether the lease says anything about extra keys. A tenant generally has a right to control access to her unit, and to have guests, or dog-walkers, or home health aides, and (we would think) the tenant should be able to give a set of keys to those guests/dog-walkers/health aides. On the other hand, we're not aware of laws specifically requiring landlords to make extra sets of keys for tenants. Are these regular keys, where your daughter could make copies herself? Or are these electronic key fobs that can only be copied/provided by the landlord? If the latter, and an extra set of keys would make your daughter's life a lot easier (less juggling of keys), we could see a court requiring the landlord to provide an extra set to your daughter -- but we could also see a court siding with a landlord on this.

Hi, please give us a call: 202-681-6871. (Because this may involve another tenant, we are less free than normal to respond online; we need to be sure we're not already representing another involved party.)

Here is the D.C. regulation regarding rent receipts: http://dcrules.elaws.us/dcmr/14-306 . A receipt is required unless the payment is made by personal check. If the payment is by personal check, a receipt is due if there is a balance remaining that's attributable to charges other than rent.

Hi, please give us a call: 202-681-6871.

In many cases no, but a tenant in the District of Columbia may be awarded legal fees if the tenant files and substantially prevails in a complaint related to rent control, discrimination, TOPA, or a landlord's failure to return a security deposit.

Whether you have any legal recourse against the landlord probably depends on whether the statement to you that you would be able to transfer units was either part of an agreement between you and the landlord, or was a promise that you reasonably relied on, to your detriment. In addition, if the landlord made this promise to you before you signed your lease, then you may also be able to allege that this was an unfair trade practice by the landlord, and a violation of the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act.