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Yesterday Mayor Fenty announced a new Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs program that will put all 4,800 apartment buildings in the District on a mandatory four-year inspection cycle (two years if inspectors find substantial code violations). Before now, DCRA inspections only occurred after tenants reported problems. The program is being touted as a more proactive way to protect residents, particularly low income ones, from slumlords. (Check out Hamil Harris's story in the Post for an amusing anecdote from the presser, which took place at a Southeast apartment building that Fenty was holding up as an inspection success story. Harris reports that city officials appeared "taken by surprise" by a group of residents who interrupted the mayor to point out existing code violations in the building.)
Regular inspections sound like a great idea to us, but the question that popped in to our minds was, what about non-apartment renters? Loosely organized group homes in rowhouses across the city have to be just as susceptible, if not more so, to slumlord conditions as apartment buildings, but since so many of them are not even registered as rental units, the city would be hard pressed to adopt a similarly proactive approach for them. If you're a rowhouse renter who suspects your home may not be up to code and your landlord isn't cooperating, check out thisshouldbeillegal.com, DCRA's web site aimed at college students living in off-campus housing in the city. It's got lots of helpful info on how to request an inspection and how to check if your landlord is registered with the city.
Photo by Pappa91
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the landlord of the group house i used to live in on the 1100 block of rhode island could qualify for slumlord status. we had to harass the guy to get a working refrigerator after ours died once.
another house i lived in (2000 block 13th street) was even worse in some ways (lack of heat, collapsing walls), but the landlord was dead, so it would have been tough to prosecute the guy for anything. of course, the character of that place made it worth the headaches...
all this is apropos of absolutely nothing, i suppose.
A minimum of 4,800 apartments over 4 years? 1,200 apartment inspections each year?
Ha. Ha.
Agreed. DCRA inspections are laughable at best ... at least in my limited experience. After living in a water logged apartment for over a week (crumbling plaster walls & ceilings, mold, etc.) with no help or from the building manager I decided to contact the DCRA to possibly persuade the apartment building to do something about my situation. Though the inspectors found numerous code violations in my apartment and throughout the building itself; they seemed more interested in flirting with our building's manager than with filing a report. Needless to say nothing was done to rectify my situation nor were any fines were levied on the apartment complex. Sweet, sweet, DC justice. C'est la vie.
Getting an apartment inspected is one thing, but getting the inspection write-ups from DCRA is another thing entirely. Last year when my roommates and I were in a court battle with our landlord, we could not find any paperwork from any of the inspectors who checked out our place. DCRA sent us running between offices on N. Capitol and DC General and each location sent us to the other one, and every inspector ignoring our phone calls. The inspectors were pretty much useless. The DCRA folks even made me cry one time. Useless.
In addition, our landlord was never fined for any of the violations the inspectors supposedly found in our place...It's kind of a joke.
In my experience, it took 5 weeks and three attorneys to get an inspection at all. The inspector finally showed up, dutifully recorded a number of violations... and DCRA never followed up again.
Well, maybe this'll make things alllll better.
does that mean that once the landlords make the repairs, they can up the rent? i'm honestly asking, i don't know the rules about that.
i lived in a rundown building in Dupont once. when we had a bit of an electrical fire (no one hurt, no real damage), all of the residents discussed whether to even call the fire department. we didn't want the building condemned, cause we knew that we'd never be able to afford the neighborhood otherwise. luckily, the firemen didn't bat an eye.
Yup, that's only about 25 inspections a week/5 inspections per day. Granted, that's more than I've ever looked at in a day of apt hunting...
There are some shitbox apartments out there, plenty of greedy landlords..... but there are also some tenants that live like pigs and create a lot of unsafe/unsanitary conditions that have nothing to do with the landlord.
Will we be seeing them getting some sort of citations for living in filth, taking the batteries out of smoke detectors, blocking fire escapes, etc?
Should I hold my breath on that one?
I don't think anyone said that it would be one guy in a golf cart going around looking at apartments buildings. When I read department I assumed that there would be several people if 30-50. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask even 10 people to perform 5 inspections a day.
That's apartment 1,200 *buildings*, but what if the fire and building code violations are in individual units. It could take all day just to inspect one large building. Plus you have to subtract time for training, staff meetings, holidays, vacation, sick leave, paperwork and other administrivia. Some building owners will challenge the citations and inspectors will have to appear at hearings. Bottom line, they're going to have to hire lots of inspectors. And didn't I read somewhere that all the housing inspectors were recently canned for various acts of malfeasance?
I'm pretty impressed by the website talked about above. But at first glance it appears as though it's primarily directed at university students. Does anyone know if there is much interaction with other residents renting private homes in the city? Did I miss that somewhere?
I remember months ago, a similar DCIST article referencing DCRA's business licenses for landlords and tried looking up my landlord. Of course I didn't find his name listed, but of course, I need a place to live and don't have the option of finding a new place, like tomorrow, should I have to...
Getting an apartment inspected is one thing, but getting the inspection write-ups from DCRA is another thing entirely. Last year when my roommates and I were in a court battle with our landlord, we could not find any paperwork from any of the inspectors who checked out our place. DCRA sent us running between offices on N. Capitol and DC General and each location sent us to the other one, and every inspector ignoring our phone calls. The inspectors were pretty much useless. The DCRA folks even made me cry one time. Useless.
In addition, our landlord was never fined for any of the violations the inspectors supposedly found in our place...It's kind of a joke.