Anyone who’s a renter has at least one landlord-related horror story. It could be that your house doesn’t meet the normal safety regulations, that your landlord just jacked up the rent 15 percent or that they’re starting to play dumb when it comes to returning your security deposit. Whatever the case, navigating the District’s tenant/landlord laws and regulations — no matter how weighted towards tenants they might be — can sometimes be confusing and frustrating.

Sure, hiring a lawyer is always an option, but who has that sort of money? And yes, we all have lawyer friends, but seeking legal advice from a person just because they have “J.D.” thrown on their business card and are willing to do it for free won’t always guarantee you good guidance. And no, Google isn’t really that helpful when it comes to most tenant/landlord queries — the best I found was a Q&A from the Post.

Thankfully, there’s a free legal resource out there — the D.C. Landlord Tenant Resource Center. Operating out of the D.C. Superior Court’s Building B (510 Fourth Street, NW, Room 115), the resource center offers legal information to tenants and landlords working through disputes. They don’t offer legal advice — they’re not going to write a brief for you or tell you how to get as much money out of your landlord as possible — but they will help clarify questions regarding leases, regulations, etc. (Don’t go if you’re already represented by a lawyer; they’ll take you but won’t be able to offer you much.) The center is open from 9:15 a.m. until noon on weekdays; they only offer guidance in person.

There’s also the D.C. Office of the Tenant Advocate, an independent agency that helps renters navigate two key rental laws — the Rental Housing Act of 1985 and the Rental Housing Conversion and Sale Act of 1980. They’ll be hosting a Tenant Summit on September 27, 2008. OTA handles more serious claims, such as rent control, evictions and conversions, so maybe they’re not the ones to approach if your landlord refuses to replace that faulty smoke detector.

And if you’re looking for an organization to help you in your crusade against a particularly evil landlord, the D.C. Tenants Advocacy Coalition (TENAC) is for you. They’ll be hosting a forum tonight for candidates in the upcoming local elections from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at the Foundry United Methodist Church (16th and P Ptreets NW).

If any DCist readers have a notable story — good or bad — about a rental dispute, leave it in comments.

Photo by terecico