If you want to rent a place to live in Washington, D.C., it’s common — and sometimes legally required — to give personal information to landlords in your application. Anything from your or your co-signer’s government-issued IDs, proof of employment and bank statements can be used to determine if you’re financially stable enough to rent to.

But why isn’t it common for landlords to provide more information about their worthiness to renters?

There’s plenty of reason for renters to look into landlords. At bigger apartment buildings, local management companies like Sanford Capital have allowed their properties to fall into disrepair, which tenants said was meant to push them out. At old rowhouses that have not been inspected and licensed for renting, tenants have died in fires. And loads of homeowners in D.C. rent out their basements, but they may not even be up to code.

“From a government standpoint, it’s important to make sure people are adhering to the law,” says Johanna Shreve, the director of the D.C. Office of the Tenant Advocate. “Because you could lose your life.”

Although local leaders have cracked down on several bad actors with fines and lawsuits, negligent landlords are a moving target. The never-ending demand for affordable housing makes poorly or illegally run apartments attractive to Washingtonians who live on a tight budget or don’t know their housing rights. And in D.C., unlicensed landlords can still collect rent and evict tenants, which tenant advocates argue doesn’t provide much of an incentive for landlords to do business above board.

The District is often described as a “tenant-friendly” city, but it doesn’t go as far as other cities like New York, which releases an annual list of “worst landlords.” Here, “there’s really no qualified meter that tells you whether that landlord is good or bad other than complaints,” says Shreve.

That winds up hurting tenants in the end, she says. And often, tenants may not even realize it.

“Landlords tell you certain things and take advantage of your lack of knowledge,” says Beth Mellen Harrison, an attorney with Legal Aid of the District of Columbia and the director of its Eviction Defense Project. “They may tell you they’re giving you a deal by providing certain things, when it’s just what the law requires.”

It’s hard to learn what D.C.’s housing code requires, or your landlord’s history with renters, if you don’t know what to look for.

And according to Shreve, “If you don’t know the rules, you can’t play the game.”

Here’s what a D.C. landlord is required by local and federal law to give tenants

• The amount of rent.
• History of rent for the past three years.
• How often they’re allowed to raise rent.
• Whether the space is covered by rent control.
• A pamphlet explaining rent control.
• If they’ve petitioned D.C. government to raise rent at a rent controlled property (called a “pending petition”).
• The amount of any non-refundable application fees.
• The amount of the security deposit.
• The interest rate of the security deposit.
• How the security deposit will be returned.
• Ownership information.
• Whether the property is registered as (or being converted to) a condo or coop.
• Surcharges on rent (if a capital improvement project was approved and will require additional funding, for example).
• Housing code or property maintenance violations sustained over the last 12 months.
• Mold contaminations in the last three years.
• A copy of the Tenant Bill of Rights.
• Any existing lead paint hazards.
• An EPA pamphlet on identifying and controlling lead paint hazards.
• Lead warning statements that confirm a landlord has complied with notification requirements.

Here’s what a D.C. landlord can’t use against you

• Any eviction case that you won over your landlord (this temporary protection will expire at the end of D.C.’s public health emergency; the D.C. Council is considering a bill that would make it permanent).
• Any eviction case that was filed three or more years ago (this temporary protection will expire at the end of D.C.’s public health emergency; the D.C. Council is considering a bill that would make it permanent).
• Any lease violation allegations that took place more than three years ago.
• Any lease violation allegations that occurred because of an “intrafamily offense,” like if you broke your lease to escape domestic violence.
• Just your credit score (information in your credit report can be considered, but not just your credit score)
• Your source of income, like a locally or federally-subsidized housing voucher.

How to run a background check on your landlord

Find out who owns your building.

Collect all the information you know about the property and who owns it. You can start by simply asking who owns the building or what name they do business under.

Some landlords create an LLC (a limited liability company) to rent their properties and protect themselves from debt or other business liabilities. Knowing all the names and companies your landlord does business under will help you better search public databases.

Verify if your landlord is licensed to rent property in D.C.’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs’ SCOUT database.

Create an account with DCRA and search the property address, name of your landlord, the name of your landlord’s LLC, or a property’s management company within the agency’s SCOUT database.

Once you’ve located the property you’re interested in renting, click on the “Licenses” tab. Under Business Licenses, check if the property has an “apartment” or “residential” license and if it is active.

Check if the property is safe to live in and if the construction on the property is legal.

In DCRA’s SCOUT database, click on “Notices and Inspections” to learn more about the city’s history with that property and if it’s been inspected for housing or property maintenance violations.

If you see a Stop Work Order, it may be a sign that the construction work being done on the property may not have been legal. If it’s not clear from the order, you may have to have to do more digging.

Search your landlord, leasing company, or address in D.C.’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs’ Landlord Violations Tool.

In 2020, D.C. launched its Landlord Violations Tool to help tenants check individual landlords, leasing companies or physical addresses for violations of its housing code.

How it works: After DCRA inspects a property, it adds any existing violations to this database. If the landlord addresses the city’s concerns, their violations get wiped. Some tenant advocates argue a landlord’s history of violations should stay public in this database, though.

When it launched, the database included 38,000 housing violations collected over the last three years, including:

• Failure to correct cracked or loose plaster, holes, decayed wood, water damage/or other defective surface.
• Failure to maintain windows, skylights, door or frame in sound condition, good repair and weather tight.
• Failure to maintain all fire and smokestop doors in operable condition.
• Failure to eliminate and repaint surfaces with peeling, flaking or chipped paint.
• Failure to maintain bathtub, shower, lavatory, water closet or kitchen sink in a sanitary, safe working condition.

Search your landlord in D.C.’s Office of Tax and Revenue’s Recorder of Deeds database.

Create an account with D.C.’s Office of Tax and Revenue to access the Recorder of Deeds’ database.

Once you’ve made and logged into your account, click on ‘Search Public Records’ and type in your landlord’s name or their LLC. (You can also use the address of the property, but you need the Square and Lot number; you can find those here.) The files that appear in your search can give you a sense of your landlord’s financial position and their ability to handle repairs.

If you’re not familiar with financial language, start by looking at “Doc Type” and look for:

• Deed: Deeds will show a property’s sale date and purchase amount.
• Wrongful Housing: Wrongful housing notices indicate if DCRA has fined your landlord because of poor housing conditions.
• Liens: Liens can be placed on property for unpaid bills and allow a creditor the right to seize and sell assets if a borrower has not met their loan obligations.
• Foreclosure Notices: Foreclosure happens when a borrower fails to make their mortgage payments and their lender needs to recover the balance of a loan by forcing the sale of the property, which is used as collateral for the loan.

You can also use the city’s Real Property Search database to check whether your landlord is up to date on property tax payments or if liens for unpaid property taxes have been sold at the annual tax sale.

Search your landlord in D.C.’s court system.

Type your landlord, their LLC or your management company’s name into D.C. Superior Court’s database to see if they’ve evicted tenants or have ever been sued for repairs or not returning a security deposit.

If you’re unfamiliar with legal language, start by just looking at “Party Type.” How many times was your landlord the plaintiff in a case (they sued somebody and claimed they were wronged)? How many times were they the defendant (somebody sued them or claimed they did something wrong).

Here are a few case and party types to look out for:

• If your landlord has been sued for repairs, the case type might say ‘housing code regulations’ and your landlord would be listed as a defendant.
• If your landlord has evicted someone, the case type would say ‘Landlord and Tenant branch’ and your landlord would be listed as the plaintiff.
• If your landlord has been sued for not returning security deposits, the case type would likely be listed as ‘Small claims’ and your landlord would be listed as the defendant.

Just ask.

This may sound basic, but there’s no harm in knocking on some doors and asking existing tenants what their experience has been like.

How to educate yourself

Tenants are protected by D.C.’s Tenant Bill of Rights, regardless of if they live in a licensed apartment or not. Here’s how to learn more about your rights in the District:

• Read up on housing code standards with DCRA’s readable summary. If you’re feeling particularly motivated, you can even do a deep dive into D.C.’s housing code.
• Check out DCRA’s list of tenant resources, which include tools for students and more.
• Enroll in a free Renters Rights 101 class, run by the Office of the Tenant Advocate. Classes are held in the evenings every month and are offered in Spanish and English.
• If you’re an existing renter, get to know the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. That’s the D.C. law that gives many renters in multi-unit buildings the right of first refusal when their landlord moves to sell the property.

If you’re having problems with an existing landlord, here’s what you can do:

• • Call the Office of the Tenant Advocate: 202-719-6560.
  • Schedule a housing inspection via DCRA (keep in mind, inspectors call your landlord before they make inspections).
  • If you’re running into dead ends or want more information on something like a Stop Work Order, place a Freedom of Information Act request with DCRA.

Morgan Baskin and Martin Austermuhle contributed reporting.