tenant rights

“Dear PoPville,

I live in a newer apartment building in NoMa & after living here for a year, my landlord wants to raise my rent by 45%. Do you know if there are any restrictions limiting rent increases in non-rent-controlled buildings (which as I understand, are built pre-1975)?”

photo by Victoria Pickering

“Dear PoPville,

I live in a large apartment building and we were just informed that the building is for sale. We understand that we need to form a tenant organization to exercise our TOPA rights, (more…)

photo by Victoria Pickering

“Dear PoPville,

I live in a residential building in Dupont Circle and am seeking advice from the community regarding renting, construction sites, and quality of life.

The building directly adjacent (shares a wall with the entire length of my apartment) is being demolished to build a new high rise apartment building. What makes this situation a bit different than usual is that our management company is also constructing the new adjacent high rise apartment building. Therefore, our management company is directly responsible for making our rented living space “unworkable” and “unlivable” from 7 am to 5 pm. (more…)

“Dear PoPville,

I’ve lived in the Tiber Island Co-operative in SW DC since 2015. Every fall my south facing corner studio apartment gets to over 91 degrees in the fall. I know that DC requires that buildings transition from A/C to heat around October 15th but this is crazy. (more…)

photo by Robert Lintott

“Dear PoPville,

Thought this email from my building (Capitol View on 14th) might be of interest to readers. I know rents in DC are fluctuating a lot and there is a lot of anxiety and angst among my friends who got covid deals but are worried about renewing. Here, my building is clearly trying to hedge their bets on rent increases so they are NOT offering me a lease renewal, but a month-to-month at current rate. I’m sure it’s not illegal, just seems shady.

———- Forwarded message ——— (more…)

“Dear PoPville,

I’m one of the many who has a lease up at the end of the year and my building is claiming they still have no information from the Mayor’s office (which knowing DC government I mostly believe) about what will happen with the rent raise freeze / what my rent will look like in 2021. (more…)

photo by nevermindtheend

“Dear PoPville,

Can a landlord withhold video surveillance footage of common areas in a shared tenant building? The situation is such that, some bikes were stolen from a common room area in a building and in order to file a police report and recoup some funds via renters insurance, they’ve asked for a copy of the surveillance footage. However, the landlord has refused (more…)

“Dear PoPville,

I’m at a bit of a standstill with regards to my apartment. I was told to vacate the apt due to a mold situation stemming from a burst pipe on 9/13. My landlord initially said they’d cover the lodging but after realizing I had renter’s insurance she said I would need to go through them. I called my insurance and the initial consultant said that it will likely be covered under the “Loss of Use”. (more…)