Post Series Prompts Building Inspections
In light of a Post series focusing on landlords who had emptied more than 200 buildings of tenants in recent years, thwarting a decades-old tenant protection law, the District announced today it will inspect the city's 11,000 rental buildings regularly, with the city's most troubled buildings coming under inspection this fall, The Post reports.
The Post's Debbie Cenziper and Sarah Cohen found that landlords, hoping to take advantage of a thriving market, pushed tenants out of rental buildings and, in some cases, let buildings deteriorate in order to force them out.
By the end of the year, the District's Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs will have an inspection schedule in place for every building with three or more rental units, and those buildings will be inspected at least once every five years, said Linda K. Argo, head of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.
"Landlords have no excuse for letting their buildings fall apart," said D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) in a statement. "Now we will have no more excuses for delaying enforcement. We need our laws to be strong enough to compel action."
Officials plan to visit problem properties repeatedly until dangerous conditions are corrected. In the past, inspections were conducted only after complaints were filed.
By Derek Kravitz |
June 24, 2008; 7:21 PM ET
D.C. Region
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Unfortunately I believe that we are limited in what we can focus on. I think that if we proceed with the partisan sideshow of prosecuting Bush admin. officials, healthcare will get lost in the brouhaha.
The Washington Post's permanent investigative unit was set up in 1982 under Bob Woodward.
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