ENROLLED ORIGINAL
A RESOLUTION
24-11
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
January 5, 2021
To declare the existence of an emergency, due to congressional review, with respect to the need
to amend the Rental Housing Act of 1985 to require a housing provider to serve a written
notice to vacate on a tenant before evicting the tenant for any reason, to require a housing
provider to provide the tenant with notice of the housing providers intent to file a claim
against a tenant to recover possession of a rental unit at least 30 days before filing the
claim, to require the Superior Court to dismiss a claim brought by a housing provider to
recover possession of a rental unit where the housing provider, in cases where a notice to
quit or a summons and complaint are served by posting on the leased premise, failed to
provide the Superior Court with photographic evidence of the posted service, to provide
that no tenant shall be evicted from a rental unit for which the housing provider does not
have a current business license for rental housing, to require the Superior Court to seal
certain eviction records, to authorize the Superior Court to seal certain evictions records
upon motion by a tenant, to provide that a housing provider shall not make an inquiry
about, require the prospective tenant to disclose or reveal, or base an adverse action on
certain criteria, to require a housing provider to provide written notice to a prospective
tenant of the housing provider's basis for taking adverse action against the prospective
tenant, to provide the tenant an opportunity to dispute the information forming the basis
of the housing providers adverse action; to amend section 16-1501 of the District of
Columbia Official Code to provide that the person aggrieved shall not file a complaint
seeking restitution of possession for nonpayment of rent in an amount less than $600; and
to declare the sense of the Council that the Superior Court should raise filing fees for
eviction cases to $100.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as the Fairness in Renting Congressional Review Emergency
Declaration Resolution of 2021.
Sec. 2. (a) On October 6, 2020, the Council passed the Fairness in Renting Emergency
Amendment Act of 2020, effective November 10, 2020 (D.C. Act 23-497; 67 DCR 13949)
(emergency act), which will expire on February 7, 2021.
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 ENROLLED ORIGINAL
(b) On October 20, 2020, the Council passed the Fairness in Renting Temporary
Amendment Act of 2020, enacted on November 18, 2020 (D.C. Act 23-499; 67 DCR 113959),
which is undergoing congressional review, and may not be in effect on February 7, 2021.
(c) This emergency legislation is necessary to prevent a gap in the law between the
expiration of the emergency act and the effective date of the temporary act.
Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances
enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the
Fairness in Renting Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2021 be adopted after
a single reading.
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.
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