15 severely is it penalized. Should landlords be given a guarantee of increased profits in these hard times? Mr. Sidney Levy: (President Apartment & Office Building Association of Metro Washington and Vice President, Forman Bernstein Management) Mr. Levy presented testimony outlined decreasing and negative cash flow resulting from property he manages. Allow landlords reasonable rate of increase in rents to cover general increases in operating costs, using 1973 as the base year. All pass throughs for utilities. Mr. Harry Reiss: (Tenant, Lancashire House) Mr. & Mrs. Reiss related the landlords increase in rent $31.00 while reducing switchboard service from 24 hrs. to 12 hours and no hours Saturday, Sunday, and holidays. Mr. David Dreyfuss: luxury apartments. (President, Dreyfuss Brothers, Inc.) Decontrol Controls have been good for landlords whose tenants pay the utilities and to those who heat by gas. Controls are continuing the injustice of different rents for identical quarters. Allow landlords to raise rents for identical units or different rents between buildings owned by the same landlord. Too many forms to fill out. Mr. Pat Ryan: (Landlord) Small landlords are discouraged from making small improvements. Too many forms to fill out. As an incentive charge no income tax profits on new building or old but remodeled buildings. Allow landlords rental increases as an incentive to keep their properties at an above code requirement. Mr. Weiss: (Tenant, Lancaster House) Controls must continue but services should not be below what was promised. 16 Mr. Hernando Caicedo: (Member, D.C. City-wide Coalition) Rent controls and condominium conversions controls have helped slow down evic tion of low and moderate incone tenants. Empty buildings could be rehabilitated and put on the market for low income. Use some of the $42,000,000.00 of Community Housing and Development Grant for Commission support. Mr.Leone-Elise I. Nikinov: Has experienced rent increases beyond his ability to pay. Mr. Wesley Stevens: Slums lords should be jailed People should take access to buildings that are not providing decent housing by any means necessary. Governement is not enforcing the housing code. Perhaps people need to be brought down to council chambers to sleep when they cannot be relocated. Mr. Don Tuttle: (Chief Legal Counsel, Metropolitan Legal Office, HUD) Fifty-two (52) projects or 9,000 units in D.C. are financially assisted by IUD in the form of mortgage insurance and are subject to rent control regulation. Although there is no data on the impact of the laws on these properties, landlords must seek HUD approval for rent increases, No suggestions were made. Mr. Weinfild Wiencke: (Landlord) Related experiences of purchasing a building where the rents hadn't been raised in 8 years and where fuel oil, electricity, trash collection, legal fees, ate up rental income requiring partners to chip in for mortgage payments. No reply on hardship petition. Expeditious hearings might help. Mr. Howard Feldman: (Lincoln Civic Association) Establish a tenants' grievance board allowing bargining rights to tenant organizations, rules i 17 for governing elections and procedures for certifying tenants and monitoring negotiations between landlords and tenants. Code violations copies should be posted in building as should the posting of forms. Roll back rents to 8% increase. Strike "willfully" from paragraph B Section 13 and "knowingly" from paragraph C. Increase license fee and require $25.00 registration fee. Ms Reed: (President Washington Real Estate Brokes Association) 35%, electricity 15% and fuel Oil 100% increases since rent control laws have gone into effect. (Tenants, 400 Seward Square) Related Mr. Sam Taylor/Mr. Dick Capet: experiences with landlord which included an illegal 10% increase during wage and pride controls, deterioration of the building and services, retaliatory evictions, citations for code violations, the replacement of evicted tenants with people who worked in landlord's restaurants, the firing of those tenants who complained, illegal entrances. Mr. Arnold Levine: (Tenant & Landlord) Commission Staffers know little about the law. Small landlords are being hurt. Mr. Levine related his experiences as owner of four houses. Law should distinquish between "professional" landlords, those having more than 10 houses or 20 units etc. from "amateur" landlords. Ms Ruella Harrison: (Tenant, McLean Gardens) Related experiences with landlord who locked her out of her room for $82.00 she owed. 18 $100.00 per room would exclude most units in D.C. with the exception of subsidized housing units. Even HUD's fair market rents for Section 8, leased housing for low and moderate income, sets the level of and efficiency or one room at $168.00. Allows automatic rent increase at 3 or 4% above 12.32% not 8% as landlords are demanding. Allow rent deductions for tenants not receiving interest on security deposits. Require a security deposit statement be included in the financial statements for hardship cases and non-hardship cases. Allow no rent increases for landlords issuing illegally worded leases (verbal or written). Clarify section 13 to establish February, 1973 as baseline for comparison of services. Clarify section 5 (J) Clarify Section 6 Establish task force in charge of writing hardship guidelines, finding and notifying unregistered landlords, simplifying procedures clarifying language, developing public information etc. Bill 1-40 STATEMENT OF COUNCILMEMBER NADINE P. WINTER INTRODUCING A BILL Mr. Chairman, (March 11, 1975) Today I am introducing a bill which makes some modifications to the present Rent Control Act (P.L. 93-157). This Bill is a landlord/tenant bill designed to control the rise of rents, the rate of evictions and the notification process for condominium conversions and for other purposes. There are no fundamental differences in the concept of the previous law as provided by the District of Columbia Rent Control Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-157) and District of Columbia Regulation 74-20. The proposed changes provide for the following: 1. changes the name and composition of the present Housing Rent 2. establishes a method for computing 1975 allowable rent increases, 3. increases the time limit for case depositions, 4. requires annual registration of rental units, 5. provides for the imposition of registration fees, and 6: clarify language in the regulation. More specifically, this measure establishes a seven member policy and appeal commission composed of three public, two tenant and two landlord members. It provides for a Rent Administrator vested with the authority for first determination for the granting of exemptions or the dismissal of landlord or tenant petitions. The Commission as an appeal board could grant reprieves upon petitions by either landlords or tenants. As a quasi landlord-tenant court, the Commission would be able to |