What to do if your apartment doesn't have heat

Every winter, residents across D.C. live in cold apartments. Particularly since last week’s snowstorm, news stories, fundraisers, and donation drives have cropped up seeking support for residents living without heat – and with months of the season left, we’re likely to see more. 

While the D.C. Department of Buildings did not respond to The 51st’s inquiry about the total number of heating-related complaints filed in 2024, it’s clearly a chronic problem. 

Landlords in D.C. are legally required to heat their units, and renters are entitled to livable spaces. Here is what to do if your apartment isn’t heated properly. 

How warm must my landlord keep my apartment? 

By D.C. housing code standards, whenever the heating facilities are not controlled by the renter, landlords must supply sufficient heat. Between Oct. 1 and May 1, units must maintain a minimum temperature of 68 degrees between the hours of 6:30 a.m. and 11:00 p.m., and a minimum temperature of 65 degrees between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. 

If your apartment has a system that takes more than 15 days to transition from air conditioning to heating, the heat must start no later than Oct. 15 and end no earlier than May 1. 

And in the summer, air conditioning must be turned on no later than May 15 and turned off no earlier than Sept. 15. Units must maintain a temperature no more than 78 degrees, or at least 15 degrees less than the outside temperature, whichever is higher. 

Ok, so it’s definitely below 68 degrees in my apartment … what now? 

Reach out to your landlord, the property manager, or whoever is responsible for maintenance on your unit to let them know your apartment is too cold. It’s a good idea to put this note in writing. If you call, take a screenshot of your call history or otherwise document your attempt(s) to reach someone. 

I did that, but I’m not confident it’ll be fixed in a timely manner. What next?

You don’t have to wait for your landlord to respond to take them to court. 

According to Ashlei Schulz, a supervising attorney in the housing law unit at Legal Aid DC, taking your landlord to court is one of the primary avenues to ensure a maintenance problem actually gets fixed – and tenants can file a complaint in housing court after or even shortly before they’ve reached out to a landlord. 

Renters can submit a housing complaint and request an emergency hearing in D.C. Superior Court’s housing conditions court. You don’t need a lawyer to do this (and you can file a complaint for yourself fully online) — but proceedings can be complicated and the court encourages tenants to seek representation. 

There are several resources to help you file your complaint: the Landlord Tenant Legal Assistance Network (LTLAN) which assists low-income tenants, is open on weekdays and staffed with lawyers trained in tenant law from local organizations like Legal Aid DC, Bread for the City, and Neighborhood Legal Services, among others. You can fill out an intake form online or call 202-780-2575. 

Tenants who make more than the income threshold for LTLAN can receive free legal advice from the Landlord Tenant Resource Center, which is located in the D.C. Superior Courthouse. (510 4th St NW, Building B, Room 223 on the second floor.) 

Schulz says the first thing a judge will ask is if the tenant has reached out to the landlord – so it’s best to have that checked off your list with some documentation. But you do not have to give your landlord a grace period – according to Schulz, it’s up to a tenant to decide when to file. For example, you may work outside of the home and can wait eight hours for maintenance, but if you’re in an apartment all day, perhaps with a newborn, young children, or an elderly relative, you can’t wait around for a solution. 

And even if a landlord has promised to fix the problem, a tenant can still take them to court as an enforcement measure. As renters know, it wouldn’t be unheard of for a landlord to pledge to address a problem and then go several days without doing so. 

“Sometimes [landlords] give you the runaround,” she says. “If the landlord says, ‘we’re going to get to it, just give us a minute,’ you can still keep your conditions case open just to make sure that they do.”

Legal stuff can lag. How can I be sure my case will be heard quickly? 

According to Adam Marshall, a managing attorney with the Neighborhood Legal Services Program, hearings can be set as quickly as a few hours after filing a complaint. In other instances, it may take a few days. In your complaint, be sure to outline the severity of the issue (it’s 32 degrees in my apartment) and underscore how urgently it must be resolved. 

And remember that the court is open from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. on weekdays only. 

Do I need to provide evidence to file a case? 

Unlike instances of rats, roaches, or crumbling walls, documenting inadequate heating can be difficult.

Marshall (who says he always carries a pocket thermometer on him for this reason), advises tenants to get creative in their documentation if they think there’s a chance their landlord may contest the allegations. 

“What a tenant should be thinking about is: is this something that the landlord’s going to contest? Is there a property manager who’s been out to the property and observed it that they think will testify against them?” he says. “If there is someone like that, it makes sense to get another witness, maybe a family member or friend or neighbor who could testify about how cold it was.” 

In a tenant’s testimony, he advises using sensory language to describe the conditions, like detailing how many layers of clothing you need to stay warm inside your apartment. You could also take photos of windows, liquids, or other surfaces that have condensed or even frozen as a result of improper heat. 

This documentation isn’t strictly necessary, however. While cases vary, a tenant’s testimony can often serve as evidence enough, according to Schulz. 

“You can’t come with the assumption that a tenant who doesn’t have heat is lying about it, because they really have nothing to gain by coming before the court,” Schulz says.”

I’m behind on rent or currently in eviction proceedings. Can I still file a complaint in housing court? 

Yes, you have the right to a warm place to live.

“I know a lot of folks will think, oh I have a rental balance, I’m not entitled to ask for anything,” Schulz says. “That’s not true.” 

If you’re currently in a non-payment case with a landlord, you will file your complaint in the same case — and as we outlined in our eviction explainer, a failure to uphold housing standards can mean you end up owing less to your landlord. 

However, this doesn’t work the other way: a landlord can still file an eviction for non-payment while an active conditions case is open. 

Should I report my landlord anywhere else? 

If your landlord has neglected heating requirements (or flouted other housing standards), you should report them to D.C.’s Department of Buildings — although this route may take longer to bring about an immediate solution. 

After you’ve attempted to contact your landlord and have not seen any improvements in conditions, you can request a DOB housing inspection. This will typically be scheduled within a week, although a faster turnaround can be accommodated in emergencies. For an immediate inspection, you can call 311 to reach an on-duty inspector. DOB can issue fines for violations, but it cannot give a landlord a court mandate. 

Even if you have opened a case in housing conditions court, it’s still important to report maintenance violations to DOB. These create a record and may be used in future lawsuits or court proceedings. 

What if I live in public housing or have a housing voucher? 

You can file a complaint in housing conditions court like any other tenant. For residents in public housing, whose landlord is the D.C. Housing Authority, this would mean taking DCHA to court. Public housing residents may also file grievances within DCHA; the authority’s guidance suggests first reaching out to the property manager for maintenance issues, and then escalating the complaint to the Deputy Director of Maintenance. 

Residents receiving housing vouchers also have every right to take their contract landlord to housing court.

I’m scared I’ll make my landlord angry if I take them to court. Am I protected from retaliation?

According to Marshall, he and his colleagues do run into landlords who take retaliatory actions in landlord-tenant court. But you are offered some protections. 

Per D.C. law, things like opening a housing conditions case against a landlord, calling DOB, participating in a tenant association, or even reporting poor conditions to the landlord themselves are considered “protected activities.” 

If a landlord serves a tenant with a notice or files a case against a tenant within six months of the tenant engaging in one of those “protected activities,” that can be used as a direct defense against a landlord in court. Marshall says this type of retaliation by a landlord – which is against the law — can also be separate cause for a tenant to file a tenant petition with the Rental Accommodations Division of the Department of Housing and Community Development. Your case would then be litigated in the Office of Administrative Hearings.

I took my landlord to court but they still haven’t fixed the heating 

Schulz says a court order typically works, but that in rare cases of truly defiant landlords, tenants should just continue dragging them back to court. Each case would be an escalation, referencing the previous rulings that have not been addressed. 

Can I withhold my rent if my landlord didn’t properly address the heating problem? 

This is up to the renter. Not paying rent incurs risk and requires some degree of financial stability, according to Schulz. 

If you incur additional damages due to a lack of heating (like paying for a repair service to fix the heat yourself or staying in a hotel), document everything – including receipts, repair dates, hotel stays, and any material or physical evidence of inadequate temperatures. Should your landlord file an eviction case for non-payment of rent, a judge may reduce the amount you owe on account of the landlord failing to provide adequate conditions. 

Schulz says this is one way to get to a landlord’s pocket when they flout the law — but it can also put a renter in a precarious position. 

“If the landlord files an eviction case and anything goes wrong — if they don’t get the notices or they aren’t able to come into court and raise those defenses — it’s the tenant who is at risk of being put out,” she says. 

For more tips on what to do if you get an eviction notice, read our guide.

Can my landlord face any fines or punishment for violating maintenance laws around heating and cooling? 

Housing condition court is mostly focused on injunctive relief — the outcome is to get your landlord to make the necessary repairs. If you win your case, you will not be receiving any direct monetary relief and your landlord won’t be fined. 

According to Marshall, there are some cases where a landlord may face monetary sanctions if they’re found in contempt for ignoring court orders, but this is more likely to happen to a large corporation. Smaller landlords and those who represent themselves are typically granted a bit more leeway. 

The DOB can also issue fines against a landlord for violating housing standards, although Schulz says the enforcement mechanism ensuring landlords pay those fines is weak. 

“Across the board, when it comes to landlords, you’re depending on the lawfulness of the landlord to pay the fine and feel that sting and actually fix the heat,” she says. 

The D.C. Attorney General is another enforcement body for bad landlords. This is why it’s important to report any violations to the DOB, even if you’ve opened a case in housing court. In instances of chronic neglect or situations that put tenants’ lives at risk, the OAG may open an investigation and potentially file a lawsuit against an owner or manager. These cases are typically built upon DOB violation records and tenant testimonies, so make sure you document infractions and file complaints with DOB accordingly. You can report a complaint directly to the OAG by calling their mediation number: 202-442-9828.

Come to think of it…my landlord doesn’t fix a lot of stuff in my building. Can I find out more about their properties and violation history anywhere? 

What investigative acumen! The city has an online tool that allows you to view your landlord’s maintenance violations, the status of property inspections, notices of infractions, and fine histories. 

This story has been updated with the mediation number for the D.C. Attorney General.