What to know if you get an eviction notice in D.C.

This article is part of The 51st's 2024 contribution to the D.C. Homeless Crisis Reporting Project in collaboration with other local newsrooms.

The collective works will be published throughout the week at bit.ly/DCHCRP.

Evictions are on the rise in D.C., with an estimated 1,493 people set to be forcibly removed from their rental homes — the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic, and close to pre-pandemic levels when much less emergency rental assistance was available. 

Housing and legal advocates fear the problem will deteriorate further after the D.C. Council unanimously passed a bill last week weakening the eviction protections of the city’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), an initiative designed to help low-income residents pay their rent in an emergency.

With just 33 available affordable rentals for every 100 extremely low-income rental households — and a waitlist for housing vouchers that has been closed for the better part of the last decade — D.C. renters are struggling more than ever to keep up with rent payments. An estimated 14 percent of tenants are behind on rent, the primary reason for evictions in D.C.

“Facing forcible displacement can be one of the most traumatic things that they might face in their life,” says Adam Marshall, an attorney at Neighborhood Legal Services Program’s Housing Unit, of their clients. “I think it is probably the second most severe consequence that our court system has on folks, behind probably only loss of liberty in criminal cases.”

Eviction can be a catalyst for homelessness (which has increased 14% in D.C. since 2023), job loss, and depression. It also creates a court record that can make it harder to find future housing. And evictions are not experienced equally – the rate of executed evictions (that end in forcible removal) is 13 times higher in Ward 8 than Ward 2, with 60 percent occurring east of the river.

Evictions disproportionately impact people of color. Nationwide, Black renters had evictions filed against them almost twice as often as white renters.

Yet D.C. has some of the most robust eviction protections in the country. If tenants know what their rights are, they can better use them to stay housed – or at least to get a more favorable outcome. We’re not lawyers and this isn’t legal advice, but we rounded up tips from lawyers, tenant organizers, and housing advocates for when you or a neighbor are facing an eviction.

1. Never ignore an eviction notice. Always show up to court. 

Too often, tenants don’t show up to court. Sometimes they can’t get the day off or find childcare, or maybe they’re scared or assume they’re already doomed, says Sierra Ramírez, an organizer with the Woodner Tenants Union. As a result, a large percentage of cases are ruled in the landlord’s favor by default.

“They allow themselves to get stuck and frozen and end up not showing up at all,” Ramírez says.

Today, renters can show up to court in person or attend virtually. The court mails a hearing notice with both the physical address and call-in information, and you can attend however you feel most comfortable. 

Perhaps counterintuitively, showing up (virtually or in person) can actually slow the eviction process down.

“In D.C., if you are attending each of your hearings, the process doesn’t have to be very, very fast — it’s not as though you get an eviction notice and you’re a victim the next day,” Ramírez says. But if you fail to show and get a default judgment, “the process speeds up quite a bit.” 

If you need more time to find a lawyer, build your case, or you’re uncertain about anything, attend your hearing and ask to postpone by saying at the beginning: “I request a continuance with all rights reserved to seek legal counsel.” 

The D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center has a helpful guide to initial hearings that advises tenants to arrive at least 10 minutes early. If you have an emergency, call the clerk’s office (202-879-4879) and ask for an “emergency continuance.” The guide advises you to never admit you owe money because “you could lose your chance to tell the court your side of the story, and you could lose the case.”

2. Get a lawyer or legal advice

In D.C., landlords have a lawyer 95 percent of the time, while tenants have one just 12 percent of the time. When tenants have a lawyer, their odds of staying in their home increase significantly.

The Landlord Tenant Legal Assistance Network (LTLAN) is a coordinated intake referral hotline for eviction defense in D.C. where low-income tenants can get free legal advice and representation from six partner organizations. You can fill out an intake form online or call them (202-780-2575). 

Their call volume is overwhelming — Marshall estimates they receive over 2,000 calls a year. While this means they’re unable to offer representation to everyone, they can at minimum provide advice likely to improve a tenant’s chances. 

Tenants who make more than the income threshold for LTLAN can go to the Landlord Tenant Resource Center run by the DC Bar Pro Bono Center for advice. (Located in Room 223 on the second floor of the Landlord and Tenant Courthouse, 510 4th St NW, open Tuesdays 10 a.m - 3:00 p.m.)

Lawyers might advise you on whether your landlord has followed proper eviction protocol. For example, a landlord can only evict you with a court order (not a verbal warning) and they have to give advance notice. A lawyer can help you better understand the timeline, and what defenses you might have.

Ramírez cautions tenants against relying on building management for information about navigating their eviction: “there’s a structural relationship that puts your interests at odds.”

3. Rats, roaches, or leaky pipes? You might not owe what your landlord says you do.

Sewage coating apartment floors, tenants sleeping with bats to ward off invading rats, moldy ceilings, and hot water failures — D.C. renters have no shortage of horror stories. But if you’re facing an eviction due to unpaid rent, these conditions could mean you owe less than your landlord says you do, or perhaps even that your landlord owes you. 

D.C. landlords must follow housing code standards. If a tenant can prove the landlord hasn’t, a court may reduce some or all of a tenant’s rent. Marshall says that while D.C.’s housing code can be granular, violations are also pretty self-explanatory.

“A wall is supposed to act like a wall, a window is supposed to act like a window, a fridge is supposed to act like a fridge; if the wall's not acting like a wall, and doing things that a wall should do, that's probably a breach of the housing code,” he says.

Ramírez notes that many tenants are afraid to bring up maintenance issues in court because they already feel like they’re in trouble and want to be as pleasant as possible. But that can mean they’re forgoing an important right.

“We’re taught that if you sign up to pay a bill, you owe that bill no matter what you get in return,” says Ashlei Schulz, a supervising attorney in Legal Aid DC’s Housing Unit, adding that as a result, tenants will often just frankly tell the court they fell behind on rent. “Then the court will enter a judgment against them, and then they could be evicted, even if their conditions are bad,” Schulz says.

Marshall advises tenants to document absolutely everything — copies of emails or texts with your landlord requesting repairs, photographs of problems in your apartment, and copies of your rent payments will help your case. The Office of the Attorney General has examples of documentation in their tenant resource guide and Legal Aid DC has an in-depth guide to eviction cases for non-payment of rent.

4. Evictions can’t be retaliatory or discriminatory.

Tenants are protected from being evicted in retaliation for certain activities in D.C., including things like organizing with a tenants union, reporting your landlord for a housing code violation, or even requesting repairs. If a tenant has engaged in any of these activities within six months of the landlord initiating the eviction, then the tenant can raise a retaliation defense. This compels the landlord to prove to the court that the eviction wasn’t retaliatory.

Similarly, if you think you’ve been evicted because you’re a member of a protected class — such as your age, race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, or the fact that you have children — you may have a defense. An eviction also can’t be related to domestic violence.

5. Get connected to a tenant organization.

Every Saturday morning, the Woodner Tenants Association meets to review their monitoring system that tracks active eviction filings in the building. Once they have the names of tenants facing evictions, they knock on their door to see how they can help.

“We try to create a space where neighbors can help each other,” Ramírez says.

Many tenants don’t have internet or computer access to attend court online, so the union makes sure they’re connected for their court date. They also have someone to sit with them during their hearing, so they feel less alone. They’ve organized babysitters and food distribution. While Woodner is somewhat unique in its level of organization, there are other tenants’ groups around the city. "

Stomp Out Slumlords, the anti-eviction and tenant organizing project of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America, works in buildings across the city. Their Anti-Eviction Operations Manual has more helpful information about tenants' rights and D.C.’s housing crisis. Empower DC reaches out to tenants facing eviction and hosts rights training. They have a helpful guide, Know Your Rights: Eviction. If you’re interested in forming your own tenants union, these organizations might be able to help.