District Sues 23 Landlords for Code Violations

Hundreds of low-rent buildings in the city have languished in squalor for years, despite repeated complaints by tenants and their advocates. In some cases, landlords have collected rent without dealing with leaks, mold, pest infestations and security lapses because the tenants -- poor and often immigrants -- have few options for decent and affordable housing, advocates have said.

In other cases, landlords let their buildings deteriorate in hopes of forcing tenants out -- "eviction by neglect," as housing advocates call it -- so the vacant structures could be remade into upscale condominiums without violating the city's tenant-conversion laws. A recent Washington Post investigation found that landlords had emptied at least 200 such buildings in recent years to capitalize on gentrification in neighborhoods near downtown.

The D.C. Council approved emergency legislation Tuesday to repeal the law that gave property owners an exemption from the city's tenants' rights laws if their buildings were vacant.

Among those named in the lawsuit filed yesterday are Deauville Partners LLC, which owns a Mount Pleasant apartment building that was gutted in a five-alarm fire last month and several other buildings in the city, and Rufus Stancil, who was criminally prosecuted after a landlord crackdown by then-Mayor Anthony A. Williams in the early part of this decade. As part of a plea agreement, Stancil agreed to spend six weekends in jail and two months living in a building where his tenants lived without heat, hot water or basic sanitation.

Stancil could not be reached. Eric Kretschman, a partner with Deauville, said through a spokeswoman that the lawsuit "has no merit."

Robert L. Williams, who is cited in the lawsuit, owns an apartment building in Southeast. He said that he is in court with the city over code violations in his building but that he has documented that he is taking care of them. He said he was surprised by the lawsuit.

"This is going a little too far," he said.