Washington, D.C. eviction law

Before filing an eviction case for unpaid rent, you must give the tenant written notice of your intent to file. The Code says the notice comes at least 10 days before filing, but the wording the same subsection requires in the notice tells the tenant you may file if the balance is not paid within 30 days, so allow 30 days before filing. You may not send this notice, or file for possession, when less than $600 in rent is owed.

D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(a-1) D.C. Code § 16-1501(b)

• The notice must state the total rent owed, attach a ledger of charges and payments for the period of delinquency, tell the tenant they may stay if the balance is paid in full, and give the Office of the Tenant Advocate and legal help phone numbers, using the prescribed or substantially similar language. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(a-1)(2)
• Deliver it both ways: by certified mail or a tracked delivery service with return receipt requested, and by hand delivery to the unit or posting on its front door. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(a-1)(3)
• If you post a notice, give the court a photograph of the posted notice with a readable timestamp. If you know the tenant's primary language is one other than English or Spanish that District law covers, give the notice in that language. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(a)(2), (a)(3)
• The court may dismiss a case filed without the required notice or before the notice period has run. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(a)(4)
• To file, you need a valid rental registration or claim of exemption and a current rental housing business license. D.C. Code § 16-1501(c) See Eviction process on the Washington, D.C. page
• Not paying a late fee is never a ground for eviction. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(a)(1)

To recover the unit because the tenant is breaking an obligation of the tenancy other than paying rent, give written notice and let the tenant correct the violation; you may proceed only if it is not corrected within 30 days after the tenant receives the notice. Serve this notice on both the tenant and the Rent Administrator.

D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(a)(1), (b)

• If a court has found that the tenant or another occupant performed an illegal act in the unit or building, serve a 30-day notice to vacate. A tenant can be evicted for another occupant's act only if the tenant knew or should have known of it. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(c)(1)
• For cases filed after December 31, 2025 involving a dangerous crime or crime of violence not committed in self-defense, the notice to vacate is 10 days, after you consider in good faith ways to preserve housing for occupants who did not offend, and the court holds an expedited hearing. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(c)(2)
• It is a defense that the tenant, or a minor child of the tenant, is the victim of an intrafamily offense that is the basis for the notice. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(c-1)
• Serve a notice to quit in English and Spanish, in person if possible, otherwise on a person of proper age at the unit, or by posting it and mailing a copy first class within 3 calendar days. D.C. Code § 42-3206

Only a court can order an eviction. You file a complaint for possession in the Landlord and Tenant Branch of the Superior Court after the required notice, and you need a valid rental registration or claim of exemption and a current rental housing business license to file.

D.C. Code § 16-1501 D.C. Code § 42-3505.01

• You may not file for possession for unpaid rent of less than $600, though you may sue for the money. D.C. Code § 16-1501(b) See Notice for unpaid rent on the Washington, D.C. page
• The court may dismiss a case if notice was missing or too short, if a posted notice or summons lacks a timestamped photograph, or if a required translated notice was not given. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(a)(4) D.C. Code § 16-1501(d)
• No tenant may be evicted unless you show the court a current rental housing business license when you file for the writ. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(q)
• The court may pause a nonpayment case while a tenant's emergency rental assistance application is pending. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(r)
• Give the tenant a notice confirming the eviction date at least 21 days ahead. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01a(b) See Abandoned property on the Washington, D.C. page
• Grounds that are not the tenant's fault, such as personal use, sale for personal use, renovation, demolition, substantial rehabilitation or discontinuing housing use, each have their own notice to vacate and conditions. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(d) to (i)

No tenant may be evicted except as the eviction statute allows, after the required notice and a court case; an eviction is carried out by the U.S. Marshals, and you change the locks in their presence. The sections read do not separately address utility shutoffs by a landlord. If you are billed for a master-metered apartment house and fall behind, the utility must first let tenants take service in their own names, and what tenants pay the utility may be deducted from their rent.

D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(a)(1) D.C. Code § 42-3505.01a(c) D.C. Code § 42-3302

• Starting January 1, 2027, you may not bill tenants separately, other than through the monthly rent, for utility charges for common spaces or vacant units. A ratio utility billing system that allocates master-metered charges among tenants is still allowed within that limit. Under the fee ban as rewritten in 2026, a ratio utility billing system may pass through only the allocated utility charges, with no billing or administrative fee, and on a rent stabilized unit an unapproved mandatory fee also carries treble damages. D.C. Code § 42-3505.11 D.C. Law 26-156 D.C. Code § 42-3505.10(b-2)(1)(A) D.C. Code § 42-3502.11a
• An eviction may not be carried out on a day the National Weather Service forecasts at 8 a.m. below 32 or above 95 degrees Fahrenheit at National Airport, or while precipitation is falling, with narrow exceptions. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01(k), (k-1)

After a court-ordered eviction, give the tenant a notice at least 21 days before the eviction date confirming the date and warning that property left behind is considered abandoned 7 days after the eviction, not counting Sundays and federal holidays. During those 7 days the tenant may come back for their belongings, with no rent or storage charge.

D.C. Code § 42-3505.01a

• Send the 21-day notice by phone or electronic message, by first class mail to the unit, and by posting it at the unit; it must also give the Marshals', Tenant Advocate's and court's phone numbers and say it is your final notice. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01a(b)
• Give access at times agreed, for at least 16 hours between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. over no more than 2 days, including a Saturday if the tenant asks. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01a(b)(2)(G)
• On the day of the eviction, mail to any emergency contact and post a notice naming an agent who can let the tenant in. D.C. Code § 42-3505.01a(d)
• Property left after an ejectment action has its own rule. D.C. Code § 42-3210.01

You may not retaliate against a tenant for exercising any legal right, for example by seeking possession, raising rent unlawfully, cutting services, harassing, refusing to renew or ending the tenancy without cause. If within the 6 months before your action the tenant took one of the protected steps listed in the statute, the action is presumed retaliatory and the tenant wins unless you rebut it with clear and convincing evidence.

D.C. Code § 42-3505.02

• The protected steps are a witnessed oral or written request for repairs needed to meet the housing regulations, contacting District officials about violations, lawfully withholding rent after notice of a violation, tenant organization activity, an effort to secure or enforce rights under the lease, and bringing legal action against the landlord. D.C. Code § 42-3505.02(b)