§ 42-3502

Citation: § 42-3502
Parent Document: Benitez v Ogden Gardens et al. Final Order, No. TP-29189 (D.C. Off. Admin. Hr'gs)
Jurisdiction: DC (municipal)
Original Source: https://ota.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ota/publication/attachments/T... ↗

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7 Decisions of the Rental Housing Commission are in conflict about computation of a rollback
under D.C. Official Code § 42-3509.01(a). Tenant contends that the RHC permitted a rollback
of rent as an additional remedy independent of any reduction of the rent ceiling in Cobb v.
Charles E. Smith Mgmt. Co., TP 23,889 (RHC July 21, 1998) at 10-11. While the Commission 's
decision in Cobb seems to support Tenant's position, in its later decision in Jonathan Woodner
Co. v. Enobakhare, TP 27,730 (RHC Feb. 3, 2005) at 12, the Commission explicitly held that
"[w]here the hearing examiner finds that the tenant's services have been reduced, the remedy is
to reduce the rent ceiling, not the rent." Because this holding was addressed directly to the
housing provider's contention that "[t]he tenant is not entitled to a rent rollback and rent refund,"
Id. at 11, it implicitly prohibited a rollback in circumstances where the rent charged did not
exceed the reduced rent ceiling. This interpretation is consistent with the structure of the statute,
which incorporates the rollback provisions into the provision for award of rent refunds. The
structure suggests that the rollback is not intended as an alternative means to award a rent refund
by reducing the rent rather than the rent ceiling, but rather as a remedy that is available only in
circumstances where the rent charged exceeds the rent ceiling. See also Cascade Park Apts. v.
Walker, TP 26,197 (RHC Jan. 14, 2005) at 31 (contrasting the remedy of a reduction in the rent
ceiling with the remedy of a rollback for "excessive and prolonged violations of the housing
regulations affecting the health, safety, and security of the tenants or the habitability of the
housing accommodation"). -22-
Case No.: RH-TP-08-29189

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