Council Votes to Approve Nuisance Property Bill; Wells Adds Key Amendments

On Tuesday, June 3rd, the Council of the District of Columbia gave final approval to the “Nuisance Properties Abatement Reform and Real Property Classification Amendment Act of 2008”.

Commented Councilmember Wells, “This legislation takes aim at nuisance properties; increasing the real property taxes assessed on properties that sit idle as eyesores in the community. We have too many nuisance and vacant properties in this city and we all want to see these properties returned to productive use as quickly as possible.”

The legislation removes many loopholes that unscrupulous property owners use to avoid the vacant property, or Class 3, tax rate. Councilmember Wells had earlier moved an amendment that was incorporated into the legislation to prevent property owners from putting false “for lease” signs on commercial buildings that were nothing more than mere shells. Instead, a short-term exemption will now only be available if the property has a valid Certificate of Occupancy.

Under an amendment by Councilmember Kwame Brown, the tax rate for Class 3 properties has also been increased from five to ten times the normal Class 1 tax rate.

Wells added, “This nuisance legislation does what has been needed for a very long time – it tightens up the laws to so that the scofflaws and those gaming the system and speculating on higher property values will no longer be able to continue letting their properties languish in disrepair.”

Councilmember Wells also added an important safety valve to the legislation – restoring a Mayoral exemption for rare circumstances of financial hardship which had been removed earlier in the legislative process. This exemption has been used rarely by the Mayor and only for extreme reasons in the past.

Councilmember Wells explained how this measure would help in the case of the grandmother who called his office last year. Her health was poor, she was on fixed income, and she had to have a long stay in a rehabilitation center. As a result, her house was vacant and she was facing increased taxes for the many months she was recuperating from her illness. “That’s not right and that’s not the intent of targeting nuisance properties. Whenever we take aggressive steps, it helps to have a safety valve to handle unintended consequences,” commented Mr. Wells.

To help curb any possible abuse of this exemption, the government is required to notify to local Advisory Neighborhood Commission and the Council so that there is a level of oversight and review.

In response to the recent crisis many homeowners have faced on Capitol Hill and other parts of the City from overzealous enforcement by the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) that resulted in hundreds of homes being misclassified as vacant, Mr. Wells offered another amendment to better define what factors DCRA can consider in order to make their determination that the building is vacant.

“The purpose was to protect city residents who maintain their properties from the harsh vacant determination when they are away on military deployments, work assignments, extended vacations or some other occurrence that takes them away from their homes,” explained Wells.

The effort attempted to shift the burden of proof from the resident to the government that the building is indeed vacant by redefining the term to include only properties where the owner does not intend to maintain a residence as demonstrated by a finding of a number of indicators by DCRA. This amendment was watered down by other members and the version that ultimately passed won’t create the protections Tommy sought for residents from being penalized simply because they are away for an extended period of time.

The legislation now awaits the signature of the Mayor and Congressional review before it goes into effect.

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