The elevators in Harry Gural’s rent-controlled building on Connecticut Avenue haven’t been reliable for over a decade. It’s part of a string of maintenance problems that have plagued his older building. “They just haven’t fixed things for years and years and years,” he said.
But now, Gural wonders whether he should have a new concern: If his landlord significantly renovates the building to fix these outstanding issues, he and other tenants could be at risk of losing crucial rights.
Last year, the D.C. Council passed a bill overhauling the city’s housing law and significantly weakening major protections for tenants. Mayor Muriel Bowser first announced the Rebalancing Expectations for Neighbors, Tenants, and Landlords (RENTAL) Act in February 2025 — aiming, she said, to address a rent-delinquency crisis and encourage more private investment in market-rate housing. Housing and tenant advocates immediately sounded the alarm about the bill, arguing that it stripped tenants of their most crucial rights, including eviction protections and renters’ rights to buy their building. But most of the city’s lawmakers eventually rallied behind it…