District of Columbia Code
Subchapter II - Establishment of Condominiums
§ 42–1902.20. Contraction of the Condominium

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, a condominium shall be allowed to contract at the time of the recordation of an amendment to the declaration, containing a legally sufficient description of the property withdrawn from the condominium; provided, that:
(1) If portions of the withdrawable property were described pursuant to § 42-1902.10(d)(5), then no such portion shall be withdrawn after the conveyance of any unit on such portion; or
(2) If no such portions were described, then none of the withdrawable land shall be withdrawn after the first conveyance of any unit thereon.
(b)(1) A condominium may contract when the unit owners' association ("association") votes to allow one or more separate buildings in the condominium to withdraw; provided, that:
(A) Each unit owner must vote affirmatively to allow the withdrawal;
(B) Each vote must be in writing;
(C) No unit owner may be permitted to vote by proxy; and
(D) The vote occurs after the time period for making a warranty claim under § 42-1903.16 has expired, or after the release of the warranty bond, whichever is later.
(2)(A) If at the time of contraction there are any encumbrances or liens against any of the units, the contraction will be effective only when all creditors holding such encumbrances or liens consent in writing to the amendment to the declaration and amended plat and plans or their encumbrances or liens are satisfied or expire by operation of law.
(B) The contraction will be effective only when the provider of the master property insurance policy for the condominium consents in writing to the amendment to the declaration and amended plat and plans, or when the contracted condominium and any new condominiums created as a result of the contraction each enter an agreement with a new provider to provide a master insurance policy.
(3) To effectuate the contraction, the declarant or the association shall:
(A) Record an amendment to the declaration with the Recorder of Deeds; and
(B) Submit an amended plat and plans to the Department of Buildings that depict:
(i) The withdrawn building and condominium tax lots; and
(ii) The remaining building and condominium tax lots.
(4) The amendment to the declaration shall reallocate in proportion to the respective percentages of units remaining in the contracted condominium:
(A) The percentages of common element ownership;
(B) Voting power in the unit owners' association; and
(C) Liability for common expenses.
(5)(A)(i) Upon contraction, the unit owners of the pre-existing condominium units on the withdrawn property shall own the property as a condominium or as tenants in common as provided in § 42-1902.28(g).
(ii) The amendments required to be recorded pursuant to paragraph (3) of this subsection shall make clear how the withdrawn property shall be owned.
(iii) No new deeds shall be required to be recorded as a consequence of a contraction pursuant to this subsection.
(B) If the withdrawn property is to be owned as one or more new condominiums:
(i) A new declaration, bylaws, and plat and plans shall be recorded for each new condominium; and
(ii) The owners of withdrawn property shall not be required to pay any taxes or fees under § 42-3402.04; provided, that the record owner remains the same.
(c) For the purposes of this section, the term "building" includes an individual rowhouse attached to another rowhouse.
(Mar. 29, 1977, D.C. Law 1-89, title II, § 220, 23 DCR 9532b; Mar. 22, 2019, D.C. Law 22-265, § 2, 66 DCR 1392; Apr. 5, 2021, D.C. Law 23-269, § 501(v), 68 DCR 001490.)
1981 Ed., § 45-1830.
1973 Ed., § 5-1230.
This section is referenced in § 42-1901.02.