District of Columbia Code
Chapter 9 - Insanitary Buildings
§ 6–907. Failure of owner to comply with order; repair or demolition of building; cost assessed against property

(a) If the owner of any building or part of building condemned under the provisions of this chapter shall fail to remedy in a manner satisfactory to the Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings the condition or conditions which led to the condemnation thereof, by failing to cause such building or part of building to be put into habitable and sanitary condition or to be demolished and removed within the time specified by said Board in the order of condemnation or any extension thereof, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and be liable to the penalties provided by § 6-916, and such building or part of building may be put into habitable and sanitary condition or be demolished and removed under the direction of said Board, and the cost of such repairs or such demolition and removal, including the cost of making good damage to adjoining premises (except such as may have resulted from carelessness or willful recklessness in the demolition or removal of such building), and the cost of publication, if any, herein provided for, less the amount, if any, received from the sale of the old material, shall be assessed by the Mayor of the District of Columbia as a tax against the premises on which such building or part of building was situated, such tax to be collected as provided in this section; provided, that the pendency of any review or appeal provided for by §§ 6-913 and 6-914 shall stay the operation of any order issued by said Board, unless said Board shall find that the condition of said premises is such as to cause immediate danger to the health or lives of the occupants thereof or of persons living in the vicinity; provided further, that the taxes authorized to be levied and collected under this chapter may be paid without interest within 60 days from the date such tax was levied. Interest of one-half of one per centum for each month or part thereof shall be charged on all unpaid amounts from the expiration of 60 days from the date such tax was levied. Any such tax may be paid in 3 equal installments with interest thereon. If any such tax or part thereof shall remain unpaid after the expiration of 2 years from the date such tax was levied, the property against which said tax was levied may be sold for such tax or unpaid portion thereof with interest and penalties thereon at the next ensuing annual tax sale in the same manner and under the same conditions as property sold for delinquent general real estate taxes, if said tax with interest and penalties thereon shall not have been paid in full prior to said sale.
(b) Any tax levied pursuant to this chapter as amended by the Act approved August 28, 1954, which was levied after the effective date of such Act of August 28, 1954, and prior to November 7, 1965, shall, for the purpose of computing interest thereon, be deemed to have been levied as of November 7, 1965.
(May 1, 1906, 34 Stat. 158, ch. 2073, § 7; Aug. 28, 1954, 68 Stat. 886, ch. 1032; Nov. 7, 1965, 79 Stat. 1216, Pub. L. 89-326, § 2; Apr. 27, 2001, D.C. Law 13-281, § 103(e), 48 DCR 1888.)
1981 Ed., § 5-707.
1973 Ed., § 5-622.
This section is referenced in § 6-902 and § 6-916.
D.C. Law 13-281 substituted “uninhabitable or insanitary condition” for “insanitary condition” throughout the section.
Act of August 28, 1954, referred to twice in subsection (b) of this section, amended this chapter.
This section originated at a time when local government powers were delegated to a Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia (see Acts Relating to the Establishment of the District of Columbia and its Various Forms of Governmental Organization in Volume 1). Section 401 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967 (see Reorganization Plans in Volume 1) transferred all of the functions of the Board of Commissioners under this section to a single Commissioner. The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, 87 Stat. 818, § 711 ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.11), abolished the District of Columbia Council and the Office of Commissioner of the District of Columbia. These branches of government were replaced by the Council of the District of Columbia and the Office of Mayor of the District of Columbia, respectively. Accordingly, and also pursuant to § 714(a) of such Act ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.14(a)), appropriate changes in terminology were made in this section.

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