Mayor may correct conditions violative of law; assessment of cost; lien on property; fund to pay costs; summary corrective action of life-or-health threatening condition.

Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, whenever the owner of any real property in the District of Columbia shall fail or refuse, after the service of reasonable notice in the manner provided in § 42-3131.03, to correct any condition which exists on or has arisen from such property in violation of law or of any regulation made by authority of law, with the correction of which condition said owner is by law or by said regulation chargeable, or to show cause, sufficient in the judgment of the Mayor of said District, why he should not be required to correct such condition, then, and in that instance, the Mayor of the District of Columbia is authorized to: Cause such condition to be corrected; assess the fair market value of the correction of the condition or the actual cost of the correction, whichever is higher, and all expenses incident thereto (including the cost of publication, if any, herein provided for) as a tax against the property on which such condition existed or from which such condition arose, as the case may be; and carry such tax on the regular tax rolls of the District, and collect such tax in the same manner as general taxes in said District are collected; provided, that the correction of any condition aforesaid by the Mayor of said District under authority of this section shall not relieve the owner of the property on which such condition existed, or from which such condition arose, from criminal prosecution and punishment for having caused or allowed such unlawful condition to arise or for having failed or refused to correct the same. The Mayor may request the Office of Administrative Hearings to issue, and the Office of Administrative Hearings may issue, a final order converting a special assessment lien to an administrative judgment. The Mayor may then cause the final order to be entered as a judgment against the owner in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The Mayor may enforce the judgment in the same manner as any other civil judgment may be enforced under District law. Whenever the owner of any vacant building, as defined in § 42-3131.05(5), shall fail to enclose the doors, windows, areaways, or other openings of the property, the Mayor may immediately enclose the property to meet the standard described in § 42-3131.12. Subsequent to the enclosure, the Mayor shall give the owner notice as prescribed in § 42-3131.03. There is established in the District of Columbia, and accounted for within the General Fund, a separate revenue source allocable to provide authorization for the purpose of paying the costs of correction of any condition, and all expenses incident thereto, that the Mayor may order or cause pursuant to subsection (a) of this section and for the purposes of demolishing or enclosing a structure under subchapter II of Chapter 31C of this title. Any unexpended balance at the end of the year shall be reserved as a restricted fund balance and used to provide authorization to expend for subsequent years subject to the direction of the Mayor. There is established within the fund established by subparagraph (A) of this paragraph an account in which fees and penalties collected under § 6-916(b), shall be deposited, to be expended for the purposes set forth in § 6-916(b). There shall be deposited to the credit of the fund such amounts as may be appropriated for the fund or for the purposes of the fund; grants, donations, or restitution from any source to the fund or to the District of Columbia for the purposes of the fund; interest earned from the deposit or investment of monies of the fund; if an accounting is made in accordance with, and subject to, § 47-1340(f), amounts assessed and collected as a tax against real property under subsection (a) of this section including any interest and any penalties thereon, or otherwise received to recoup any amounts, incidental expenses or costs incurred, obligated or expended for the purposes of the fund and funds collected pursuant to subchapter II of Chapter 31C of this title; all fees and penalties collected under § 6-916(b) (to be deposited in the account established under paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection) recoveries from enforcement action brought by the Office of the Attorney General on behalf of the District of Columbia or District of Columbia agencies for the abatement of violations of Chapters 1 through 16 of Title 14 of the District of Columbia Code of Municipal Regulations, excluding funds obtained through administrative proceedings; and all other receipts of whatever nature derived from the operation of the fund. The Mayor shall include in the budget estimates of the District of Columbia for each fiscal year, and there are authorized to be appropriated annually, such amounts out of the revenues of the District of Columbia as may be necessary for the capitalization of the fund. Not later than 6 months after the end of each fiscal year, the Mayor shall submit to the Council a report of the financial condition of the fund, and any other special purpose revenue funds or capital project funds used for nuisance abatement activities, and the results of the operations and collections for the fiscal year. The report shall include an itemized accounting of all unrecovered taxes and penalties, the names of delinquent property owners, the nature of corrected building violations, and a detailed accounting of each expenditure. All funding sources shall be separately listed. The Mayor may cause the summary correction of housing regulation violations or violations of the construction codes where a life-or-health threatening condition exists, as determined by the Mayor. A life-or-health threatening condition means a condition that imminently endangers the health or safety of the tenant or occupant of the premises in a housing unit or housing accommodation, or that imminently endangers the health, safety, or welfare of the surrounding community. The condition may include, but is not limited to, a vacant building, as defined in § 42-3131.05(5), or the interruption of electrical, heat, gas, water, or other essential services, when the interruption results from other than natural causes. The condition may also include the presence of graffiti. Except in the case of a vacant building, the Mayor shall notify promptly the owner or authorized agent that the correction is ordered within a specified time period. If at the time of this notice the owner is engaged in a good faith effort to make the necessary correction, the Mayor shall not commence corrective action unless and until the owner interrupts or ceases the effort. A good faith effort shall be one which is likely to cause the correction of the condition at least as soon as it could otherwise be corrected by the Mayor. The Mayor shall provide an opportunity for review of the summary corrective action without prejudice to the Mayor’s authority to take and complete that action. The owner or authorized agent shall be notified by personal service or by registered mail to the last known address and by conspicuous posting on the property. If the owner or address is unknown, or cannot be located, notice shall be provided by conspicuous posting on the property. The Mayor may assess all reasonable costs of correcting the condition and all expenses incident thereto as a tax against the property, to carry this tax on the regular tax rolls, and to collect the tax in the same manner as real estate taxes are collected. Monies in the revolving fund established by subsection (b)(1) of this section shall be available to cover the costs of the summary correction authorized by this subsection. The Mayor may request the Office of Administrative Hearings to issue, and the Office of Administrative Hearings may issue, a final order converting a special assessment lien to an administrative judgment. The Mayor may then cause the final order to be entered as a judgment against the owner in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The Mayor may enforce the judgment in the same manner as any other civil judgment may be enforced under District law. For the purposes of this subsection, the presence of graffiti shall be deemed to be a housing regulation violation. In the case of graffiti which does not constitute a life-or-health threatening condition, but which constitutes a nuisance, the Mayor may order the removal of the graffiti within a specified time period and, subject to 7 days’ notice to the owner or an authorized agent in the manner provided under paragraph (1) of this subsection and an opportunity for review of the order, the Mayor may remove the graffiti if the owner does not comply. The Mayor may charge any property owner whose property is the subject of corrective action, as provided in subsection (c) of this section, or any property owner who receives a notice to correct wrongful conditions pursuant to § 6-804(c) a fee to cover the administrative costs incurred by the District of Columbia in its efforts to provide that the violation be corrected. The Mayor may assess this fee as a tax against the property, may carry this tax on the regular tax rolls, and may collect this tax in the same manner as real estate taxes are collected. The Mayor may defer or forgive, in whole or in part, any cost or fee assessed pursuant to §§ 42-3131.01 to 42-3131.03 with respect to any qualified real property approved pursuant to § 6-1503. Short title: Section 2061 of D.C. Law 18-223 provided that subtitle F of title II of the act may be cited as the “Administrative Judgments of Nuisance Property Amendment Act of 2010”. Short title: Section 2140 of D.C. Law 18-111 provided that subtitle O of title II of the act may be cited as the “Abatement Property Nuisance Fund Amendment Act of 2009”. Short title: Section 2019 of D.C. Law 17-219 provided that subtitle H of title II of the act may be cited as the “Nuisance Properties Abatement Implementation Amendment Act of 2008”.