High-Rise Life: 2014 Rent Increases

by Barbara Cline

Last month, the DC Rental Housing Commission announced that the 2014 Consumer Price Index for urban workers (CPI-W) will be 1.4%.

This percentage is the basis for the 2014 rent increases for the approximately 79,000 DC rent-controlled apartments, effective from May 1, 2014 through April 30, 2015. Ward 3 has 16.2%, or 12,818, of the rent-controlled apartments in the District – ranking second just behind Ward 1 with 16.5% or 13,034 units. See the breakdown of rent-controlled apartments by ward (PDF, page 13).

All DC tenants living in rent-controlled apartments will receive one of the following two 2014 rent increases:

A 1.4% rent increase for tenants who have completed the FREE application to receive permanent lower annual rent increases because they are either age 62 (or older) OR disabled (any age). See my 2013 rent-control article to learn more and to download the application form to receive this little known perk.

A 3.4% rent increase (1.4% plus an additional 2.0%) for all other tenants.

 
Not sure your apartment is rent-controlled?

RAD Form 8 (PDF), the annual rent increase notice, is two pages of dense and often confusing “governmentese.”

But you’ll find three clues within:

1) Mentions the rent-control law “…in accordance with the provisions of the Rental Housing Act of 1985”

2) Cites the CPI-W: “…the increase in rent charged is based on the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W)”

3) And buried on page 2 is the only place with the words “rent control:” The title of a RAD pamphlet called “What You Should Know about Rent Control in the District of Columbia” (PDF)

Mystery solved!