DC Housing By the Numbers
DC inspectors have issued 82,012 housing violations totaling $80M in fines — on record now. The violations are concentrated in a handful of wards, and a handful of landlords.
The 10 landlords with the highest total fines assessed:
Numbers tell part of the story. These four cases show who lives with the consequences.
The most-cited single address in DC — 788 violations in one building. 112 separate citations for failed water heating. 62 rodent and pest citations, the most of any building in the city. Tyler House Associates 95 LP was last cited in March 2026.
See building record → Tenant organizing spotlightChannel Square drew citywide attention after the landlord had a tenant arrested in the lobby of her own building while she was hosting a tenant association meeting. The violation record — 179 citations across 24 buildings — was already on record before the incident went viral.
See landlord profile → DC's rodent hotspotThe second-worst rodent record of any building in DC: 39 rodent and pest citations on 338 total violations. Dahlgreen Courts LLC was cited as recently as April 2026.
See building record → DC's largest housing judgmentTenants at Marbury Plaza lived for years with mold in 96% of units, rodent infestations, and no heat or hot water — while the landlord ignored court orders to make repairs. In November 2025, DC's Attorney General won DC's largest-ever housing judgment: $41M against the former owners, including $29.8M in direct restitution to tenants. A tenant organizing victory years in the making.
See current record →Worst Landlord Watchlist
Housing Signal tracks every DC landlord's complete violation history — citations, fines, buildings, and repeat offenses. Search by name or browse the full watchlist.
View the Worst Landlord Watchlist →Dealing with rats or mice in your building? We can help you find your building's violation history and submit a formal complaint to DC's Department of Buildings — which can trigger an inspection and, if your landlord hasn't acted, a citation.
Look up your building →Citations include violations for rodent infestation, vermin harborage, pest extermination, and insect re-infestation.
A fine only works if it leads to a fix. DC's data tells a different story. In thousands of buildings, inspectors have returned to cite the exact same violation — under the same law, at the same address — over and over again.
Each of these represents inspectors returning, writing another citation, and leaving the tenant in the same conditions. The fines pile up on paper. The repairs don't happen.
Read the full enforcement gap report →Safety spotlight
DC has 4,997 smoke alarm violations currently on record, with $10M in fines assessed. These are among the most dangerous violations a landlord can ignore — and DC keeps re-citing them year after year.
Each ward links to its full profile. Click to explore buildings, top violations, and worst landlords by ward.
All data from DC's Department of Buildings (DOB) open data, last updated June 2026. DC Housing Authority (DCHA) is excluded from landlord tables. Fines shown are amounts assessed by inspectors; amounts actually collected by DC are not publicly available. Ward-level data covers only violations linked to a building with a known ward. Rodent/pest citations include violations under statutes referencing rodents, vermin, infestation, and pest extermination.