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PR26-0154 • 2025

Tenant Payment Plan Phasing Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2025

Tenant Payment Plan Phasing Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2025

Housing
Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor
R. White
Last action
2025-04-11
Official status
Approved
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details about the exact nature of the financial hardship or the types of rental properties covered beyond commercial and residential.

Tenant Payment Plan Extension During Emergency

This resolution extends existing emergency rules allowing tenants to make rent payments over time if they face financial hardship due to the pandemic.

What This Bill Does

  • Extends existing rules for landlords and tenants to agree on payment plans when tenants face financial hardship from the pandemic.
  • Keeps in place protections for tenants who have signed up for these payment plans, such as record-keeping requirements for landlords.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Tenants and landlords of commercial or residential rental properties in Washington D.C.
  • Landlords who must keep records of rent payment plans for three years.

Terms To Know

Emergency Declaration
A decision by the government to declare a situation as an emergency, allowing special rules and actions.
Tenant Payment Plan
An agreement between a tenant and landlord where rent is paid over time instead of all at once.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The resolution only extends the current emergency rules until May 1, 2025.
  • It does not create new laws but keeps existing ones in place to avoid a gap in legal protections for tenants and landlords.

Bill History

  1. 2025-04-11 Council of the District of Columbia LIMS

    Resolution R26-0089, Effective from Apr 01, 2025 Published in DC Register Vol 72 and Page 004100

  2. 2025-04-01 Council of the District of Columbia LIMS

    Retained by the Council

  3. 2025-04-01 Council of the District of Columbia LIMS

    Legislative Meeting

  4. 2025-04-01 Council of the District of Columbia LIMS

    Approved with Resolution Number R26-0089

  5. 2025-03-27 Council of the District of Columbia LIMS

    PR26-0154 Introduced by Councilmember R. White at Office of the Secretary

Official Summary Text

Tenant Payment Plan Phasing Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2025

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
ENROLLED ORIGINAL

A RESOLUTION

26-89

IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

April 1, 2025

To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to continue existing
requirements for providers of commercial or residential rental property to abide by agreed
upon rent payment plans with eligible tenants.

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution
may be cited as the “Tenant Payment Plan Phasing Emergency Declaration Resolution of
2025”.

Sec. 2. (a) As part of its response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, the
Council passed emergency and temporary legislation allowing commercial and residential
tenants demonstrating financial hardship in connection with the emergency to apply for
payment plans with their landlords.
(b) The Council has kept the tenant payment plan framework in place through
subsequent emergency and temporary measures. The most recent legislation is the Tenant
Payment Plan Phasing Continuation Temporary Act of 2024, effective September 18, 2024
(D.C. Law 25-211; D.C. Official Code § 42-3331). That measure will expire on May 1, 2025.
(c) Although eligibility to apply for payment plans pursuant to such legislation ended in
July 2022, the legislation contained tenant protections and administrative provisions, including
a 3-year application record retention provision that applies to landlords. The record-keeping
obligation was therefore intended to run through July 2025.
(d) Emergency legislation is necessary to avoid a gap in the law prior to the end of the
originally contemplated 3-year implementation timeframe.

Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances
enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Tenant
Payment Plan Phasing Emergency Act of 2025 be adopted after a single reading.

Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.