Earlier this spring, I dove into the strife between tenants in the rent-controlled wing of the Kennedy-Warren, the majestic old apartment building on Connecticut Avenue near the National Zoo. The landlord, B.F. Saul, had tried for years to raise rents as it conducted a massive renovation, and tenants fought back fiercely enough to keep most [...]

After dealing with the not-so-innocent hairdresser, Judge Joan Zeldon faced a sad and innocent mother.
The mother, Felita Smith, had a son who pled guilty to dealing drugs near their subsidized housing unit. The dealing wasn't out of her home. It wasn't even on the premises. But it was close enough. And Smith's son technically lived [...]

Before 2 p.m., Judge Joan Zeldon breezed through the Landlord Tenant Court hall,  smiling and waving like a regular old Princess Diana of Judiciary Square. But the casual demeanor soon ended. It was time to put the robes back on.
Early in the afternoon's proceedings, Lisa Dessel stepped up toward the bench. She represented claims by [...]

Earlier in the day, Judge Joan Zeldon made one thing perrrrrrfectly clear to her courtroom: You need an interpreter, you'll get an interpreter.
But just because said interpreter arrives, doesn't mean he or she will be able to make sense of things.
Case in point: Gulzar Hussain and his son Anwaar Hussain, both Pakistani-born, arrived at [...]

One tenant who cycled through D.C. Superior Court this morning had an interesting excuse for failing to pay her rent: She didn't understand the lease agreement.
The tenant landed in court back in March for failing to pay $7,000 in back rent to her landlord. When she finally forked over the payment, she also signed a [...]

Landlord Carlton Joseph came to court this morning in the hopes of redeeming some back rent from a tenant who wouldn't pay up. He ended up renting out another piece of property: his cell phone.
Joseph has been trying to secure the rent from Karina Okoro, who occupies a one-bedroom unit in Joseph's 23-unit Petworth apartment [...]