Perhaps you missed the entire series in the The Washington Post recently, but that’s exactly what landlords do…eviction by neglect and then they can claim the building is vacant and therefore skirt the tenants right of first refusal for a sale/condo conversion… It’s happened all over this city and continues daily. Fortunately, the city and Council are finally stepping up a bit by taking 23 buildings into recievership, suing the landlords for repairs and fines owed the city and closing the vacant property loophole that allowed this whole thing to happen in the first place. There are still a lot of vulnerable city residents (elderly, children, immigrants) who are living in horrible conditions though.

Where is that? 15th and Corcoran?

Yes, that building is beautiful, but deteriorating and will suffer from “demolition by neglect” if something isn’t done with it soon. What a shame. The covered balconies could be very nice.

My realtor kept wanting to make a bid on an abandoned house in the 1990s. The deal was this- an elderly couple died in an accident on the same day. Their wills willed the house to each other. Their 5 kids gained control of the house. Of the kids, one was a holy roller and another was a heroin addict. The holy roller refused to sell the house because the heroin addict would get a check for $20k or $40k or something. So the house sat there and rotted. The 1/5 owner of the house wouldn’t budge. About 3 years later I noticed someone working on the house, but it had stood vacant for at least 10 years total. True story.

So, while it may be a landlord, don’t forget, it could be wrapped up in legal issues.

I live next door in an identical building. My elderly neighbors say it has been vacant since the 80s. The story is that a developer bought it, and then died. His mother inherited it, and has done nothing to it. 4 years ago at the height of the real estate market, the owner received some very high offers, but refused them all. Rumors continue that someday someone will fix it up. I’ve talked to Jim Graham’s office many many times about it, but so far nothing can be done (although the owner does cut the grass and pick up the trash every time I complain to the city- but only when I complain). If anyone has any better ideas, please help! Sigh.

can’t eminent domain be invoked somehow by the city? I realize that plowing this over to build a Seven-Eleven is controversial, but maybe we need a new city-funded {something} there?