D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is suing the owners of two apartment complexes in Northwest D.C. for severely neglecting their buildings.
The was filed in D.C. Superior Court on Thursday, alleging聽that John and Herminia Steininger allowed their properties on Columbia Road, Northwest, and Lamont Street, Northwest, to fall into “extreme disrepair,” jeopardizing the health and safety of their tenants.
Schwalb’s office said the Steiningers also failed to pay back the District for the cost of re-housing dozens of tenants after a September 2024 gas explosion severely damaged one of the buildings, left a woman injured and forced people from their homes.
The residence where the explosion took place is located on Columbia Road, Northwest, in Columbia Heights. Between that property and the other building of concern on Lamont Street, Northwest, in Mount Pleasant, the landlords have also been cited with more than 120 housing code violations in total since 2018, according to from Schwalb’s office.
These violations 鈥� which include broken windows, rodent infestations, inoperable smoke and fire alarms and water leaks, among others 鈥� have led to fines of more than $140,000. To date, the D.C. attorney’s general’s office said, none of these problems have been addressed.
鈥淭hese landlords neglected their properties and legal obligations, forcing their tenants to live in deplorable conditions and leading to a dangerous explosion that displaced dozens of residents and cost the District hundreds of thousands of dollars,鈥� Schwalb said in the release.
D.C.’s Department of Buildings Director Brian Hanlon added in the release that his office is “proud to support this lawsuit,” while Chief Tenant Advocate Johanna Shreve said landlord neglect “causes chaos and grief for tenants 鈥� and drains taxpayer dollars that are badly needed elsewhere.”
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