COSTS ADDS UP

Let’s take a conservative example:

• After a lot of negotiation your landlord forces a tenant to accept a rent increase that is $50 per month more than the legal limit. This adds up to $600 over the first year.

• We'll assume that the same thing happens next year: The landlord forces the tenant to pay a rent increase that is $50 more than legal limit. She will be overpaying $100 per month -- $50 because of last year's bad deal and $50 because of this year's bad deal. This costs her $1,200 over the next year. 

• The same thing happens the following year. This adds another $50 more per month. Now she is paying $150 more per month than you would be paying if the rent increases had not exceeded the legal limits. This costs her $1,800 over the next year.

• At the end of third year, she will have overpaid by a total of $3,600.

This is a conservative example – a tenant could end up paying a lot more. If tenants don’t know their rights, they may not even know that they have been cheated. Now, imagine the combined figures on a scale of tens of thousands of DC residents.

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