Tenant association president Harry Gural filed a final brief in his appeal of a previous court decision in his 8+ year case against Equity Residential for the “rent concession” scheme, by which Equity circumvented DC rent stabilization laws and overcharged residents.
In 2016, the $25 billion corporation filed suit against Gural for failing to refusing a $362 per month rent increase ($4,344 annually) — approximately five times the maximum legal rent increase that year.
Equity frequently demanded residents pay rent increases from several hundred dollars per month to $1,500 per month — although under pressure it usually negotiated a lower rent increase, although still often more than the legal amount.
Gural blew the whistle on the company to the DC Attorney General in 2016, leading to the lawsuit District of Columbia vs. Equity Residential Management. Former Attorney General Racine and his attorneys won the case, getting $1 million in restitution for residents of 3003 Van Ness.
Gural appealed an administrative court decision in 2019, winning on appeal with a strong decision by the Rental Housing Commission. Gabe Fineman, a former resident and board member of 3003 Van Ness, filed a separate landmark case and won on appeal, paving the way for Gural’s victory on appeal.
The case was sent back to the lower administrative court, which ruled this time in Gural’s favor. However, it failed to assess the full penalties allowable by law for overcharges made in bad faith, which now exceed $50,000. Gural was forced to pay more than $30,000 out-of-pocket into court escrow while he defended Equity’s case against him in Superior Court.
The case is a textbook example of what happends when large corporations and their corporate attorneys target renters in administrative courts.
Fortunately, the “rent concession” scheme appears to have been permanently ended in Washington DC. Gural is the last tenant who is still being overcharged — a situation that hopefully will change soon.