Judge Orders Recalcitrant Owner to Jail in Slumlord Litigation

Attorney General Peter Nickles announced today that a District Superior Court Judge has held the owner of an apartment building, Edward Knott, from the District’s slumlord litigation, in civil contempt and ordered him incarcerated for failing to abate a housing code violation in his building. Mr. Knott, property owner of the 12 unit building at 3339 10th Place, SE, will remain incarcerated until he enters into compliance with the order.

Knott is the remaining party to the slumlord litigation the District originally filed against numerous property owners in April 2008. He has a longstanding history of failing to abate housing code violations at his property. Knott was ordered to abate over approximately 400 housing code violations at his premises.

The rental property suffers from a history of longstanding neglect and indifference on the part of the respondent, which has resulted in the continued decline of healthy living conditions for the tenants. Some of these violations have included the respondent’s failure to ensure heat in the winter and backed up sewage waste in the basement.

“The District remains committed to ensuring that tenants within the District of Columbia live in healthy living environments, or their property owners will suffer the consequences,” said Peter Nickles. “The District intends to file additional slumlord lawsuits in the near future that require obstinate property owners to abate housing code violations in their properties and take seriously their obligations under the law to maintain their properties up to code.”

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