(a) Rent ceilings are abolished, except that the housing provider may implement, in accordance with § 42-3502.08(g), rent ceiling adjustments pursuant to petitions and voluntary agreements approved by the Rent Administrator prior to August 5, 2006. Petitions and voluntary agreements pending as of August 5, 2006, shall be decided pursuant to the provisions of this subchapter in effect prior to August 5, 2006, and may be implemented in accordance with § 42-3502.08(g). In considering a hardship petition pursuant to § 42-3502.12, any unimplemented rent charged increase pursuant to a petition or voluntary agreement approved by the Rent Administrator shall be included in the maximum possible rental income. Except to the extent provided in subsections (b) and (c) of this section, no housing provider of any rental unit subject to this chapter may charge or collect rent for the rental unit in excess of the amount computed by adding to the base rent not more than all rent increases authorized after April 30, 1985, for the rental unit by this chapter, by prior rent control laws and any administrative decision under those laws, and by a court of competent jurisdiction. No tenant may sublet a rental unit at a rent greater than that tenant pays the housing provider.
(b) On an annual basis, the Rental Housing Commission shall determine an adjustment of general applicability in the rent charged established by subsection (a) of this section. This adjustment of general applicability shall be equal to the change during the previous calendar year, ending each December 31, in the Washington, D.C., Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for all items during the preceding calendar year. No adjustment of general applicability shall exceed 10%. A housing provider may not implement an adjustment of general applicability, or an adjustment permitted by subsection (c) of this section for a rental unit within 12 months of the effective date of the previous adjustment of general applicability, or instead, an adjustment permitted by subsection (c) of this section in the rent charged for that unit.
(c) At the housing provider's election, instead of any adjustment authorized by subsection (b) of this section, the rent charged for an accommodation may be adjusted through a hardship petition under § 42-3502.12.
(d) If on July 17, 1985 the rent being charged exceeds the allowable rent ceiling, that rent shall be reduced to the allowable rent ceiling effective the next date that the rent is due. This subsection shall not apply to any rent administratively approved under the Rental Accommodations Act of 1975, the Rental Housing Act of 1977, or the Rental Housing Act of 1980, or any rent increase authorized by a court of competent jurisdiction. The housing provider shall notify the tenant in writing of any decrease required under this chapter before the effective date of the decrease.
(e) A tenant may challenge a rent adjustment implemented under any section of this chapter by filing a petition with the Rent Administrator under § 42-3502.16. No petition may be filed with respect to any rent adjustment, under any section of this chapter, more than 3 years after the effective date of the adjustment, except that a tenant must challenge the new base rent as provided in § 42-3501.03(4) within 6 months from the date the housing provider files his base rent as required by this chapter.
