Imagine being so stupid as to own rental units in D.C. It reads like a Bob Newhart sketch.

DC Landlord Forced To Wait Longer After He Says Tenants Haven’t Paid Rent in 3 Years
nbcwashington.com | 9/27/23 | Ted Oberg, Rick Yarborough and Steve Jones

A D.C. landlord who tells the News4 I-Team he hasn’t been paid rent in three years will have to wait at least another four months to get a trial on evicting the tenants.

John Jones owns a single two-bedroom unit in Southeast D.C. The I-Team first met him when he complained he was missing $14,000 from a COVID-era rent relief program. City documents show a check was sent in 2021 to the tenants, and that check was cashed — but the tenants never sent the money to Jones.

He says they hadn’t paid rent for a few months before, and haven’t since. He says he’s now owed $46,800.

Jones waited for D.C.’s eviction moratorium to expire and months later filed an eviction petition. His first case was dismissed, he says, because the judge told him he needed to hire a lawyer. His second petition was filed this spring. Six months later, he got his first hearing, which happened Wednesday.

In court, one of the tenants, Dimonte Cosbert, told the magistrate judge he hadn’t paid rent “due to a lack of conditions. That’s one possible reason the rent wasn’t paid.”

Cosbert, who attended the hearing remotely, said the stove, outlets and smoke detectors weren’t working. The other tenant, Shandell Whren, initially called into the hearing but dropped off after Cosbert said her phone died.

Magistrate Judge Stephen Rickard told the tenant he may be able to reduce a portion of the rent due to the appliance issue and set a hearing in mid-December, three months from now.