DC landlord forced to wait longer after he says tenants haven't paid rent in 3 years

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.

During the hearing, Jones was not asked about the appliances at all, but outside the courthouse minutes later, he told the I-Team he’d never been told those appliances weren’t working until now and called it a way to avoid paying.

“I was pretty much sure that they would use stalling and delaying tactics and lied to the court, which they did today,” Jones told the I-Team.

Norm Slye, the property manager, told the I-Team he’s never received a complaint about those items.

In addition to the hearing in December, the case was set for mediation in November and an eviction trial in January.

Jones left the court unsatisfied.

“It says to mom and pop and middle class landlords who maybe have another property other than the property that they're living in that you are actually putting yourself at financial risk if you actually trust this city to enforce the laws that are in place and the rules and regulations that are in place in terms of good behavior and paying your rent," he said.

The I-Team called Cosbert after the hearing and asked why they haven’t paid rent. There was no answer.

The I-Team also asked about the $14,300 check, which came from the STAY DC program. Cosbert hung up. 

The D.C. Office of the Inspector General is currently investigating dozens of alleged fraud cases with the STAY DC program. STAY DC was a $352 million program designed to keep vulnerable D.C. residents from being evicted. The money, awarded to cities across the country by the U.S. Treasury Department, was supposed to be used to pay rent and other housing related costs during the pandemic.

Documents from the city’s Department of Human Services included Jones’ case on a list of possible fraud cases. No charges or prosecutions have happened as of Wednesday.

Just weeks ago, the D.C. Office of the Inspector General issued a report on the program finding STAY DC met its goal to quickly help people with rent and utility payments, but said the speed led to "weakened internal controls that were insufficient to detect, respond to and prevent improper payments."

The same report said the errant payments resulted in “economic hardship” for landlords, finding “that at least $396,614.40 in excess STAY DC funds were disbursed and not recovered.”

The Office of the Inspector General did not comment to the I-Team but recently told a staffer for D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto: "Unfortunately, due to the U.S. attorney’s office for D.C.’s workload ... the STAY DC cases have not moved as expeditiously as we’d like."

Reported by Ted Oberg, produced by Rick Yarborough, and shot and edited by Steve Jones.