Boarded Up Buildings No More!
14 04 2008
We just got word that the DC Council is on the verge of passing new legislation which would significantly raise the cost of keeping vacant rundown property in the District. This comes as great news for those of us that pass by old rundown buildings everyday which have become a blight to many area neighborhoods.
The Washington Business Journal reported back in 2006 that only 800 properties were labeled as vacant. However the DC inspectors have stepped up their game in response to community outcry over this last year and that number has jumped to over 3,000.
The new legislation would double the tax rate on vacant properties, already almost three times the rate for occupied commercial buildings and nearly six times the rate for occupied homes, from $5 to $10 per $100 of assessed value. We all know that money speaks the loudest, so hopefully some of the owners of these rundown properties will finally stop holding our neighborhoods back from progress and revitalization! [Flicker Photo: istartedi]
I wonder how many “vacant” buildings will just be abandoned by the owners not wanting to pay the higher taxes, the city might be overwhelmed.
Thank God! Even though I’m mad at the OTR and DCRA for listing my inhabited home as vacant, I am happy that they might be getting more strict. I hope this forces the few houses on my bloc (owned mostly by one person) to fix them up or sell. What I don’t get is how these houses, which look neglected, were able to get away with being listed as residential, while my obviously well-kept, lived in home was slapped with the hideous tax bill. Crazy.
[…] looks like the new DC legislation we mentioned last month that was designed to significantly raise the costs of keeping abandoned run down properties in the […]