DC rent control increase 2026 Rent Control Year 2026 runs May 1, 2026 through April 30, 2027. Standard cap 4.1% (CPI-W + 2%); elderly/disability cap 2.1% (CPI-W only). RAD Form 8 notice; 60-day effective-date rule; banking allowed with 12-month frequency cap; pre-1975 buildings with 5+ DC units covered.

RY 2026 cap formula — how 4.1% and 2.1% are derived

The Rental Housing Act mandates that the annual cap track the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS series CWURA311SA0 or equivalent). The Rental Housing Commission takes the 12-month percentage change in CPI-W ending the prior December and applies two tiers:

• Standard tenants: CPI-W change + 2 percentage points, but never exceeding 10%.
• Elderly (62+) or disability-registered tenants: CPI-W change only, but never exceeding 5%.

For RY 2026, the CPI-W change for the DC MSA for the 12 months ending December 2025 was approximately 2.1%. Applying the formula: 2.1% + 2.0% = 4.1% (standard, below the 10% ceiling); 2.1% (elderly/disability, below the 5% ceiling). The Commission publishes the official RY caps in the DC Register, and the figures appear on the RAD website at dhcd.dc.gov/rad.

Comparison with prior years:

• RY 2025 (May 2025 – April 2026): 4.8% standard / 2.5% elderly.
• RY 2024 (May 2024 – April 2025): 6.8% standard / 4.4% elderly (elevated CPI).
• RY 2023 (May 2023 – April 2024): 8.9% standard / 6.2% elderly (near-ceiling period).
• RY 2026 (current): 4.1% standard / 2.1% elderly.

The downward trend from RY 2023 through RY 2026 means landlords who had been planning on 6-8% increases based on the RY 2023-2024 environment are now capped significantly lower. Serving a notice with a prior-year percentage produces a void overcharge notice under §42-3502.08(b)(2)(A), and the treble-damages exposure under §42-3509.01 applies even when the error is a simple copy-paste from last year’s RAD Form 8.

Who is covered — the four-condition test

DC rent control applies to a unit only if all four of the following conditions are simultaneously true. Failure of any single condition removes the unit from rent-control coverage entirely.

Condition 1 — Pre-1975 certificate of occupancy

The building’s certificate of occupancy (CoC) must have been issued on or before December 31, 1975. The exemption under §42-3502.05(a)(4) tracks the building, not the unit or the current owner. A 1966 apartment building that was gut-renovated in 2018 is still covered if its original CoC was pre-1976; conversely, a building that received a new CoC for an addition or vertical expansion after 1975 may have mixed coverage — new units in the post-1975 addition are exempt, original pre-1975 units are covered. The DCRA permit portal and RAD’s rentregistry.dc.gov are the authoritative sources for CoC dates. Many DC landlords are surprised to discover that their building’s “renovation” CoC from the 1990s does not reset the coverage date — only a new CoC for genuinely new construction triggers the post-1975 exemption.

Condition 2 — Five or more DC rental units, landlord-wide

The landlord must own 5 or more rental units in the District, counting across all DC properties, not per-building. Under §42-3502.05(a)(3), natural-person landlords (individuals, not LLCs or corporations) with 4 or fewer DC rentals are exempt. The key traps:

• LLC and corporate landlords are covered regardless of unit count. A one-unit LLC is covered. A 2-unit S-Corp is covered. The individual natural-person exemption does not extend to entities.
• Portfolio counting is landlord-wide. A natural person who owns a duplex (2 units) at 1200 Columbia Road NW and a triplex (3 units) at 1400 Park Road NW owns 5 DC rental units total — both buildings are covered, even though neither building individually exceeds 4 units.
• Unit count includes accessory dwelling units. A basement ADU counts as a rental unit for the portfolio calculation if it is rented to a non-family-member and not the owner’s primary residence.

Condition 3 — Not subsidized

Units receiving federal or DC housing subsidies — including Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8), Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), DCHA-administered programs, HOME Investment Partnerships, and similar programs — operate under separate rent-setting rules and are not subject to the Rental Housing Act caps. The subsidy exemption is unit-specific, not building-wide: a building with mixed market-rate and LIHTC units may have some units covered (the market-rate ones) and some not (the subsidized ones).

Condition 4 — Current RAD registration

Every housing accommodation subject to the Rental Housing Act must file Form RAD-1 (Registration/Claim of Exemption) and maintain a current registration with the Rental Accommodations Division. An unregistered building cannot lawfully take any rent increase — including the RY 2026 caps — until registration is restored. Restoring a lapsed registration does not retroactively cure prior unlawful increases. The public Rent Registry at rentregistry.dc.gov shows each registered unit’s current ceiling rent, registration status, and the history of filed Form 9 post-increase certificates.

Ward-by-ward coverage in Washington DC

DC’s eight wards vary considerably in their pre-1975 housing stock density, which drives their rent-control coverage rates. Understanding ward-level coverage patterns helps landlords with multi-unit portfolios across multiple neighborhoods assess their compliance burden.

Ward 1 — Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant, Adams Morgan, Shaw, U Street

Ward 1 is among the highest-coverage wards in the District. The neighborhood development history is dominated by 1900s–1940s rowhouses converted to apartments, 1950s–1960s apartment buildings, and brick courtyard buildings from the 1920s–1940s. Columbia Heights retains extensive pre-1975 apartment stock along 14th Street NW and Irving Street NW corridors. The Shaw neighborhood’s U Street corridor has a mix of pre-1975 covered stock and post-2000 new construction (largely exempt). Adams Morgan’s Columbia Road NW has dense pre-1975 coverage. Mount Pleasant’s residential streets (Park Road NW, Mount Pleasant Street NW) are overwhelmingly pre-1975. For Ward 1 landlords: assume coverage unless you have verified a post-1975 CoC.

Ward 2 — Georgetown, Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, Foggy Bottom, West End

Ward 2 has mixed coverage. Georgetown’s residential stock is overwhelmingly pre-1975 (most of Georgetown was built in the 18th–20th centuries); the Georgetown University student market (19,000+ students, many renting off-campus in Ward 2) lives largely in rent-controlled buildings. Dupont Circle’s Connecticut Avenue NW corridor has dense pre-1975 multifamily stock. Logan Circle’s P Street NW and Q Street NW corridors are also predominantly pre-1975. Foggy Bottom and West End have more post-1975 new construction exempt from the caps — George Washington University student housing in newer Foggy Bottom high-rises is typically exempt. Ward 2 landlords near Georgetown and Dupont Circle face high coverage rates; those near GWU’s Foggy Bottom campus face more mixed coverage.

Ward 3 — Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, Tenleytown, Friendship Heights, AU Park

Ward 3 has lower coverage than Wards 1-2 due to its mix of single-family homes (which are covered if meeting the unit-count condition) and post-1975 apartment construction along Wisconsin Avenue NW and Connecticut Avenue NW. However, pre-1975 garden apartment complexes in Cleveland Park and Tenleytown are covered. American University’s student population (14,000 students) rents primarily in Ward 3 neighborhoods; pre-1975 buildings near AU are covered.

Ward 4 — Petworth, Brightwood, 16th Street Heights, Manor Park, Takoma

Ward 4 has high coverage. The Petworth and Brightwood neighborhoods developed heavily in the 1910s–1940s with small apartment buildings, basement units, and rowhouse conversions that are almost universally pre-1975. The 16th Street Heights corridor has 1920s–1940s brick apartment buildings. Manor Park and Takoma residential sections also skew heavily pre-1975. Ward 4 is a significant rent-control battleground — the combination of older affordable stock and gentrification pressure means overcharge disputes are frequent. RAD audit activity in Ward 4 is notable.

Ward 5 — Brookland, Edgewood, Brentwood, Trinidad, Fort Lincoln

Ward 5 contains primarily pre-1975 stock in its residential neighborhoods. Brookland (near Catholic University) has 1920s–1950s rowhouse conversions and small apartment buildings. Catholic University’s student population (~3,000 undergraduates) rents substantially in Ward 5. Edgewood and Brentwood have pre-WWII apartment stock. Fort Lincoln has newer post-1975 planned-unit development and is largely exempt.

Wards 6–8 — Capitol Hill, Anacostia, Congress Heights, Deanwood

Ward 6 (Capitol Hill, Navy Yard, NoMa) has mixed coverage: Capitol Hill’s residential sections are predominantly pre-1975 rowhouses and conversions; the Navy Yard, NoMa, and H Street corridors have substantial post-2000 new construction that is exempt. Wards 7 and 8 (east of the Anacostia River) contain primarily pre-1975 housing stock and have high coverage rates. The Anacostia, Congress Heights, Deanwood, Hillcrest, and Randle Heights neighborhoods are overwhelmingly pre-1975. These wards also have lower average rents — the dollar amount of a 4.1% increase is modest (e.g., 4.1% of $1,200/month = $49.20/month), but the compliance framework is identical to higher-rent wards.

RAD Form 8 — the only lawful notice instrument

A landlord who wishes to take an annual rent increase on a covered DC unit must serve RAD Form 8, Notice to Tenant of Rent Adjustment. There is no acceptable substitute. A landlord-drafted letter, even one that cites §42-3502.08 and states the correct percentage, is not a Form 8 and does not lawfully implement the increase. Required Form 8 content:

1. Current rent and new rent in dollars — both figures must appear.
2. Dollar increase and percentage increase — computed to show that the percentage does not exceed the applicable cap (4.1% or 2.1% for RY 2026).
3. Cap percentage and statutory citation — D.C. Official Code §42-3502.08(b)(2)(A), RY 2026, 4.1% standard (or 2.1% elderly/disability).
4. Date of last rent adjustment on this unit — required to verify the 12-month frequency rule under §42-3502.08(g)(1). If no prior increase was taken, state “No prior rent adjustment.”
5. Effective date — must be at least 61 calendar days after the date of tenant receipt, and must coincide with the first regular rent-due date after that 61-day floor. See the effective-date calculation below.
6. Tenant petition rights — a statement that the tenant may file a petition with the Rental Accommodations Division if they believe the adjustment violates the Rental Housing Act.
7. Landlord name, address, and signature.

Effective-date calculation — worked examples

The statutory rule (§42-3502.08(b)(2)(B)) is that the increase cannot take effect until the first day rent is normally due that occurs more than 60 calendar days after the tenant receives the notice. The word “more than” means the 60th day itself is not eligible — the effective date must be at least the 61st day.

• Hand-delivered May 1, 2026: Receipt = May 1. 60-day floor = June 30 (May has 31 days: 31 − 1 = 30 remaining days in May + 30 days in June = 60 days from May 1 = June 30). Next first-of-the-month after June 30 = August 1 (since June 30 is the 60th day, not “more than 60 days”; July 1 is the 61st day and qualifies, but July 1 is not a first-of-the-month rent-due date for most tenants — August 1 is the next qualifying date). Effective date: August 1, 2026.
• Mailed May 1, 2026 (5-day mailing add): Presumed receipt = May 6. 60-day floor = July 5. First rent-due date after July 5 = August 1. Effective date: August 1, 2026.
• Mailed June 1, 2026: Presumed receipt = June 6. 60-day floor = August 5. First rent-due date after August 5 = September 1. Effective date: September 1, 2026.
• Tenant pays rent on the 15th of each month: Hand-delivered June 1 → receipt June 1 → 60-day floor July 31 → first rent-due date after July 31 = August 15. Effective date: August 15, 2026.

The free DC notice generator at RentCeiling runs this calculation automatically once you enter the tenant’s normal rent-due day, the intended service method (hand-delivery or mail), and the service date. It emits a complete Form 8 with the correct effective date, cap percentage, and §42-3502.08 citation.

RAD Form 9 — post-increase filing

After the rent increase takes effect, the landlord must file RAD Form 9, Certificate of Filing of Notice of Rent Adjustment, with the Rental Accommodations Division within 30 days of the effective date. Form 9 is what the public Rent Registry indexes as the unit’s new ceiling rent. Failure to file Form 9 does not void the already-effective increase, but it leaves the unit’s RAD registration in a non-compliant state, which can complicate future rent adjustments and may expose the landlord to administrative penalties in a broader RAD audit.

Banking — how to use accumulated unused adjustments

DC’s banking mechanism is codified at §42-3502.08(g)(2): “The right of a housing provider to adjust the rent … shall not be lost if not exercised in any year.” Practically, this means:

• An unused RY 2024 cap (6.8%) can be applied to a covered unit in 2026, subject to the 12-month frequency rule.
• An unused RY 2025 cap (4.8%) can also be applied in 2026, subject to the same rule.
• Banking does not permit stacking two banked years into a single notice — each notice can claim only one annual adjustment, and no more than one adjustment can take effect in any rolling 12-month window under §42-3502.08(g)(1).

The practical strategy for a landlord who skipped RY 2024 and RY 2025 but wants to apply an increase now: pick the highest available banked percentage (RY 2024 at 6.8% beats RY 2025 at 4.8% and RY 2026 at 4.1%) and serve a Form 8 for that RY 2024 increase with the correct RY 2024 cap citation. After 12 months, serve another Form 8 for a subsequent banked year. The DC calculator at /dc shows the currently applicable cap given the unit’s last-increase date and lets you select among available banked years.

Note: banking cannot override the cap percentage of the year whose cap is being applied. A notice claiming a “banked RY 2024” increase is still limited to the 6.8% cap that applied in RY 2024 — the landlord cannot claim 10% on a banked year whose cap was 6.8%.

Elderly/disability tier — registration mechanics

The 2.1% RY 2026 cap for elderly and disability tenants is a tenant-specific protection, not a unit-specific one. The trigger conditions:

1. Age or disability status: The tenant must be 62 or older or disability-registered with the DC Office of Disability Rights. Disability registration typically requires documentation from a licensed healthcare provider certifying a disability within the meaning of DC Code §2-1431.01 et seq.
2. Primary-residence occupancy: The unit must be the tenant’s principal residence. A tenant who maintains a DC rental as a secondary residence while primarily residing elsewhere does not qualify for the elderly/disability cap.
3. Household income threshold: The tenant’s household income must fall below the DC Median Family Income (MFI) for a household of the applicable size, as published annually by DHCD. The MFI threshold is refreshed each fiscal year. A qualifying tenant whose income rises above the MFI threshold in a subsequent year loses the elderly/disability cap prospectively.
4. Registration with the Rental Administrator: The tenant must have filed the required registration form with RAD. The form captures the age/disability and income documentation. Once registered, the protection applies for the duration of the tenancy unless the tenant’s income exceeds the threshold.

Landlord obligations: A landlord who does not know whether a tenant is registered should serve the standard 4.1% Form 8. The tenant can accept the standard increase or, if registered, file a tenant petition with RAD disputing the excess 2.0% above their 2.1% cap. The landlord has no obligation to independently investigate tenant registration status before serving notice. However, a landlord who knows a tenant is registered and serves a 4.1% notice anyway is subject to the overcharge penalty framework.

Vacancy adjustments under §42-3502.13

When a covered unit becomes vacant (a tenancy ends), the landlord may take a vacancy adjustment under §42-3502.13, which is separate from and in addition to the annual RY 2026 cap. The vacancy adjustment is limited to the lesser of:

• 10% of the current ceiling rent, or
• The rent of a “substantially identical” unit in the same housing accommodation.

The vacancy adjustment may be implemented by offering the new tenant a higher rent in the new lease — no separate Form 8 notice to a prior tenant is required since the prior tenancy is over. However, the new ceiling rent must be registered with RAD via Form 9 for the new tenancy. The vacancy adjustment is not banked — it can only be taken at the moment of actual vacancy, and if not taken at that time, the opportunity is lost.

Importantly, the vacancy adjustment does not interact with the RY 2026 annual cap. A landlord who takes a vacancy adjustment when a tenant moves out and then wants to serve an annual increase on the new tenant in the same RY 2026 period must use the Form 8 process for the annual adjustment and observe the 12-month frequency rule from the date the new tenancy’s initial rent was set.

Just-cause eviction and its rent-control linkage

DC’s just-cause eviction protections (D.C. Official Code §42-3505.01) are stronger than nearly any other U.S. jurisdiction and interlock with rent control. A landlord of a rent-controlled unit who wishes to recover possession must have a statutory “just cause” under §42-3505.01, which includes non-payment of rent, breach of lease, end of a fixed-term tenancy where the tenant declines to renew, personal-use recovery, and a handful of other grounds. The consequences for rent-control compliance:

• Voluntary vacancy vs. eviction: A tenant who leaves voluntarily triggers a vacancy-adjustment opportunity. A tenant evicted through a retaliatory-eviction challenge can void the underlying rent increase under §42-3505.02 (retaliatory eviction defense) — if a tenant shows that a Form 8 notice was served within 6 months of the tenant exercising a legal right, there is a rebuttable presumption of retaliation. Serve Form 8 at a regular cadence disconnected from any tenant complaint activity.
• Owner-occupied recovery: A landlord recovering a unit for personal use must meet specific conditions and cannot re-rent the unit at a higher rent to a new tenant within 30 months — a provision designed to deter owner-occupancy evictions used to decontrol the unit’s rent.
• Partial-building conversion: Converting covered rental units to condominiums or cooperative housing units requires a TOPA (Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, D.C. Official Code §42-3404.01 et seq.) process that gives existing tenants the right of first refusal to purchase their units at the conversion price. Violating TOPA can void the conversion.

The DC rental market — federal, university, and diplomatic tenant segments

Washington DC’s rental market is structurally distinct from every other U.S. jurisdiction covered by RentCeiling because of the density of federal government employment, major research universities, and the diplomatic community. These tenant segments each have compliance implications.

Federal government and contractor employees

The federal government is DC’s largest employer, and hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contractors live in rent-controlled DC units. Federal employees at headquarters agencies — the Departments of State, Justice, Treasury, Homeland Security, and others along the National Mall corridor — are the tenants most frequently encountered in Ward 1-6 rent-controlled buildings. Many also work at locations in suburban Maryland and Virginia while renting in DC. Federal employees are not subject to any special rent-control provisions distinct from ordinary tenants. SCRA rights, which protect active-duty military, do not extend to civilian government employees.

Intelligence community employees at facilities near Langley, VA, and Fort Meade, MD, frequently rent in DC’s Ward 2 and Ward 6 neighborhoods (Dupont Circle, Capitol Hill, Foggy Bottom). These tenants are covered by the same Rental Housing Act provisions as any other DC tenant in a qualifying building.

University students — Georgetown, Howard, GWU, Catholic

Four major universities generate significant off-campus rental demand in covered DC:

• Georgetown University (~19,000 students) — Ward 2. Georgetown students renting off-campus in the Georgetown neighborhood and Glover Park are predominantly in pre-1975 covered buildings. Georgetown Law Center students (in Capitol Hill / NoMa) are often in newer buildings and may be in exempt stock. Georgetown students are high-compliance-risk tenants in the rent-control context because law students frequently know their tenant rights and are quick to file RAD petitions.
• George Washington University (~27,000 students) — Ward 2 Foggy Bottom. GWU’s campus is surrounded by a mix of older covered stock and post-1975 exempt towers along Pennsylvania Avenue NW and I Street NW. Landlords near GWU should not assume exemption without verifying CoC dates.
• Howard University (~11,000 students) — Ward 1 Columbia Heights / LeDroit Park. Howard students rent primarily in Ward 1 and Ward 4, overwhelmingly in pre-1975 covered buildings. Howard University Law School students have similar petition-filing capacity as Georgetown Law.
• Catholic University of America (~5,500 students) — Ward 5 Brookland. Catholic University students rent in Ward 5 neighborhoods, almost entirely in pre-1975 covered stock.

Diplomatic and international community

Washington DC hosts 177+ foreign embassies, plus international organizations (World Bank, IMF, OAS) and their associated diplomatic and professional staff. Embassy staff renting in Ward 2 and adjacent neighborhoods are covered by DC rent control if their unit meets the four coverage conditions. Diplomatic immunity does not shield a landlord from DC law; it may protect a diplomat-tenant from certain eviction proceedings in DC Superior Court, which creates unusual risk for landlords of diplomatic tenants in covered buildings.

Penalty framework — what overcharging costs a DC landlord

D.C. Official Code §42-3509.01 is one of the most punitive overcharge penalty statutes of any U.S. rent-control jurisdiction:

1. Restitution of all excess rent paid, with interest. Every month of overcharge accumulates. A 12-month overcharge of $50/month = $600 minimum restitution before multipliers.
2. Treble damages on willful overcharges. The $600 restitution example becomes $1,800 under treble. “Willful” includes serving last year’s Form 8 with last year’s percentage, or serving a notice with a made-up cap that exceeds the published RY 2026 figure. The willfulness standard is easier to meet than it appears — a landlord who did not look up the current RY caps “should have known” them.
3. Attorney’s fees awarded to the prevailing tenant. DC landlord-tenant attorneys charge $300-$500/hour; a contested RAD petition or DC Superior Court overcharge claim can generate $10,000-$50,000 in attorney fees on a moderately complex overcharge dispute.
4. Building-wide audit. An overcharge finding on one unit triggers a RAD audit of every unit in the housing accommodation. Landlords who have been casually serving non-compliant notices across a building discover the full multi-unit overcharge exposure in the audit. A 20-unit building where 10 units have been over-charged $50/month for 24 months faces: 10 × $50 × 24 = $12,000 restitution base × 3 (treble, if willful) = $36,000, plus attorney fees. This is not a hypothetical — RAD audit findings at this scale are documented in DC Administrative Hearing decisions.
5. Loss of rent-increase rights. An unregistered or non-compliant accommodation cannot implement any rent increase until the non-compliance is cured. In a period of rising rents, losing 12-24 months of increase rights is a real economic penalty.

Dollar-impact examples for RY 2026

Current rent	4.1% max increase	New rent (max)	Annual increase
$1,200/mo	$49.20/mo	$1,249.20/mo	$590.40
$1,500/mo	$61.50/mo	$1,561.50/mo	$738.00
$1,800/mo	$73.80/mo	$1,873.80/mo	$885.60
$2,200/mo	$90.20/mo	$2,290.20/mo	$1,082.40
$2,500/mo	$102.50/mo	$2,602.50/mo	$1,230.00
$3,000/mo	$123.00/mo	$3,123.00/mo	$1,476.00

The 2.1% elderly/disability tier on the same rents: $1,200 → +$25.20/mo; $1,500 → +$31.50/mo; $2,200 → +$46.20/mo. Notice the compounding benefit to landlords of regular annual increases: taking the cap every year on a $1,500 unit at current rates builds to a substantially higher ceiling rent than skipping years, even with banking available.

8-step compliance checklist for DC RY 2026 rent increases

1. Confirm coverage. Verify the building’s CoC date at rentregistry.dc.gov or the DCRA permit portal. Confirm your total DC portfolio unit count. Confirm no subsidy programs cover this unit. Confirm RAD registration is current (Form RAD-1 on file).
2. Identify the applicable cap. Check whether the tenant is registered for the elderly/disability tier at RAD. If registered: 2.1%. If standard: 4.1%.
3. Check the 12-month frequency rule. Look up the last Form 9 for this unit in the Rent Registry to confirm when the last increase took effect. The new increase cannot take effect less than 12 months later.
4. Compute the new rent. Apply the cap percentage to the current ceiling rent (not the market rent — the RAD-registered ceiling rent). Never round up to a “nicer” number that exceeds the cap.
5. Choose the effective date. Identify the tenant’s normal rent-due day. Calculate the service date + 5 days (if mailing) to get presumed receipt. Add 60 days to get the floor. Identify the first rent-due date after the floor. That is the effective date.
6. Complete RAD Form 8. Fill in all required fields: current rent, new rent, dollar increase, percentage increase, cap citation (§42-3502.08(b)(2)(A), RY 2026, 4.1% or 2.1%), last-increase date, effective date, tenant petition rights, landlord information. Use the RentCeiling DC Form 8 generator to produce a compliant form automatically.
7. Serve the notice. Hand-deliver or mail via first-class or certified mail. Retain proof of service (signed receipt, USPS tracking confirmation, or certified mail return card).
8. File Form 9 within 30 days of effective date. Submit the Certificate of Filing with RAD to update the Rent Registry ceiling rent for this unit. Keep a copy for your records.

How RentCeiling handles RY 2026 DC compliance

The free DC rent calculator takes current rent, tenant tier (standard or elderly/disability), and the date of last increase, then returns: the RY 2026 lawful maximum, the §42-3502.08 citation, the 12-month frequency check, and the next available effective date given the tenant’s rent-due day. The DC Form 8 generator consumes those same inputs and emits a print-ready RAD Form 8 with the correct cap, citation, and effective date — no manual arithmetic. Every notice generated is logged with a timestamp in the compliance log under Pro accounts for audit defense.

Compare DC’s 4.1% / 2.1% RY 2026 caps against the other nine jurisdictions modeled at the RentCeiling comparison hub: California AB 1482 (5% + local CPI, capped at 10%); Oregon SB 611 (9.5%); Washington State HB 1217 (9.683%); Saint Paul Chapter 193A (3.0%); Montgomery County HOME Act (5.8%). DC’s 4.1% standard cap is moderate by national rent-control standards, but its treble-damages penalty framework for overcharges is among the strictest. Open rule-set at /rules/index.json.

Further reading: the four California rent caps explainer shows how multi-layer cap regimes work in practice; the same structural analysis applies to DC’s multi-tier (standard vs. elderly/disability, annual vs. vacancy adjustment) framework.

Run the DC RY 2026 calculator (free)

Common questions about DC rent control 2026