A registrant who loses or disposes of his or her ownership of a vehicle for which valid registration is outstanding shall remove, or cause to be removed, the owner's identification tags from the vehicle.
Any person who acquires ownership of a vehicle on which are displayed identification tags issued to another person by the District or any other jurisdiction, shall remove the tags and deliver them, with the registration card (if it is in the vehicle at the time of acquisition) to the owner of the tags or the Director, not later than the next business day following acquisition. If the tags are returned to the owner and he or she is a registrant, he or she shall comply with the provisions of § 415.3 of this section.
Unless the registrant shall within five (5) business days (which time may be extended by the Director for cause shown) after the loss or disposal of ownership, acquire another vehicle, he or his agent shall, within that time, deliver to the Director the owner's identification tags accompanied by the registration card.
Upon receiving the registration card and identification tags, the Director shall issue, upon demand, a receipt thereof and cancel the registration and tags. Those tags shall not be issued to any other person during the then current registration period and may be mutilated or disposed of by the Director.
The registrant and the holder of a reciprocity sticker shall immediately return to the Director the identification tags and registration certificate, or the reciprocity sticker when any one of the following conditions are satisfied:
D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 18, r. 18-415