Sup. Ct. R. D.C. 3
COMMENT TO 2024 AMENDMENTS
New subsection (a)(3) has been added to require the complaint and the summons to include the defendant's telephone number and email address, if known to the plaintiff. (The plaintiff is already required by Civil Rule 10-l(b)(1) to provide its own telephone number and email address in the complaint.) It is not intended that the plaintiff's failure to provide the information required by this subsection will lead to the dismissal of the case absent extraordinary circumstances. Former subsection (a)(3) has been redesignated (a)(4). Subsections (c)(1)(B), (c)(1)(C), and (c)(2)(C) have been amended to delete the citation to the D.C. Code year consistent with the general restyling of the Superior Court Rules and the Court of Appeals current Citation and Style Guide.
COMMENT TO 2023 AMENDMENTS
Section (c) has been amended to incorporate limitations in the Eviction Record Sealing Authority and Fairness in Renting Amendment Act of 2022, § 2(a), D.C. Law No. 24-115 (May 18, 2022), D.C. Code §§ 16-1501(b) -(c) (2022), on filing complaints in eviction cases. Former section (c) has been redesignated (d).
COMMENT TO 2017 AMENDMENT
This rule has been amended consistent with the stylistic changes to the civil rules. Subsection (b)(1)(B) was also modified in response to the Rental Housing Late Fee Fairness Amendment Act of 2016, D.C. Law No. 21-0172 (Dec. 8, 2016), which prohibits a landlord from evicting a tenant on the basis of nonpayment of a late fee. The rule now permits landlords to seek late fees as part of a money judgment.
COMMENT
D.C. Code § 16-1501 requires that a complaint for possession be made "under oath verified by the person aggrieved by the detention, or by his agent or attorney having knowledge of the facts." Therefore, although SCR-Civ. 9-I is incorporated into the Landlord and Tenant Rules, a complaint for possession must be verified under oath before a notary public or other person authorized by law to administer an oath and may not be based on an unsworn declaration. See SCR-Civ. 9-I(e).