DC Extreme Heat Eviction Protection Law 2026

The Extreme Heat Eviction Protection Amendment Act of 2026 amends D.C. Official Code section 42-3505.01(k), adding a new paragraph alongside the two weather conditions that already barred eviction. Before this amendment, that subsection prohibited evicting a tenant when the National Weather Service's 8 a.m. forecast predicted the temperature at National Airport would fall below 32°F, or when precipitation was falling at the rental unit's location. The new paragraph adds a third condition, using the identical forecast mechanism, just inverted: no eviction on a day the same 8 a.m. forecast predicts the temperature will rise above 95°F.

[Cite: D.C. Law 26-108, amending D.C. Official Code § 42-3505.01(k)]

The specific method for determining whether a day qualifies isn't left to a housing provider's own judgment or a general weather app. It's tied to a defined, objective source: the National Weather Service's forecast issued at 8 a.m., specifically for the National Airport weather station, regardless of where in DC the rental unit is actually located.

[Cite: D.C. Official Code § 42-3505.01(k)]

That objectivity cuts both ways. A housing provider can't argue a different, more favorable forecast justified proceeding with an eviction on a borderline day; the National Airport 8 a.m. reading is the standard the statute uses. At the same time, it gives a housing provider a single, checkable data point each morning rather than an ambiguous judgment call.

Unlike the temperature-based conditions, the precipitation ban isn't tied to a morning forecast at a single reference station. It applies when precipitation is actually falling at the location of the rental unit itself, which means this condition could apply even on a day the National Airport forecast looked clear, if rain or snow is actually falling where the eviction is set to occur.

[Cite: D.C. Official Code § 42-3505.01(k)]

That distinction matters for a housing provider scheduling an eviction: checking the 8 a.m. National Airport forecast covers the cold and heat conditions, but actual conditions at the rental property itself still need to be checked separately for the precipitation condition, since it isn't forecast-based in the same way.

This is the detail worth stating precisely, since it's easy to assume a weather-based eviction ban pauses the whole legal process. It doesn't. The restriction applies specifically to the physical act of eviction, meaning the actual removal carried out by the U.S. Marshals Service. It doesn't halt the underlying court proceeding, and it doesn't extend deadlines for other legal matters connected to the case.

[Cite: ArentFox Schiff, legal alert on the Extreme Heat Eviction Protection Amendment Act of 2025]

In practice, this means a landlord can continue filing, scheduling, and moving a case through court on a day that happens to meet one of these weather conditions. What can't happen on that specific day is the physical execution, the actual removal of the tenant from the unit.

Some jurisdictions restrict cold-weather eviction bans to a defined winter season, and heat-based protections to summer months specifically. DC's statute doesn't work that way. All three conditions, cold, precipitation, and now heat, apply on any day of the year that happens to meet the relevant threshold, however unlikely that might be for a given season.

[Cite: D.C. Official Code § 42-3505.01(k)]

That means a housing provider checking the forecast before a scheduled eviction needs to do so consistently throughout the year, rather than only during an expected cold-weather season or an expected heat-wave stretch.

Adding extreme heat to an existing framework that already covered cold and precipitation reflects a similar underlying concern: physically removing someone from housing during conditions that pose an immediate health or safety risk. DC had already established the cold-weather and precipitation protections well before this amendment; extending the same logic, and the same forecast mechanism, to dangerous heat is a natural continuation rather than a fundamentally new kind of restriction.

[Cite: D.C. Law 26-108]

Unlike some other DC tenant-protection statutes, which spell out a specific civil fine or treble-damages remedy for a violation, this particular weather-based eviction restriction doesn't appear to carry its own dedicated penalty provision within the amended text itself. General Rental Housing Act enforcement mechanisms still apply to housing providers who violate the Act's requirements, but a fine or remedy specific to a weather-condition violation wasn't found in the statutory language covering this provision.

[Cite: D.C. Official Code § 42-3505.01(k)]

That absence doesn't mean a violation carries no consequence; it means the specific penalty framework applicable would need to be assessed under DC's general Rental Housing Act enforcement provisions rather than a standalone fine written into this particular subsection.

Take a housing provider with an eviction scheduled through the U.S. Marshals Service for a specific date. At 8 a.m. that morning, the National Weather Service's forecast for National Airport calls for a high of 97°F. Under the amended statute, that reading alone is enough to bar the physical eviction that day, regardless of what the temperature actually turns out to be later in the afternoon, and regardless of whether the rental unit itself is located somewhere that might run slightly cooler.

[Cite: D.C. Official Code § 42-3505.01(k)]

Contrast that with a day where the 8 a.m. National Airport forecast calls for a mild 78°F, but a sudden afternoon thunderstorm rolls through the specific neighborhood where the rental unit sits. The temperature-based heat and cold conditions wouldn't block that eviction, since the forecast didn't cross either threshold, but the precipitation condition would, because rain is actually falling at the unit's location at the time. A housing provider needs both pieces of information, not just one, before proceeding on any given day.

The practical process change is straightforward but needs to be built into a standard operating procedure: before any scheduled physical eviction, check the National Weather Service's 8 a.m. forecast for National Airport, for both the cold and heat thresholds, and separately confirm whether precipitation is actually falling at the specific rental unit's location. Any one of the three conditions being met means the eviction shouldn't be carried out that day.

Because the underlying court case continues regardless, a housing provider doesn't lose the ability to move a case forward, request a new date with the Marshals Service, or handle other procedural steps on a day that happens to meet one of these weather thresholds. Keeping a simple record of the forecast checked on a scheduled eviction date is a reasonable practice for demonstrating compliance if the timing of an eviction is ever questioned.