Selective enforcement, punishing you for a condition the association knowingly tolerates elsewhere, is a defense everywhere covenants are enforced in equity, through waiver, estoppel, and clean-hands principles. In the District it has extra statutory hooks. Every fine must satisfy § 42-1903.08(a)(11)'s reasonableness requirement, and a penalty aimed at one unit while identical violations sit unaddressed two floors up is hard to defend as reasonable. The same section binds officers and board members to the care of a fiduciary of the unit owners, and arbitrary, inconsistent enforcement sits poorly with fiduciary conduct. And the mandatory hearing gives you a statutory forum to put the pattern on the record before any court is involved.
The District also hands you the discovery tools. The minutes of the meetings where enforcement was discussed and the rule was adopted are examinable and copyable on written request (§ 42-1903.03). The association's books and records, including how fines and violations have been processed across units, are open to owners in good standing for membership-related purposes (§ 42-1903.14), and investigating the association's enforcement of the very rule cited against you is squarely such a purpose. Pair the association's own paper with dated photographs of comparable uncited conditions, identified by unit number, never by residents' names, and you can arrive at the hearing with the kind of documented pattern that changes outcomes.
Waiver versus selective enforcement
Two related frames, different targets. Waiver argues the association has tolerated violations of a rule so widely and so long that the rule is abandoned and unenforceable against anyone. Selective enforcement is narrower: the rule may survive, but enforcing it against you while ignoring identical conditions is inequitable and, in the District, unreasonable within the meaning of the fine statute. Build one evidentiary record, the enforcement ledger, the minutes, the comparables, the timeline of your own citation, and let the pattern pick the frame. Keep your side of the record clean: attend the hearing, respond in writing, and cure what you reasonably can while the dispute runs.
The authority
The statutes behind this
Cited by name as authority, for your own reading. Informational only, not legal advice.
D.C. Code § 42-1903.08(a)(11)
Every fine must be reasonable and preceded by notice and an opportunity to be heard, the statutory forum and standard against which uneven enforcement is measured.
D.C. Code § 42-1903.14
The books and records that document the association's enforcement pattern across units are examinable by owners in good standing for membership-related purposes.
D.C. Code § 42-1903.03
Minutes of the meetings where rules were adopted and enforcement discussed are available for examination and copying on written request.
Step by step
How to document and raise selective enforcement in Washington, DC
Build the record that supports a waiver or selective-enforcement defense to a DC condominium citation or fine.
- 01
Fix the exact rule and citation
Identify the precise instrument provision or adopted rule cited against you and the date of your notice. The comparison must be like-for-like: the same rule, the same kind of condition, at other units.
- 02
Photograph comparables by unit number
Document identical uncited conditions elsewhere in the building or community, dated, identified by unit number or location, never by the names of the people living there.
- 03
Examine the association's own paper
Request the minutes adopting and discussing the rule (§ 42-1903.03) and the enforcement and fine records across units (§ 42-1903.14). The association's ledger is the strongest witness to its own inconsistency.
- 04
Put the pattern on the hearing record
At the § 42-1903.08(a)(11) hearing, present the comparables and records, argue the fine fails the reasonableness requirement, and ask that your submission be reflected in the minutes.
- 05
Preserve everything for escalation
If the fine stands, your documented record supports waiver and selective-enforcement defenses in any later collection action, and it is exactly what a DC court weighing equitable enforcement will want to see.
Straight answers
Common questions
Is selective enforcement a real defense in the District?
Yes. It operates through equity's waiver and estoppel doctrines, and in DC it also runs through the statute: a fine must be reasonable under D.C. Code § 42-1903.08(a)(11), and a penalty imposed on one unit while identical violations are knowingly ignored elsewhere strains both the reasonableness requirement and the board's fiduciary standard.
What evidence do I need?
Dated photos of comparable uncited conditions identified by unit number, the association's own enforcement and fine records obtained under § 42-1903.14, the minutes where the rule was adopted and enforcement discussed, and the timeline of your citation. Patterns persuade; single anecdotes don't.
Where do I raise it first?
At the mandatory hearing before the fine can be levied. Present the pattern there, in writing, and ask that it be recorded in the minutes. A well-documented hearing submission often ends the matter, and if it doesn't, it becomes the spine of your defense in any collection action.
Should I identify the neighbors who weren't cited?
By unit number or location only, never by name. The argument is about the association's conduct, not your neighbors, and keeping it entity-focused keeps your own record clean.