On July 11, 2025, BILLE PLLC and Migliaccio & Rathod filed a class action against Bernstein Management Corporation (BMC) in D.C. Superior Court.

Our complaint challenges BMC’s practice of charging tenants in rent controlled buildings with monthly air conditioning fees (AC Fees) and hiding these surcharges from its lease applications and  notices of rent increase. We allege that these practices  violate the District’s rent control law and consumer protection statute.

The case is called Horton et al v. Bernstein Management Corporation and the case number is 2025-CAB-004502. You can follow developments on the public docket here.

On October 30, 2025, the court ruled that the case raised questions about legal rent under the sections of the Rental Housing Act that govern rent controlled buildings. The court paused the judicial case until the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) has issued a final decision about whether the air conditioning fees violate the District’s rent control law.

On December 12, 2025, the plaintiffs filed a tenant petition at OAH, alleging that the AC Fees were excessive rent and a mandatory fee for a service, in violation of the rent control law. The parties finished making their arguments in May 2026. If any issues of fact remain, OAH will hold a hearing in November 2026. Otherwise, a decision should be issued in a few months. However, due to the backlog of cases in that forum, that decision may not be issued until spring 2027. It will not be final if and until the parties have exhausted their appeal options. OAH decisions can be appealed to the Rental Housing Commission, whose decisions can then be reviewed by the D.C. Court of Appeals. It is therefore likely that the judicial case will be frozen until mid to late 2027.