DC Certificate of Occupancy

[Julia Dugger]

I recently purchased a property built in 1929 that was built as a single family but was separated into two units and the previous owners -- a mother and daughter -- resided in the house in the separate units for 60 years until they died last spring at 108 and 87 (!).

We've updated the units and are now trying to get a C of O in order to register the property properly as rental in DC. There is no record of a C of O with DCRA because, I'm sure, the property was built and previous owners moved in well before they kept C of O records.

DCRA - a bear under the best of circumstances - is very unclear as to the proper path forward for us. Does anyone have an experience with this and/or suggestions on who might be a good advisor in this situation?