Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 41 Part 1.djvu/322

 difference between the amount of rent and charges paid for the period from the filing of the complaint to the date of the commission's determination and the amount that would have been payable for such period at the fair and reasonable rate fixed by the commission may be added to or subtracted from, as the case demands, future rent payments, or after the final decision of an appeal from the commission's determination may be sued for and recovered in an action in the Municipal Court of the District of Columbia.

. Unless within ten days after the filing of the commission's determination any party to the complaint appeals therefrom to the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, the determination of the commission shall be final and conclusive. If such an appeal is taken from the determination of the commission, the record before the commission or such part thereof as the court may order shall be certified by it to the court and shall constitute the record before the court, and the commission's determination shall not be modified or set aside by the court, except for error of law. If any party applies to the court for leave to adduce additional evidence and shows to the satisfaction of the court that such additional evidence is material and that there were reasonable grounds for the failure to adduce such evidence in the proceeding before the commission, the court may order such additional evidence to be taken before the commission and to be adduced upon the hearing in such manner and upon such terms and conditions as the court may deem proper. The commission may modify its findings as to the facts, or make new findings, by reason of the additional evidence so taken, and it shall file such modified or new findings, which shall be conclusive, and its recommendations if any for the modification or setting aside of its original determination, with the return of such additional evidence. In the proceedings before such court on appeal from a determination of the commission, the commission shall appear by its counsel or other representative and submit oral or written arguments to support the findings and the determination of the commission.

. The right of a tenant to the use or occupancy of any rental property, hotel or apartment, existing at the time this Act takes effect, or thereafter acquired, under any lease or other contract for such use or occupancy or under any extension thereof by operation of law, shall, notwithstanding the expiration of the term fixed by such lease or contract, continue at the option of the tenant subject, however, to any determination or regulation of the commission relevant thereto; and such tenant shall not be evicted or dispossessed so long as he pays the rent and performs the other terms and conditions of the tenancy as fixed by such lease or contract, or in case such lease or contract is modified by any determination or regulation of the commission, then as fixed by such modified lease or contract. All remedies of the owner at law or equity, based on any provision of any such lease or contract to the effect that such lease or contract shall be determined or forfeited if the premises are sold, are hereby suspended so long as this title is in force. Every purchaser shall take conveyance of any rental property, hotel, or apartment subject to the rights of tenants as provided in this title. The rights of the tenant under this title shall be subject to the limitation that the bona fide owner of any rental property, apartment, or hotel shall have the right to possession thereof for actual and bona fide occupancy by himself, or his wife, children, or dependents, or for the purpose of tearing down or razing the same in order immediately to construct new rental property, hotel, or apartment if approved by the commission, upon giving thirty days' notice in writing, served in the manner provided by section 1223 of the Act entitled "An Act to establish a code of laws for the District of Columbia," approved