All 68 Stat. 887.

Property in litigation.

Appointment of guardian for minors, eto.

Service of notice.

by failing to cause such building or part of building to be put into sanitary condition or to be demolished and removed within the time specified by said Board in the order of condemnation or any extension thereof, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and be liable to the penalties provided by section 16 of this Act, and such building or part of building may be put into sanitary condition or be demolished and removed under the direction of said Board, and the cost of such repairs or such demolition and removal, including the cost of making good damage to adjoining premises (except such as may have resulted from carelessness or willful recklessness in the demolition or removal of such building), and the cost of publication, if any, herein provided for, less the amount, if any, received from the sale of the old material, shall be assessed by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia as a tax against the premises on which such building or part of building was situated, such tax to be collected in the same manner as general taxes are collected in the District of Columbia: Provided, That the pendency of any review or appeal provided for by sections 13 and 14 of this Act shall stay the operation of any order issued by said Board, unless said Board shall find that the condition of said premises is such as to cause immediate danger to the health or lives of the occupants thereof or of persons living in the vicinity.

"SEC. 8. Whenever the Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings is in doubt as to the ownership of any building or part of a building, the condemnation of which is contemplated, because the title thereto is in litigation, said Board may notify all parties to the suit and may report the circumstances to the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, who may bring such circumstances to the attention of the court in which such litigation is pending for the purpose of securing such order or decree as will enable said Board to continue such condemnation proceedings, and such court is hereby authorized to make such decrees and orders in such pending suit as may be necessary for that purpose.

"SEC. 9. Whenever the title to any building or part of building is vested in a person non compos mentis, or a minor child or minor children without legal guardian, the Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings shall report that fact to the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, who shall take due legal steps to secure the appointment of a guardian or guardians for such person non compos mentis, or minor child or children aforesaid, for the purpose of the condemnation proceedings authorized by this Act, and any judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia is hereby authorized to appoint a guardian or guardians for such purpose.

"SEC. 10. Any notice required by this Act to be served shall be deemed to have been served if delivered to the person to be notified, or if left at the usual residence or place of business of the person to be notified, with a person of suitable age and discretion then resident therein; or if no such residence or place of business can be found in the District of Columbia by reasonable search, if left with any person of suitable age and discretion employed therein at the office of any agent of the person to be notified, which agent has any authority or duty with reference to the land or tenement to which said notice relates; or if no such office can be found in said District by reasonable search, if forwarded by registered mail to the last known address of the person to be notified and not returned by the post office authorities; or if no address be known or can by reasonable diligence be ascertained, or if any notice forwarded as authorized by the preceding clause of this section be returned by the post office authorities, if published on three consecutive days in a daily newspaper published

All 68 Stat. 888.

in the District of Columbia; or if by reason of an outstanding unrecorded transfer of title the name of the owner in fact cannot be ascertained beyond a reasonable doubt, if served on the owner of record in the manner hereinbefore in this section provided. Any notice to a corporation shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to have been served on such corporation if served on the president, secretary, treasurer, general manager, or any principal officer of such corporation in the manner hereinbefore provided for the service of notices on natural persons holding property in their own right; and notice to a foreign corporation shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to have been served if served on any agent of such corporation personally, or if left with any person of suitable age and discretion residing at the usual residence or employed at the usual place of business of such agent in the District of Columbia.

"SEC. 11. No person shall interfere with the Commissioners or Interference. with any person acting under authority and by direction of said Prohibition. Commissioners in the discharge of his lawful duties, nor hinder, prevent, or refuse to permit any lawful inspection or the performance of any work authorized by this Act to be done by or by authority and direction of said Commissioners.

"SEC. 12. No person shall, without the consent of the Board for Destruotion of the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings, deface, obliterate, remove, affixed notio or conceal any copy of any order of condemnation which has been Prohibition. affixed to any building or part of building by order of the said Board; and the owner and the person having custody of any building or part of building to which a copy or copies of any such order has been affixed shall, if said copy of said order has been to his knowledge defaced, obliterated, or removed, forthwith report that fact in writing to the Board (unless he has good reason to believe that such copy of such an order has been removed by authority of the Board), and if such copy of such order has been concealed, he shall forthwith expose the same to view.

"SEC. 13. Any owner of property affected by an order of con- Review of demnation issued under the authority contained in this Act shall be order. entitled to a review of such order by the Condemnation Review Board established by the Commissioners in accordance with the provisions of section 2 of this Act, upon making application to said Condemnation Review Board, in writing, within fifteen days from the date on which such owner has been served notice of such order of condemnation, and upon payment of a fee of $25. The said Condemmation Review Board shall be authorized by the Commissioners to affirm, modify, or vacate any order of condemnation issued under the authority contained in this Act.

"SEC. 14. The owner of any building or part of building condemned Appeal. under the provisions of this Act may, within fifteen days from the date on which such owner receives notice that such order of condemnation has been reviewed by the Condemnation Review Board established in accordance with section 2 of this Act and has been affirmed or modified by such Board, appeal to the Municipal Court for the District of Columbia for the modification or vacation of said order of condemnation. The municipal court shall give precedence to any such case, shall hear the testimony adduced therein, shall view the building or part of building affected by said order of condemnation, and thereafter shall affirm, modify, or vacate said order. In any proceeding instituted in accordance with the provisions of this subsection, such proceeding shall be conducted by the judge only, and nothing herein contained shall be construed as authorizing or entitling the owner of property affected by such order of condemnation to a trial by jury.

All 68 Stat. 889. Violation.

Penalty.

Expenses.

Definitions.

Owner's agent.

Saving clausę.

"SEC. 15. Whenever any insanitary condition which has led to the condemnation of a building or part of building has been caused in any part by the action or by the neglect of the tenant or tenarts, occupant or occupants thereof, such tenant, tenants, occupant, or occupants shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and be liable to the penalties provided in section 16 of this Act.

"SEC. 16. Any person violating or aiding or abetting in violating sections 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, or 15 of this Act shall, upon conviction thereof in the Municipal Court for the District of Columbia, upon information filed in the name of said District, be punished by a fine of not more than $100 or by imprisonment for not more than ninety days; and each day on which such unlawful act is done or during which such unlawful negligence continues shall constitute a separate and distinct

offense.

"SEC. 17. Except as herein otherwise authorized all expenses incident to the enforcement of this Act shall be paid from appropriations made from time to time for that purpose in like manner as other appropriations for the expenses of the District of Columbia.

"SEC. 18. (a) For the purposes of this Act, the term 'Commissioners' shall mean the Commissioners of the District of Columbia or their designated agent or agents; and the term 'owner' shall mean (1) any person, or any one of a number of persons, in whom is vested all or any part of the beneficial ownership, dominion, or title of the property found by the Commissioners to be in an insanitary condition; (2) the committee, conservator, or legal guardian of an owner who is non compos mentis, a minor child, or otherwise under a disability; or (3) a trustee elected or appointed. or required by law, to execute a trust, other than a trustee under a deed of trust to secure the repayment of a loan.

"(b) Wherever under this Act any act is to be performed by, or any notice is to be given, an owner, such act may be performed by an agent of such owner, or such notice may be given to an agent of such owner who collects rent or otherwise acts as an agent for the owner in connection with said property.

"SEC. 19. (a) All suits and proceedings instituted by or against the Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings in the District of Columbia created by the first section of the Act approved May 1, 1906, supra, or the Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings established by the Commissioners under the authority of Reor66 Stat. 824. ganization Plan Numbered 5 of 1952, prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act, shall be deemed to have been taken by, or instituted by or against, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia. "(b) With respect to any building or part of building condemned by either of the Boards aforesaid prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act, and which building or part of building stands condemned as of the effective date of this amendatory Act, the six-month period provided by section 3 of this amendatory Act shall commence running from the effective date of this amendatory Act.

D. C. Code 1-app.

Time limits.

"(c) Wherever any provision of this Act refers to any order of the Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings, such provision shall mean the order of such Board, or, if such order be reviewed by the Condemnation Review Board, as such order has been affirmed or modified by the latter Board: and wherever this Act establishes any time limit within which there shall be compliance with an order of the Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings, such time limit shall begin running from the date on which the owner

of the property affected by said order is served with notice thereof,

or, if such order be reviewed by the Condemnation Review Board, 68 Stat. 889. from the date on which the owner of such property receives notice that 68 Stat. 890. such order has been affirmed or modified by the latter Board.

"SEC. 20. This Act shall take effect thirty days after its approval." Effective date. Approved August 28, 1954.

To abolish the Commission for the Enlarging of the Capitol Grounds.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Commission Commission for for the Enlarging of the Capitol Grounds, created by the Act of April the Enlarging 11, 1928 (45 Stat. 420), having fully executed all the duties imposed of the Capitol upon it by law, accomplished the purposes for which it was created, settled all accounts, and submitted its final report to Congress, is hereby dissolved and the members of such Commission discharged from any further duties in connection with the matters heretofore committed by law to such Commission.

Grounds.
Abolishment.

SEC. 2. Any revocable permits now in effect, heretofore granted by Permits. the Architect of the Capitol, under the direction of the Commission for the Enlarging of the Capitol Grounds, to owners of properties adjacent to the Capitol Grounds, for construction, maintenance and use of walkways, approaches, or driveways in the Capitol Grounds, providing access to such properties from the Capitol Grounds, subject to revocation by such Commission or by the Architect of the Capitol, shall continue in effect, subject to revocation by the Architect of the Capitol under the direction and approval of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Architect of the Capitol, with the approval of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, is authorized hereafter to grant similar revocable permits to the owners of any properties adjacent to the Capitol Grounds whenever such action is deemed necessary to provide proper access to such properties from the Capitol Grounds; and such permits shall be in the form of an agreement saving the United States harmless from and against any and all claims of any nature or kind that may arise from anything that may be connected with or grow out of such permits, and containing such other provisions and conditions as the Architect of the Capitol may deem necessary or proper.

Approved August 30, 1954.

(490)