WASHINGTON — A developer accused of flipping a home and selling to a D.C. couple under false pretenses is now facing thousands of dollars in fines.
The District’s Office of Planning is hitting Innovative Quarters owner, Enobong Usanga, with $26,740 in fines and penalties for violating the city’s historic preservation laws when he flipped a historic home in Southeast DC, and turned around and sold it to Amanda and Brai Valerio-Esene without disclosing any of the problems.
“It’s been incredibly stressful,” Amanda Valerio-Esene said. "We’ve lost a lot of sleep over this.”
The sleepless nights are stemming from the more than $100,000 in repairs D.C.’s Historic Preservation office said the couple would have to pay for to get their new home in compliance with the city’s historic preservation laws. The couple said they didn't know the home violated those laws when they bought it from Usanga.
“He checked all the boxes that said there were no violations, no infractions,” Brai Valerio-Esene said. “Everything was free and clear.”
“He lied,” Amanda Valerio-Esene added.
The couple was shocked to learn the DC government wanted them to fix it all.
“We did everything we were supposed to do,” Amanda Valerio-Esene said.
In 2021 Innovative Quarters was served with a notice of infraction from DC Government. Turns out, when Usanga flipped the run-down home, he violated a host of historic preservation laws rebuilding it.
“There's nothing obviously wrong,” Amanda Valerio-Esene said gesturing to the home’s front windows. “But a lot of historic windows have a different framework. So, these original windows were much longer, and they had a trim around them.”
The city also took issue with the home's redesigned porch.
“So if you look at the porch, again, it looks perfectly fine,” Amanda Valerio-Esene said. “It looks not like a super modern porch. But it doesn't match the original historical profile.”
Records show the developer initially took responsibility with the city, agreeing in an order to correct the historic violations. But he never did it.
And he didn’t disclose any of the problems when he sold the home to Brai and Amanda 6 months later, checking “no” when asked: “has the property been cited for a violation of any historic preservation law?”
A title search paid for by the Valerio-Esene’s should have showed a lien placed on the house by the city, because of a $200 fine the developer failed to pay on time. The couple later found out never DC Government never took out that lien, despite the outstanding debt and violations.
Instead, DC’s Office of Planning told the couple in an email they were responsible for correcting all the problems. The estimate to do that came in at more than $103,000.
“We've just bought this house, we just got married, baby on the way,” Brai said. “We're not sitting on that pile of cash.”
The couple said they were most frustrated by the feeling DC Government appeared to be coming after them instead of the developer.
“It's almost like a myopic obsession with enforcing the rules, rather than holding the guilty party accountable,” Brai said.
Innovative Quarters and owner Enobong Usanga did not respond to multiple requests for comment from WUSaA9. But the company still touts the renovation right on its website.
So WUSA9 turned to DC Government. The DC Office of Planning declined an interview but said via email:
The Office of Planning (OP) recognizes the situation with 1333 Maple View Place is an unfortunate one and understands the predicament of the current owners of the property. OP is pleased to have reached a reasonable resolution with them that settles the violations and brings the home into alignment with historic preservation standards.
That “reasonable solution” turned out to be paring back the historic violations the District would force the couple to fix. But the Valerio-Esene’s were still forced to replace their brand-new front windows at a cost of about $10,000.
After hearing the city’s response, Brai told WUSA9 “in what world is it ‘reasonable’ to make us pay just over $10,000 to fix infractions that we didn’t commit!?”
His wife agreed.
“There should be government systems in place that prevent that from happening,” Amanda said. “DC needs to do better.”
Usanga must now admit to the alleged violations, deny them, or admit to them with explanation. If the developer denies the alleged violations, there will be a hearing before an administrative law judge at the District’s Office of Administrative Hearings to decide the case.
As a result of WUSA9’s investigation, DC’s Office of Planning said it is looking into what more can be done to ensure potential homebuyers in the District are made aware of key information like permit infractions and building code violations.