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For the beleaguered residents of 8342 Eastridge Ave., a simple complaint about heating in their building filed last winter could lead to the whole building being evicted in a few short months.

When one of the tenants filed a complaint with the Takoma Park housing department last October, city officials quickly found that the rent the tenants were being charged violated the city's strict rent-stabilization laws. After determining that the landlord, Eric Denchfield, owed some tenants as much as $9,000 in overcharged rent, city investigators made another discovery: Denchfield was operating the building, and four others in the city, without a license.

"[So] If he doesn't get his license by [Nov. 20], the city of Takoma Park is going to give us eviction notices," said Bernadette Blake, who moved into the building last October on a three-year lease. "They helped us with one hand and they turned around and pretty much slapped us with the other hand."

After the city's Commission on Landlord and Tenant Affairs ruled that Denchfield was unlikely to repay the overcharged rent — he failed to appear in a court hearing Oct. 20 — the tenants were allowed to live in the building rent-free until the debt was absolved. However, if city code-enforcement officials evict the group, that repayment, along with their homes, will disappear, Blake said.

County inspectors determined that there are several code violations at 8342 Eastridge, not the least of which is the building's heat, which has yet to be turned on this year. This places the city in the unenviable position of adhering to the law and potentially evicting the blameless tenants, or facing tough legal problems if the possibly unsafe building is not emptied out to keep the tenants out of danger, according to City Councilman Reuben Snipper.

"The law has a bunch of requirements and procedures, and normally they protect the tenants, but in this case I think they aren't necessarily working out that way," Snipper said of the building, which is located in his Ward 5. "[On the other hand], if something happened in the building and there's no one responsible, the city might be negligent."

Denchfield denied that the building was not up to code and contends that he spent more than $1 million renovating each unit before he offered the tenants rental licenses with an option to buy. According to Denchfield, the tenants paid up to $1,500 a month, all of which would go toward the total cost of the condo unit — up to $245,000 each — when the tenant chose to buy.

"The building was licensed at the time we began the rent contracts," he said. "Once it's a condo, it actually isn't a lease anymore. It isn't a rental; they are actually making this contract to buy the unit."

Denchfield also took issue with COLTA's decision to allow the tenants to withhold rent. The $800 a month rent COLTA decided on does not factor in the $150,000 Denchfield spent to renovate each of the six units in 2007, according to Denchfield and Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation records. He would be willing to renew his rental license if the tenants agreed to pay him rent again.

"Nobody mentioned that we did these million-dollar renovations and rehabs to it," he said. "Now I don't have any reason to go and pay a [rental] licensing fee if the tenants are not paying ren. ... I can't get going with that and pay the licensing fee if nobody is paying me rent."

Marjorie Ciccone of the city's code-enforcement office expressed her sympathy for the tenants but cited the building's multiple safety and quality-of-living violations as well as Denchfield's lack of a license in her decision to move forward with clearing the property.

"My issue is I need to have it licensed and I need to have it up to code," she said in an interview Friday. "I'm going to follow my procedures as far as what I have to do; if there's other entities here or outside who can make the situation change, I can make some adjustments."

While housing Director Sara Daines said the earliest the tenants would face eviction for the lack of a rental license is the end of January, they could be forced out sooner if the building's code violations are deemed serious enough to endanger their wellbeing and risk the city being sued, Ciccone said.

"If they don't have heat, they can't stay," Ciccone said. "Apparently some of them don't even have thermostats. The [City] Code states that it has to be 68 degrees three feet above the floor. Our codes are in place to maintain a healthy, safe environment for people to live in."

With ongoing negotiations between the tenants and the city, Daines characterized the city's stance as an open one. Officials from her department put the tenants in touch with lawyers at the Washington, D.C.-based Arnold & Porter law firm, who agreed to assist the tenants for free. Lawyers are currently trying to work out an alternative or compromise that might ensure the tenants a roof over their heads or reimbursement for their overcharged rent.

Two of the other properties Denchfield owns in the city are in the process of being sold, while a third is in receivership, wherein a bank-appointed manager is in the process of getting the building licensed. The final unlicensed property on Roanoke Avenue will likely see Denchfield taken to court by the city and county again, according to Ciccone.

As the eviction date looms ahead, the tenants can only hope for an acceptable resolution to present itself. Tenant Farha Shabazz summed up the feeling well.

"We understand that the city has a job to do, but we need to live somewhere, you know?" she said. "We want to be here. We want to make this our home for the long term, [but] we're stuck in a Catch-22."