WASHINGTON, D.C.—A Council hearing on Wednesday showcased two visions for the future of the District’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, a bedrock component of tenant rights in the District since 1980. 

One, the RENTAL Act introduced by Mayor Muriel Bowser, would significantly weaken TOPA by exempting many buildings from TOPA requirements. The other, introduced by Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau, D-Ward 1, would streamline TOPA to make it more sustainable and predictable for building owners and tenants, while preserving tenant protections and improving resources available to them.

“Under the Mayor’s proposal, tens of thousands of families in the District would lose their TOPA rights,” Nadeau said. “I have seen estimates saying that this number is around 50,000 and others putting it over 70,000 families. We can find a way to balance the needs of housing investors and tenants with updates to the law without gutting a bedrock component of tenant rights in the District.”

Nadeau’s legislation, the Common Sense TOPA Reform Amendment Act of 2025, would expedite transaction timelines, create consequences for bad actors who slow down the process or mislead tenants, and give tenants earlier access to information about their rights and options and connect them to tenant support organizations. It is largely based on recommendations from a Council-funded study to comprehensively review TOPA from the perspective of tenants, owners, and other stakeholders. 

“The Mayor’s proposal and mine both recognize the need to streamline aspects of the TOPA process that make it work better for tenants, property owners, and investors alike,” Nadeau said. “But the places that we diverge are meaningful.”

“As a member of this Committee, I will not vote to approve a bill that places conditions on tenants’ rights to participate in the sale of their home, regardless of if they live in buildings with affordability covenants or higher rents, or one that exempts newly built or renovated buildings for 25 years,” she added.

Nadeau’s legislation would also exempt all new residential construction from TOPA for the first three years to facilitate investment in new housing.

More than 175 public witnesses registered to testify on five housing bills Wednesday, many of them to speak against the Mayor’s legislative assault on TOPA. Testimony is expected to continue into the evening; government witnesses will also testify and face questions from committee members.

TOPA establishes rights for tenants during the sale of their building. It gives them the first right to purchase, but more often allows them to negotiate affordability or improvements to a building and its amenities and can even result in the building of additional housing.

Threats to TOPA have mounted in recent years, resulting in at least two legislative proposals in the past two years that would erode TOPA’s strength and applicability. The most recent was inserted into the Mayor’s proposed RENTAL Act and would exempt many buildings from TOPA regulations.

D.C.’s regulations aim to ensure housing security, tenant empowerment, and affordability are balanced with owners’ property rights. For decades, D.C. had the only such law in the country. Now other cities and states are working to replicate it and D.C. is in danger of losing it, Nadeau said.

“I know that we can find a way to balance the needs of housing investors and tenants with updates to the law that meet the current moment without gutting a bedrock component of tenant rights in the District,” Nadeau said.

Some of the key provisions of the legislation:

• Outlines consequences for bad actors who threaten the TOPA process through coercion, retaliation, delay, or fraud. Impacted owners, tenants, or tenant associations may seek award of costs and reasonable attorney fees. 
• Expedites transaction timelines, eliminating the 45-day appeal period after a Notice of Transfer. 
• Directs DHCD to create standard templates for agreements, including for tenant buyouts. 
• Creates a public TOPA Transparency Portal that will address a current lack of good data on TOPA and help all of us better understand outcomes. 
• Streamlines and updates existing TOPA law by removing ambiguous language. 
• Exempts all new residential construction from TOPA for the first three years to facilitate investment in new housing.
• Establishes a certification for tenant support providers (TSPs) and qualified purchasers to facilitate better negotiations and deter bad actors who seek to undermine the TOPA process. DHCD will be required to maintain a public list of certified TSPs, provided to tenants alongside a Notice of Sale. DHCD would also maintain a list of pre-vetted qualified purchasers that tenants may assign rights to and use this process to recruit new investors to the District.  
• Creates a “cooling off period” to level the playing field. To minimize predatory actors engaging with tenants, offers of sale would only be shared with tenants, DHCD, and approved TSPs within the first 15 days after a notice of sale. In addition, purchase rights could not be assigned by tenants to any potential buyer within the first 45 days, unless the tenant has first met with a certified TSP to ensure they are aware of their rights and their options. 

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