Bill would streamline the process, while adding support and protections for tenants
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The future of the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, a bedrock component of tenant rights in the District since 1980, is at risk, according to D.C. Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau, D-Ward 1. Today she is introducing common sense reforms to streamline and modernize TOPA.
“TOPA remains as important today as it was when it was created 45 years ago,” she said. “But it’s often used as a scapegoat in conversations about housing production. The fact is that we can balance the needs of housing investors and tenants with updates to the law that meet the current moment.”
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.
The legislation would exempt all new residential construction from TOPA for the first three years to facilitate investment in new housing.
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.
Tenants in 19,170 units were able to successfully negotiate during the sale of their building from 2006 to 2020, accounting for 51% of all units sold following a TOPA notice.
“TOPA has been a great tool for preserving tenants’ rights and options in a sale,” Nadeau said. “But it’s very clear that some TOPA provisions have made it hard to use, and they slow down the process, hurting building owners, tenants, and developers.”
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.
Nadeau and her team have been working on the legislation since 2023, when she opposed a provision in the FY24 budget to exempt buildings in the downtown area from TOPA for 10 years. This new legislation is largely based on recommendations from a Council-funded study to comprehensively review TOPA from the perspective of tenants, owners, and other stakeholders.
“Changes to TOPA can improve predictability and protect both tenants and properties,” said Steve Glaude, president and CEO of The Coalition, which wrote the report. “We are happy to work with Councilmember Nadeau and others to support TOPA changes that honor its purpose and strengthen its future, while also responding to changing conditions and needs of tenants, housing providers and investors.”
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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Resources
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Comparative current/proposed language
