Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) Today: Monied Interests Undermine Its Power

For more than 40 years, the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) has been one of D.C.’s important tools for maintaining affordability and helping renters remain in their homes. But changes in the law reflect two powerful sides of the housing landscape: developers and landlords pushing for flexibility and faster sales, and tenants relying on TOPA to protect themselves from rising displacement pressures. The past decade's legislative debates, often intense, public, and politically charged, have highlighted how unequal this struggle can be. TOPA’s protections have been scaled back, which reflects the influence of property owners and the relative vulnerability of renters in a rapidly changing city.

Residents can still learn how to exercise their rights by joining classes and watching online tutorials to understand the TOPA process through the Office of the Tenant Advocate (OTA). But the law they must navigate today looks very different from the one that once offered broad protection. 

Consider the record.

Reducing TOPA’s Reach (2018)

In 2018, the Council removed TOPA rights for tenants living in houses, condominiums, and co-ops, arguing that the law had been misused in a few cases. The “abuses” cited at the time involved situations in which individual tenants stalled or complicated a landlord’s sale by demanding buyouts in exchange for assigning their purchase rights, sometimes for large sums. Instead of tightening up the process or establishing clearer timelines and safeguards, lawmakers chose to eliminate TOPA for most single-family renters, preserving only limited protections for seniors and tenants with disabilities. 

Whether the alleged abuses justified a full rollback remains contested. Tenant advocates argued that the problems were both narrow and solvable through procedural reforms. At the same time, the Council’s decision aligned more closely with the interests of homeowners and real estate groups seeking a faster, less-regulated path to selling single-family properties. This earlier rollback helped set the stage for the broader narrowing of TOPA that is now unfolding.

Rollback of TOPA Rights Under the Rebalancing Expectations for Neighbors, Tenants, and Landlords (RENTAL) Act. (2025)

Small buildings (2–4 units) lost most TOPA rights

The biggest change for everyday renters came when the Council voted to exempt most two- to four-unit properties from TOPA. Advocates for this exemption argued that it assists longtime homeowners who own small apartment buildings and who cannot manage complex TOPA sales by simplifying the sales process. Critics warned, on the other hand, such an exemption would speed up displacement in neighborhoods where renters rely heavily on these small buildings. Many tenants were caught off guard after this amendment was pushed through with limited public discussion. 

TOPA weakened further under the 2025 RENTAL Act

Mayor Muriel Bowser’s original proposal would also have significantly weakened tenant rights by barring tenants in buildings with existing affordability covenants from organizing to exercise TOPA, exempting such buildings entirely from the process. Lawmakers ultimately reversed that provision after strong public pushback, restoring tenants’ ability to organize and negotiate even in income-restricted properties, one of the most hotly debated parts of the bill.

But not all proposed rollbacks were defeated: newly constructed buildings were exempted from TOPA for 15 years, a compromise from Bowser’s initial request for a 25-year exemption. This fight revealed how deeply divided the city is over TOPA’s future, and how legislative outcomes often reflect the stronger bargaining power of developers and landlords over tenants seeking to protect long-standing rights.

These new limitations on tenant rights under TOPA were erected on the foundation of the complete elimination of TOPA eligibility for renters in single-family homes 7 years earlier. 

Landlord and Tenant Interests Collide

TOPA rights have protected many D.C. renters from displacement for over 40 years. TOPA gave tenants a real seat at the table during property sales and helped many communities, especially longtime Black and brown neighborhoods, remain stable as prices rose around them. But with each legislative change, TOPA now covers fewer and fewer renters. First came the removal of TOPA for single-family homes in 2018. Then, in 2025, small buildings with two to four units were largely exempted. And under the recent RENTAL Act, parts of TOPA were reshaped again, narrowing tenant rights in certain newly constructed buildings. Together, these rollbacks mean that a shrinking number of tenants can use TOPA today compared to any point in its history, exacerbating the housing challenges facing tenants in D.C.

This comes at a time when housing pressures in D.C. are only getting stronger. Rents continue to rise,redevelopment is accelerating in many neighborhoods, and low-income residents still face the highest risks of displacement. These realities make the need for stronger tenant protections more urgent than ever. When residents are informed and organized, TOPA remains a powerful way to preserve affordability and prevent forced moves.

TOPA: A Key Element in Maintaining Affordable Housing and Protecting Renters

For D.C. to balance growth with fairness, the city must keep building more housing and protecting the people living here. That means pairing new development with clear, accessible tenant rights, strong oversight, and public education. OTA’s classes, YouTube tutorials, and community outreach programs remain essential tools for helping residents understand the process and stand up for themselves when their building is sold. TOPA may look different today than it did at its founding, but its purpose has not changed. It makes sense for residents to understand their current TOPA rights but also continue to fight to strengthen TOPA as a tool that can help level the playing field between developers/landlords and tenants.

References

1. Flynn, M. (2025, September 18). D.C. changes tenant laws to spur investment in affordable housing - The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/09/18/affordable-housing-dc-tenant-opportunity-purchase/ 
2. Flynn, M. (2025b, October 23). D.C. Council rolls back tenant rights at small rental properties - The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/10/21/rental-act-tenant-rights-dc-council/ 
3. Kass, B. L. (2018, May 2). What renters and landlords need to know about the new D.C. Topa Law - The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/dc-council-seeks-to-abolish-tenants-right-of-first-refusal-to-buy-their-landlords-single-family-homes/2018/05/01/80ba1e12-4a3d-11e8-9072-f6d4bc32f223_story.html 
4. Dawkins, C., Howell, K., & McManus, S. (2025). Preservation through tenant rights in Washington, DC(Working Paper). National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education. https://coascenters.howard.edu/sites/coascenters.howard.edu/files/2025-10/ROFR-Working-Paper_2025-1%5B42%5D.pdf