2026-09-09 · District of Columbia · Legislation

The District of Columbia has made its largest change in decades to the statute through which rental buildings become limited-equity cooperatives. The Rebalancing Expectations for Neighbors, Tenants, and Landlords Amendment Act of 2025 — the RENTAL Act — took effect December 31, 2025 after Council passage on September 17, 2025.¹

The Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act is not usually filed under community-association law. It should be. TOPA is how new housing cooperatives get created in the District, and this rewrite changes who can be on the other side of that transaction, who advises the tenants, and which buildings are eligible at all.

What changed

The Act rewrites some eighteen sections of D.C. Code Title 42, Chapter 34.

A 15-year exemption for new construction. New § 42-3404.02b defines “sale” and lists exclusions, among them a 15-year exemption for newly built accommodations. Also excluded: decedent's-estate and intrafamily transfers, foreclosure and deed-in-lieu, certain low-income housing tax credit investor entries and exits where control is unchanged, and transfers made to preserve extended low-income commitments.

Entity transfers are now defined as sales. The same section reaches master leases and transfers of interests in an entity where a majority of value changes hands — closing a route by which a building changed control without triggering tenant rights.

Rights vest on the offer. New § 42-3404.02(f) provides that “[a] tenant's rights under this title vest at the time of receipt of an offer of sale… and shall not apply to a tenant that begins occupying a housing accommodation after the issuance of an offer of sale.”

Certified tenant support providers. New § 42-3404.02c creates a Mayor-run certification for advisers selected for expertise in, among other things, “the formation and governance of tenant organization and other legal and collective ownership structures.” Certification runs four years, with conflict-of-interest bars and revocation.

Certified qualified purchasers. New § 42-3404.02d creates a parallel certification for buyers, with certain pre-approved developers automatically certified for the first four years.

Assignment, for consideration the tenant accepts. Rewritten § 42-3404.06 lets tenants exercise, assign or sell their rights “for any consideration which the tenant, in the tenant's sole discretion, finds acceptable,” after a cooling-off period, with limits on secondary reassignment.

1. D.C. Law 26-80, the Rebalancing Expectations for Neighbors, Tenants, and Landlords (RENTAL) Amendment Act of 2025 (Bill 26-164; D.C. Act 26-199; 72 DCR 12894; effective Dec. 31, 2025) ↩
2. D.C. Code § 42-3404.02, Tenant opportunity to purchase — as amended, including the vesting provision at subsection (f) ↩