The Council of the District of Columbia voted 9-4 Oct. 21 to give small rental property owners an exemption from certain tenant laws, removing tenant purchasing rights for two- to four-unit buildings.
The council rolled back the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA), a 1980 law that requires landlords to notify tenants in writing of their intent to sell the property, offering tenants the opportunity to be the first to purchase and giving them leverage in negotiations. The rollback is part of a larger Washington, D.C. effort to make the property-selling process more efficient for small landlords, from whom many Georgetown University students rent off-campus housing.
Councilmember Matt Frumin (D-Ward 3) said he voted against the amendment because he believed it did not receive enough community input.
“I raised concerns about how the proposed exemption might affect tenants’ rights,” Frumin wrote to The Hoya. “While I understand the intent to encourage investment in smaller rental properties, I believe any significant change to longstanding tenant protections should follow a public hearing process to scrutinize the proposals and come up with something that everyone could feel confident works.”
Noa Pampaloni (CAS ’26), who rents and lives in an off-campus townhouse, said she thinks landlords should not be required to prioritize selling to tenants when deciding to sell.
“If the landlord wants to sell the property, they should be able to do so without having to sell it to the tenants, especially in my case, where I’m a college student and would not really be able to afford it or know how to deal with it and know that at some point I will leave,” Pampaloni told The Hoya.
Councilmember Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) said cutting TOPA will make it more difficult for D.C. residents to succeed in the housing market.
“If we’re serious — truly serious — about closing the racial wealth gap and creating opportunities for Black and Brown residents to stay and thrive in D.C., then we must stop dismantling the very tools that make that possible,” Lewis George wrote to The Hoya. “We should be strengthening TOPA, supporting TOPA, not gutting it.”
While there is no comprehensive data on TOPA, according to the nonprofit D.C. Policy Center, there were 419 transactions subject to TOPA covering roughly 16,962 rental units between 2012-23, roughly 7,409 of which were registered as tenant association (TA) formations, where tenants can organize collectively to exercise their TOPA rights. Half of all sales and TA formations occurred in Ward 7 and Ward 8, neighborhoods that are majority Black and Brown and have the lowest income in D.C.
Amy Levin, a D.C. small property owner who rents to Georgetown students, said she is glad the amendment passed because current competition in the housing market is cutting out investors.
“Even a good change still sits on top of a system that is already incredibly hard and expensive to operate in,” Levin told The Hoya. “I’ve personally stopped buying in D.C., even though I still help clients do it. In the last year or two, the only people I see still entering the market are buyers planning to live in the building. Actual investors have mostly walked away because it has simply become too burdensome.”
Lewis George said he also voted against the bill because it did not offer data on the exemption’s possible impact on tenants.
“This exemption is not minor, it is not technical, and it is absolutely not harmless,” Lewis George wrote. “It takes rights away — not from developers or corporations — but from tenants, families and longtime D.C. residents. And it does so with no clear data on how many properties are even impacted, how many tenants have used their rights or how many buildings are already owned by corporate landlords.”
Levin said she is glad the amendment passed because the D.C. housing market can be difficult and expensive.
“Among landlords, it’s less about ideology and more about exhaustion,” Levin said. “Most are trying to run decent housing in a market where the math barely works.”
Levin said she cares about her tenants and properties.
“I never took issue with giving tenants the first opportunity to buy — I think that can be a great outcome when it fits,” Levin said. “The unreasonable part was allowing a tenant who isn’t going to buy to still delay or block a sale just because they live there. And even with everything I just said — I won’t be selling my own buildings until I retire. I love providing housing and I care a lot about the people who live in my units.”
