In DC, Your Rowhouse's TOPA Status Now Depends on Who's on the Deed

Buyers evaluating a rowhouse in Petworth, Bloomingdale, or Brightwood with a rented basement unit used to ask the same question first: how many units does this building have. That number decided everything under the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, the DC law that gives renters a first shot at buying a building when it sells. As of this year, the number that decides more is different. It's whose name sits on the deed.

That shift traces back to the Rebalancing Expectations for Neighbors, Tenants, and Landlords Act, which took effect December 31, 2025. The RENTAL Act rewrote TOPA for exactly the kind of small multi-unit property that fills DC's close-in rowhouse blocks, and the rewrite didn't just add or remove a threshold. It made the exemption depend on ownership structure, not unit count alone. A two-to-four unit building can be exempt from TOPA's tenant purchase rights, or it can still be fully covered, depending on who owns it.

What actually changed, and what didn't

DC has been narrowing TOPA's reach for years, not all at once. In 2018, the TOPA Single-Family Home Exemption Amendment Act removed the tenant right of first refusal from single-family homes entirely, with one carve-out: tenants who were elderly or had a disability, who had already signed a lease by March 31, 2018, and moved in by April 15, 2018, kept a narrower right tied to that specific window. Everyone else renting a single-family home in DC has been outside TOPA's purchase-rights process since that law took hold.

The RENTAL Act closes most of what was left. Two-to-four unit buildings are now exempt from TOPA's Offer of Sale requirement, provided the building isn't majority owned by a business corporation. That single clause is the whole story. An individually owned rowhouse with a basement rental, or one held by most ordinary LLCs, now sells the way a single-family home already did: without a tenant right of first refusal standing between contract and closing. A building where a business corporation holds majority ownership does not get that exemption, and still goes through the full Offer of Sale process.

For a buyer comparing two nearly identical rowhouses on the same block, one with an individual seller and one held inside a corporate entity, the practical closing timeline can diverge sharply even though the properties look the same on a listing sheet.

The paperwork that survives even when the tenant right doesn't

Exemption from TOPA's purchase-rights process isn't the same as exemption from TOPA's paperwork. Even a fully exempt property still requires a Notice of Transfer to any existing tenant, spelling out that the sale is happening and citing the legal basis for the exemption claim. Once that notice goes out, tenants have 45 days to register a tenant association if they want to contest whether the exemption actually applies.

That 45-day window is the detail worth sitting with. It doesn't give a tenant the right to buy the building. It gives them the right to challenge the seller's paperwork, and a challenge, even one that ultimately fails, can stall a closing while it gets sorted out. Attorneys tracking the RENTAL Act's rollout have noted that legitimate Notices of Transfer are rarely contested in practice, but "rarely" isn't "never," and a buyer under contract with a 30-day close doesn't want to discover the seller skipped a step.

Landlords of newly exempt properties also had a compliance deadline of their own: written notice to existing tenants about the exemption's applicability was due by March 31, 2026. If you're buying a small rental property in DC today, that notice should already exist in the seller's file. Asking to see it, rather than assuming the exemption applies because the building has three units, is the kind of question that separates a clean closing from one that gets held up two weeks in.

Where the bigger buildings still sit

The small-building exemption doesn't touch the other end of DC's rental stock. Buildings with five or more units, and older than 15 years from their certificate of occupancy, remain fully subject to TOPA's Offer of Sale requirement. Attorneys who work these deals regularly note that once TOPA does apply, the full sequence, tenant association formation, negotiation, and financing, can stretch past a year from offer to close. The 15-year exemption for newer buildings, which is retroactive, means a multifamily property that received its certificate of occupancy within the last decade and a half is exempt regardless of size. DHCD issued updated Notice of Transfer and Offer of Sale forms in June 2026 reflecting these changes, so even the paperwork for buildings that remain covered has shifted this year.

Here's how the exemption landscape actually breaks down as of this fall:

The pattern across every row is the same: DC has been steadily shrinking the pool of properties where a tenant purchase right can actually stop or redirect a sale, while keeping a notice-and-documentation trail in place for nearly all of them.

Why this isn't finished moving

The RENTAL Act wasn't the last word. Chairman Phil Mendelson introduced a further bill, B26-0758, in July 2026 at the Mayor's request, proposing changes to the eviction process, tenant notice delivery methods, and other landlord-tenant provisions. A Council hearing on that bill was held September 24, 2026, just days before this was written. It doesn't rewrite the small-building exemption described above, but it's a reminder that DC's landlord-tenant framework has been in near-continuous motion for the better part of two years, and the guidance a title company gave in January can be slightly out of date by September. DHCD itself has said the regulations meant to formally interpret the RENTAL Act could take up to two years to finalize, so in the meantime the agency is providing guidance on a rolling basis rather than a settled rulebook.

For a buyer or seller, that translates into one practical habit: confirm exemption status and required notices with your title company and settlement attorney at the time of your specific transaction, rather than relying on what a blog post, including this one, said a law required six months earlier. The Washington Post's coverage of the Council's vote captured how contested this rollback has been among tenant advocates and housing providers alike, which is itself a signal that the rules are being watched closely enough that further adjustment is plausible.

What this means before you write an offer

If you're buying a rowhouse with a rented unit in DC, or selling one, the practical checklist looks different than it did two years ago:

Ask how the seller holds title. An individual owner or most LLC structures likely qualify for the small-building exemption. A business corporation as majority owner does not, and that changes your expected timeline before you've made an offer.

Ask for the Notice of Transfer and, if applicable, proof it was delivered and the 45-day contest window has closed without a registered tenant association. This is the paperwork that stands between an exempt property and a delayed closing.

If the building has five or more units, ask for the certificate of occupancy date. That single document tells you whether you're buying into a 15-year exemption window or a property still subject to the full Offer of Sale process that can run past a year.

None of this is about whether a given rental property is a good investment or a good home. It's about whether the sale closes on the timeline the contract assumes, and in DC right now, that answer runs through ownership structure and paperwork trails more than it runs through the number painted on the mailbox.

If you're weighing a DC purchase or sale that involves a rental unit, English basement, or small multifamily building, Sarro Georgatsos Group can help you get the ownership and notice questions answered before you're under contract, not after.