Opinion ID: 2422541
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Purposes of TOPA

Text: As we have noted above, the owners base their claim that TOPA requires notice to tenants only in demolition/discontinuance situations not merely on the punctuation of the relevant provision, but also on the purpose of the Act, which they describe as being the preservation of the availability of rental housing, especially for persons of low or moderate income. They argue that a sale of an apartment building by one landlord to another does not contravene that purpose if the building continues to be used as a rental accommodation, and is not converted into a condominium or a cooperative. But the RHCSA has several purposes, and the one on which the owners base their argument is not the only one. See D.C.Code § 42-3401.02. Although the prime goal of the legislation, [was] to avoid the erosion of affordable rental housing[,] Hornstein v. Barry, 560 A.2d 530, 534 & n. 6 (D.C.1989) (en banc); see D.C.Code § 42-3401.02(1), (2), (6), the Council has also made it an explicit purpose of the Act to strengthen the bargaining power of tenants and to encourage the formation of tenant organizations. Id. In addition, as we recently explained in Malik Corp. v. Tenacity Group, LLC, 961 A.2d 1057, 1062 (D.C.2008), the Council. . . enacted TOPA to discourage the displacement of tenants through the sale of rental properties and to provide tenants opportunities for home ownership, without interfering with a landlord's property rights. TOPA accords to the tenant not only the right to purchase the rental unit before the owner may sell it to a third party, D.C.Code § 42-3404.02(a), but also the right to assign his or her right. See id. § 42-3404.06. Tenants  the class whom TOPA was designed to protect  thus receive a significant and tangible benefit from the legislation. Allman, 888 A.2d at 1169. As a result of the statute's enactment, we concluded in Allman, tenants have something of value  assignable TOPA rights  for which a prospective assignee is likely to be willing to pay, and in many cases has paid, in order to acquire the property. Id. Enabling tenants to enjoy such benefits promotes the goals of creating home ownership for lower income tenants, preserving affordable rental housing, and minimizing displacement. D.C.Code § 42-3401.02(6a); see also id. § 42-3401.02(1). At the same time, it strengthen[s] the bargaining position of tenants, id. § 42-3401.02(1), and encourage[s] the formation of tenant organizations, id. § 42-3401.02(6), to take advantage of these benefits in multi-unit buildings. Affording tenants an opportunity to purchase serves these statutory purposes, even where, as here, the apartments are not converted into condominium units, and where Housing Provider A simply seeks to sell a building to Housing Provider B. We therefore cannot agree with the owners that their proposed restrictive construction of TOPA is consistent with, or vindicates, all (or even most) of that Act's remedial purposes.