A savvy lawyer continues to slide through a loophole in the D.C. Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, preventing longtime apartment residents from becoming homeowners at the time of sale.
"Thanks to a tenant-friendly provision in D.C. law, [the day the tenants could buy] appeared to have come in early 2001, when one of their building's owners...sold her 50 percent share to an investor...The tenants learned about the sale two weeks later, when Lee offered to sell his share to the tenants for nearly five times what he had just paid. The tenants thought that the transaction...should have triggered their right to buy, a right guaranteed by the District's Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA)."
But it didn't. Instead, "the arrangement sailed through the offices of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA), the agency entrusted with enforcing TOPA. As long as the transaction didn't convey 100 percent of the property, according to the agency, the tenants were out in the cold."
"Dozens of times since 1987, [one lawyer] has assisted landlords in minimizing their obligations under TOPA, usually through a loophole that has come to be known as the '95/5' sale, in which a seller transfers around 95 percent of a property and retains the remainder."
FULL STORY: The Painmaker
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.
Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.
Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.
MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.
Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie