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.
San Francisco's School District Spent $105M To Build Affordable Housing for Teachers — And That's Just the Beginning
SFUSD joins a growing list of school districts using their land holdings to address housing affordability challenges faced by their own employees.
The Tiny, Adorable $7,000 Car Turning Japan Onto EVs
The single seat Mibot charges from a regular plug as quickly as an iPad, and is about half the price of an average EV.
San Diego Votes to Rein in “Towering” ADUs
City council voted to limit the number of units in accessory buildings to six — after confronting backyard developments of up to 100 units behind a single family home.
Texas Legislature’s Surprising Pro-Housing Swing
Smaller homes on smaller lots, office to apartment conversions, and 40% less say for NIMBYs, vote state lawmakers.
Even Edmonton Wants Single Staircase Buildings
Canada's second most affordable major city joins those angling to nix the requirement for two staircases in multi-family buildings.
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.
Borough of Carlisle
Smith Gee Studio
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)