In a DC Rental Sale, the TOPA Clock Now Starts With the First Written Offer

DHCD publishes a weekly log of the TOPA filings it receives. In the week of September 28 to October 2, 2026, it logged seven notices for single-family properties saying an owner had solicited an offer or intended to sell, plus six Notices of Potential Sale for 2–4 unit buildings. In the same week it logged one single-family Offer of Sale with a contract and one 2–4 unit Offer of Sale with a contract. The agency warns that these logs can be incomplete or contain errors, but the pattern still shows where owners are. Short notice filings outnumber the formal offers that start the long process.

That fits the law as it now reads. If you are selling a rented condo, a rowhouse with a basement unit, or a small building you own personally, the main TOPA question is no longer whether your tenant can match your buyer. For most of these sellers, the question is whether you sent a short written notice within three days of the first written offer. The long process only comes back for a smaller group of sales, and two facts decide which group yours is in. You can check both before you list.

The deadline that starts before you have a buyer

DC Code §42-3404.09 begins by saying the TOPA purchase provisions "shall not apply to single-family accommodations except as provided in this section." The first exception applies to every tenant. Within 3 calendar days of receiving or soliciting, in writing, an offer to purchase, an owner who intends to sell must tell the tenant in writing that an offer was received or solicited.

The trigger is the first written offer, which usually arrives well before a signed contract. The word "soliciting" means the deadline can start while you are still looking for buyers, before you have accepted anything.

Three details in the same subsection affect how this plays out during a sale:

• Once you have notified a tenant, you don't have to notify that same tenant again about later offers for one year.
• Liability for missing the notice "shall lie with the owner and may not attach to the real property."
• A tenant who sues over a missed notice may not file a lis pendens with the Recorder of Deeds.

The second and third details matter to your buyer's title company. A missed notice is the owner's problem, and it cannot cloud the title. That separation helps keep a closing on schedule. It does not make the notice optional.

This requirement isn't new. It came from D.C. Law 22-120, the 2018 single-family exemption law, which took effect July 3, 2018. The 2025 law extended the same notice to many small multi-unit buildings that had been subject to the full process.

What the RENTAL Act moved into the notice-only group

The Rebalancing Expectations for Neighbors, Tenants, and Landlords Amendment Act of 2025 had its final Council vote on October 21, 2025. The mayor signed it on November 13, and it took effect as D.C. Law 26-80 on December 31, 2025.

For 2–4 unit buildings, the change is in §42-3404.10(b). Buildings not owned in majority by a business corporation, as defined in §29-101.02(2)(A), are exempt from the TOPA subchapter. Their tenants keep only the notice right in §42-3404.09(b), the three-day notice described above. DHCD's January 2026 FAQ says most 2–4 unit buildings without majority business-corporation ownership are exempt, and that owners claim the exemption on the existing forms. DHCD keeps separate form sets for single-family, 2–4 unit, and 5+ unit properties.

"Single-family accommodation" covers more than it sounds like. Under the 2018 definition, it includes a house with one accessory dwelling unit and a single rental unit in a condo, co-op, or HOA. So a rowhouse with a rented English basement and a one-bedroom rented out in a condo building are both in this category.

The first fact to check: when the lease was signed

The single-family exemption has one exception that brings back a shortened version of the full process. It applies when the tenant is elderly or has a disability as of the date of the offer of sale, and signed the rental agreement by March 31, 2018, and moved in by April 15, 2018.

Those dates match the 2018 law, which protected existing tenancies when it took effect. Every year, fewer tenancies qualify, but the ones that do are long tenancies, and long tenancies are common among properties owned for many years.

When the exception applies, the process has its own schedule:

1. The owner may send a notice of intent to sell no more than 60 days before the offer. The tenant then has 20 days to say they qualify as elderly or disabled.
2. The written offer of sale has to meet the general offer requirements and also describe the tenant's rights and list organizations that can help. Copies of the offer and any intent notice go to the Office of the Tenant Advocate, sent the same day as the originals.
3. The tenant has 20 days to deliver a written statement of interest. Missing that deadline counts as a waiver.
4. The owner must allow at least 25 more days to negotiate, plus one extra day for each day the owner is late providing required information.
5. After a contract is signed, the tenant gets at least 45 days to settle. That extends if a lender estimates in writing that it will decide within 75 days.

There's also a limit on what the tenant can be paid for these rights. If the tenant assigns or sells them, the only payment allowed is the right to stay in the unit for 12 months after the sale at the rent in effect on the date of the offer. If your buyer plans to live in the home, that 12 months has to be part of the move-in plan, which affects which buyers can make your deal work.

The second fact to check: who holds title

For a 2–4 unit building, the exemption turns on ownership, not on the tenant. If a business corporation owns the majority, the full 2–4 unit schedule in §42-3404.10(a) still applies, unless the building is a 2-unit single-family accommodation:

• Tenants acting together have 15 days to submit a statement of interest. If they don't, any individual tenant gets another 7 days.
• Negotiation lasts at least 90 days, plus a day for each day the owner is late with required information.
• If the tenants haven't signed a contract by the end of that period, any single tenant gets another 30 days.
• After contracting, settlement can't come sooner than 90 days. That extends if a lender estimates in writing that it will decide within 120 days.
• If 240 days pass from a valid offer without a sale or contract, the owner has to start the process over.

The statute ties this to the business-corporation definition in §29-101.02(2)(A). Owners who hold rental property through an entity usually confirm how that definition applies to their entity before they set a listing date.

How the clocks compare

For 5+ unit buildings, tenant organizations generally get 45 days to register, then at least 120 days to negotiate and 120 days after contract to settle. The totals in the table add up the statutory windows. They are not measured averages, and extensions can push any of them longer.

Before the law passed, the Deputy Mayor said TOPA could delay a sale by up to 420 days, according to The 51st's June 2025 explainer. That was a claim about the old system, not an observed average. Its usefulness now is as a contrast: for an owner-held small rental with a typical tenancy, the minimum added time is close to zero, and what remains is the paperwork.

What hasn't settled yet

The main disputes in 2026 have been about a different exemption. New multifamily buildings are exempt for 15 years after their permanent certificate of occupancy. The 51st reported in July 2026 that DHCD was reviewing 13 claims under that provision, and that future rulemaking could clarify how it should be read. We found no 2026 act, emergency measure, adopted rule, or court decision that amends the single-family or 2–4 unit sections.

Parts of the law's support system depend on funding. The tenant-support-provider and qualified-purchaser programs, and a TOPA transparency portal, take effect only if their costs are included in an approved budget. DHCD scheduled certification training for tenant support providers on September 15, 2026.

A few questions sellers ask

I read that the 2–4 unit exemption only covers owners with no more than two DC properties. Is that right? Some 2025 coverage described the proposal that way, including Axios. The current text of §42-3404.10(b) uses the business-corporation majority-ownership test and doesn't mention how many properties the owner has. The code is the version to work from.

Did the single-family exemption accidentally get broader or narrower? WAMU reported in September 2025 that some councilmembers worried about a possible drafting error affecting single-family properties. The current §42-3404.09 limits the exemption and keeps the rights of the elderly and disabled tenants described above.

What does a full offer of sale have to include? Under §42-3404.03, the offer states the price and material terms, the tenant's rights, whether a third-party contract exists, and the building and expense records the tenant can request. It goes to the tenants and to the Mayor on the same date.

If you're planning to sell a rented home in Washington, D.C., check the lease dates, the ownership structure, and the timing of the three-day notice before you list. Then you'll know which schedule applies before any offer arrives. The Velvel Group can help you set a listing timeline around those facts, alongside the pricing and prep steps in our sellers' guide. Schedule a consultation and we'll go through your property's situation with you.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.