TOPA exemption for SFHs in DC - will this create more supply?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a new wrinkle for you all to weigh in on. We have two family home (row house w legal basement), currently rented, planning to reclaim for personal use soon and move back in so we can sell TOPA-free in a year potentially. Can we cancel our two family license, or take some other step to become SFH, so we could take advantage of new law and sell sooner? Would we still have our two unit C of O, which is handy for resale purposes?

Is it? We recently purchased our rowhouse, which has an english basement apartment without a C of O. My lender told me that if our house was 2 legit legal units, they would have required a minimum 20% downpayment (we had only 10%).

So I think you may be eliminating a sizable segment of the population who don't have 20%.

Interesting point. Though DH pointed out that anyone buying a $1.2m house in a hot neighborhood will likely be putting (at least) 20% down. Where our house is, places typically go under contract in a weekend to a week tops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"But if TOPA is removed and the lease is up anyway, what does it matter what the intent was? I can tell you to prepare to vacate in 90 days. My house, I want back for my purposes."

In DC, unlike MD or VA, leases are never "up". You may certainly ask tenants to "vacate in 90 days" if you certify that you want to recover the property for personal use. But if you make such a certification falsely (i.e., having some other intent), that is fraud.

Now, if you remove TOPA, I suppose tenants' incentive to sue for fraud might be slightly lower. But people tend to react badly if they feel they have been treated as suckers... And, if they do sue, it will likely take a year before the case is even heard--and in the meantime you would find it challenging to sell.

What kind of nonsense is that. It's standard to sign a one year lease. Two years at the most. After which it goes month-to-month. So if your 1-year ended in February, you're now on a month-to-month basis which gives me the right to ask you to leave after a month is over. Though I will give the full 90 days as a courtesy.

That's not how it works in DC. When the lease is up and it goes month-to-month, the TENANT has the right to terminate the lease with 30 days notice. The landlord has no such right. The lease continues until there is a violation or a valid reason to end the lease. Personal use and occupancy is one such reason. "I want to sell the house" is not a valid reason. The tenant would be within his rights not to vacate and the court would not agree to evict for that reason. And if you lie and say you want to live there and the house goes on MRIS a few weeks later, the tenant could sue you for wrongful eviction. Even if they didn't have TOPA rights, they had rights as a tenant. The penalties for wrongful eviction can be severe and there are a lot of lawyers who will take these cases on contingency.

Why does anyone ever agree to shift to a month-to-month lease then, as a landlord? Can’t you require a new, one year lease every year?

[Anonymous]

No-- every lease in DC converts to month to month after the initial lease term