Selling our right to buy

April 23, 2015 10:14 AM

My rental house in DC is being sold and my fellow tenants and I are looking into exercising our TOPA rights and selling our right to purchase the house.

In DC, tenants have the first rights to purchase a house at a fair market value, and they are also allowed to 'sell' that right to somebody else.

The house will likely be sold to a developer (it needs a lot of work and will probably be converted into condos) and we have been looking into contacting some, but would it be a better idea to get a real estate agent first? What kinds of agent rates or fees would apply? If we do go straight to developers how do we find them and make sure we're getting a good deal?

It's a large house in a fantastic location so there could be a fair bit of money on the line.

posted by ropeladder to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

I have no experience with this so I would contact either a lawyer or RE professional, but my first reaction was to sell it back to the home owner. That is, have him buy that right back from you so he can deal with any potential buyers directly.
posted by AugustWest at 10:30 AM on April 23, 2015

I don't have experience with this either, but from my Google research, you don't have the right to buy at 'fair market value', but the right of first refusal to buy at the price the seller is offering. (with the caveat that if the seller ends up offering it for >=10% less to a 3rd party, you have the right to buy at that price too.)
posted by dcjd at 11:40 AM on April 23, 2015

I told my TOPA rights to my landlord for a $5 Starbucks gift card last year.

However, this WaPo article says that tenants can make deals with developers for something better. Probably best to talk to a lawyer or a real estate agent as mentioned above.
posted by Pfardentrott at 11:45 AM on April 23, 2015

Best answer: It looks like if you are shrewd about this you can make some pretty good money. The story at that link is full of good pointers on how to structure this. If you're renting a house or an apartment in a house, chances are there's already a developer trying to assemble multiple properties for a larger development. What you want is an agent who has played this game for a while and can get you the best deal. Don't try going straight to the developers, you need an agent.
posted by beagle at 11:56 AM on April 23, 2015

Best answer: I was in the same position a few years ago, but moved out before things came to any sort of conclusion. There are lawyers out there who will very aggressively help you make your best deal--I'll MeMail you a reference.
posted by MrMoonPie at 7:17 AM on April 24, 2015