Minneapolis Mulls Renter Protections
Housing is one of the largest challenges facing communities across the country, particularly providing housing for those in lower- and middle-income brackets. One of the ways in which these groups are being affected is by the common purchase and repositioning of Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (“NOAH”). In an effort to preserve NOAH, communities are considering various vehicles for preservation, including variations of Washington, D.C.’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (“TOPA” or the “Act”). TOPA was enacted in 1980 to address the housing crisis at the time, and remains in place today. States and cities across the country are now considering some variation of the TOPA framework, including Minneapolis. In this article, we explore the process by which property owners would comply with these new proposed laws based on TOPA, and how the Act affects the multifamily real estate market in D.C.
The Act classifies D.C. rental housing into three tiers: single-family housing, 2- to 4-unit housing, and 5+ unit housing. Until recently, all three tiers were treated relatively equally. This proved onerous for several important reasons, including discouraging rentals of Accessory Dwelling Units (“ADUs”) on single-family properties. ADUs are quite common in D.C., taking the form of English basements, carriage houses, and “Granny Flats,” allowing single-unit rentals on existing single-family properties. However, the renters of single-family homes yielded extraordinary power to delay sales. As a result, landlords would commonly either keep potential rentals off the market, find ways to terminate leases, or refuse to renew rents at reasonable rates to avoid the often costly alternative, which would be to buy-out the tenant lease. These results ran counter to many of TOPA’s goals. Under the revised D.C. rules, the only single-family tenant protection that remains is the right to occupy a unit for 12 months after sale under the current terms. TOPA now applies to D.C.’s second and third classifications, the 2 to 4 unit and 5+ unit properties, with the primary difference being the timeframes in which the tenants have to act.
For purposes of our discussion, we focus on the 5+ unit properties as they typify multifamily properties as we generally think of them. This discussion assumes typical market rate rentals and tenants; additional legislation in
D.C. applies to special situations, particularly involving seniors and persons with disabilities, but those minutiae are beyond the scope of this discussion.
The key factor affecting a seller is the timing of all the required notices and the tenants’ response periods. When the owner of a multifamily property enters into a sale agreement, they must notify the tenants. The following chart visualizes the various steps required to complete a sale.
After receiving notification of the sale, the tenants may request information regarding the property: floor plans, rent rolls, and income statements – the same information any buyer or investor would typically request. After review, the tenants may form an association (comprised of 50% or more of the tenants of the occupied units) to exercise their tenants’ rights. At this stage, they have four options. The tenants’ association may:
Attempt to purchase the property with terms roughly equivalent to the proposed third-party deal. In these cases the ownership has a responsibility to negotiate in good faith with the tenants’ association, and not attempt to re-trade the deal with terms different than with the third-party buyer. If the purchase goes through, ownership is then typically controlled by the tenants as a cooperative or limited equity cooperative, with tenants holding the right to purchase their units.
Transfer their rights to purchase to a new investor/developer, in which case the tenants have the right to negotiate how the property will be managed by the new owner. This option can also stipulate renovations and rental increases for existing and future tenants, keeping the property cost-controlled, and may involve public assistance, non-profit involvement, or the creation of a public-private partnership.
Offer to release their rights to purchase the property to the existing owner for some consideration, effectively being bought out in exchange for not slowing the sale process. A key component in this arrangement is that some form of consideration must be given by the current ownership, which can become costly for the seller or new buyer when cash consideration is involved.
Opt to do nothing, and the sale proceeds just as we would see today. This option is most often seen with high-end and luxury developments in which new ownership intends to keep the property “as-is,” with no significant plans to renovate or reposition the property.
Under the D.C. law, a tenants’ association can easily tie up a deal for 285 days, or longer. The owner has 360 days in order to enter a sale contract; if not, the TOPA process starts over. This protracted period is necessary for the tenants’ association: they need time for research, analysis, and organization in order to decide what their course of action will be. However, this also creates major challenges for the seller. First, there is the financing issue; most lenders will not commit to a term sheet that they might have to hold for over nine months. Changes in market rates can cause a deal to fall apart while a property owner is negotiating with the tenants’ association. Second, it makes using a multifamily property as the upleg of a 1031 exchange nearly impossible, given that there needs to be compliance with the 180-day rule. As a result, tenants can leverage extraordinary power and money over property owners looking to sell.
So what effects do these laws have on the apartment market? Anecdotally, market participants will say that these laws drive down values. However, we found the two largest outcomes were that 1) deal volume reduced dramatically and 2) properties remained on the market for an extended period of time.
In order to isolate the effects of TOPA legislation, we aggregated the last five years of apartment sales in D.C. and compared that activity to the nearby Alexandria and Arlington, Virginia markets, which are not affected by TOPA laws. After controlling for market size, we found that transactions of apartment buildings and complexes (50+ units) were 25% to 30% lower in D.C. than in the Virginia markets, and properties in D.C. typically spent 50% to 55% more time on the market. Both of these factors lead to downward pressure on values. This makes multifamily buildings a less attractive investment type in a TOPA market, and lowers the real property tax base for municipalities.
TOPA rules exempt new construction as properties under construction do not have tenants. This creates a strange quirk in the market as new construction properties often sell 100% vacant before tenants are able to occupy units and trigger the TOPA process. These laws affect both pure merchant developers as well as groups that intend to retain ownership positions in their projects.
TOPA rules also prompt the question of what constitutes a sale. Up until the mid-2000s, owners could sell 95% – and some argued up to 99.99% – of their ownership and still avoid triggering the TOPA process based on the courts’ interpretations of what constituted a sale. Clearly, this went against the spirit of the Act, and has since been nixed by subsequent court decisions. However, the definition of a sale continues to be debated. A court case this summer asked whether a reallocation of ownership interests constituted a sale. The court ruled that a third party was necessary to define a sale and trigger the TOPA process. More importantly, the case demonstrates that TOPA legislation still provokes questions and challenges almost 40 years after its passage.
So why pursue such legislation? Again, the goal of the legislation is to give renters, particularly those that occupy NOAH, seniors, and disabled people, tools to maintain rents and remain in their homes. Generally, these populations are renters “by circumstance” as opposed to those who rent in the newer luxury developments “by choice.” People renting at top of the luxury market, say $3,000 for a two-bedroom unit in newer projects here in the Twin Cities, are generally not at risk of being displaced by new ownership. Additionally, TOPA legislation creates opportunities for those with more moderate means to purchase their apartment through the creation of a co-op. However, as much as the legislation can help empower renters, it can create substantial challenges in capital markets. As the data shows in the closest “apples to apples” comparison, available deal velocity and timing will be affected, particularly for larger investors. If TOPA legislation passes in Minneapolis, it will take years to fully measure its effects on housing and the real estate market.