Section 1639

Citation: Section 1639
Parent Document: Tippett v. Daly, 10 A.3d 1123 (2010)
Jurisdiction: DC (municipal)
Effective Date: 2010-12-30
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2551230/tippett-v-daly/ ↗

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I cannot agree with the court's conclusion that in order to protect a tenant's right to purchase under the District of Columbia Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act ("TOPA"), a tenant's expression of interest in purchasing the property must be received by the owner within the thirty-day period prescribed in the statute, rather than sent by the tenant during that time. The inevitable result of the majority's conclusion is that a tenant who elects to mail the expression of interest by first-class mailas is permittedwill necessarily have less than the full thirty days allowed by the statute, which says that "the tenant shall have thirty days to provide the owner and the Mayor ... with a statement of interest." D.C.Code § 42-3404.09(1) (2001) (emphasis added). If the tenant must assure that the owner receives the mailed notice within the thirty-day period, however, the tenant will not have had the full period to consider and respond to the offer, but must make allowance for the time it takes for the mail to be delivered. How much time must be allowed is not within the control of the tenant. In this case, for example, the difference between "send" and "receipt" means that the tenant lostby two daysthe right created by TOPA to purchase the home in which he had lived as a tenant for over thirty years. That result is contrary to TOPA's purpose and the intent of the Council that TOPA be interpreted to favor tenants' rights.

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