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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The statutory language dispensing with use of the word "receipt" in favor of "provide" when speaking of the tenant's expression of interest to purchase, when coupled with the statutory mandate to interpret any ambiguity in TOPA's use of the word "provide" in favor of "strengthening the legal rights of tenants," D.C.Code § 42-3405.11, should be more than sufficient to establish that the Council intended the word "provide" to mean "sent." But the Council has taken a further step to remove all doubt that the court's contrary conclusion is mistaken. Promptly after the division opinion interpreting the statutory language "tenant shall have thirty days to provide" to mean "owner must receive within thirty days" was issued on February 5, 2009, see 964 A.2d 606, the Council took action to tell the court that it had misinterpreted TOPA. By March 3, 2009, an emergency bill (D.C. Bill 18-170) and a temporary bill (D.C. Bill 18-171) were introduced with a Resolution "[t]o declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to clarify ... that actual receipt of the letter by the housing provider or the Mayor within the relevant time frame is not required." See Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Preservation Clarification Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2009, 56 D.C.Reg. 2120 (Mar. 3, 2009). Criticizing the division opinion by referring to "District *1138 law [that] requires that the court interpret any ambiguities in the act" in favor of tenants, the Resolution "clarif[ies] the Council's intent that tenants have the full thirty days provided by law to express an interest in purchasing their unit following an offer of sale from the landlord." Id. The Resolution, which took effect "immediately," was adopted unanimously. Id. at 2121. After two other emergency and temporary bills, the legislative "clarification" was enacted on May 19, 2010, and became effective as permanent legislation on July 23, 2010. See Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Preservation and Clarification Amendment Act of 2010, 57 D.C.Reg. 4510 (May 19, 2010).[4] Now comes the court, several months after the Council's clarifying amendment has been adopted as permanent legislation, to declare that the Council actually intended the opposite of what it has so emphatically and consistently expressed.

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