LA County COPA: What the Proposal Could Mean for Apartment Building Sellers

A county vote that changes who gets the first look at an apartment building deserves more than a headline. We work with owners who are weighing selling an apartment building in Los Angeles, and the questions we expect are the practical ones: does it cover my building, how much time would it add, and what happens to my price? This guide separates what the county has decided from what it has not. It draws on the county motion itself, the county’s own 2023 consultant report, and San Francisco’s working program as the closest preview.

What Is the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA)?

A Community Opportunity to Purchase Act requires an owner to give qualified, mission-driven buyers a chance to buy before the property goes to the open market. “Qualified” usually means a vetted list of organizations such as community land trusts and nonprofit affordable housing developers. These laws work through two tools, both defined in the county’s 2023 report:

• Right of first offer (ROFO): the qualified buyer gets an exclusive window to make the first offer before the property is listed or an offer is accepted.
• Right of first refusal (ROFR): before the owner sells to a third party, the qualified buyer gets a chance to match that third party’s offer.

A COPA is the nonprofit-focused cousin of a Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA), which gives the same kinds of rights to tenants and tenant associations. The county’s report notes that Washington, D.C. adopted its TOPA in 1980 and San Francisco adopted its COPA in 2019.  The LA County motion describes the two as complementary: TOPA centers tenants, while COPA puts affordability and long-term stewardship in the hands of organizations that can buy when tenants cannot.

What the LA County Board of Supervisors Voted On

The vote on July 7, 2026 was a directive to draft, not an ordinance. The revised motion by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Holly Mitchell tells county staff to do four things:

• Return with a recommended COPA ordinance in 180 days. The Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA) leads, working with County Counsel, the Los Angeles County Development Authority, the Assessor, and stakeholders that include property associations and landlords. The motion calls for a phased approach, with a possible tenant program later.
• Deliver a written reassessment of the 2023 TOPA report in 120 days. At minimum, it must cover sales of properties with five or more units, mobile home parks, options for a right of first offer and right of first refusal, and options for determining fair market offers.
• Design the machinery. That means a registration platform for covered properties, notices from the county to owners and from owners to the county, a process to certify qualified mission-driven purchasers, and enforcement procedures.
• Identify funding. The county’s Chief Executive Office is to report back in 180 days on funding sources.

Counting from the July 7 vote, the 120-day and 180-day marks land in about early November 2026 and about early January 2027. As of early October 2026, we could not find a published draft ordinance in the county records and news coverage we reviewed. Two details from the hearing matter for sellers. According to LAist, county officials said owners would not be required to sell to these groups if they can get a better offer on the open market. And Supervisor Mitchell asked staff to consider rules that let listings reach the open market at the same time qualified organizations can make an offer. She described the goal as “creating a fair and transparent process,” per LAist. Neither point is written into an ordinance yet.

Which Apartment Buildings Would COPA Cover?

Only buildings in unincorporated Los Angeles County, and only larger ones. LAist reported that the rules would apply to buildings with five or more units in unincorporated areas such as East LA, City Terrace and Altadena. The motion also includes mobile home parks and cites county data showing 86 of them with 9,041 spaces in the unincorporated area. The county’s 2023 report gives a sense of scale. Its parcel data counted 1,626 properties with five or more units in the unincorporated area. At an assumed 2% to 8% annual sales rate, it estimated roughly 33 to 130 such sales a year, which lines up with the 30 to 130 listings LAist reported. The report also found, using 2021 census estimates, that about 31,000 renter households, or 29 percent, live in buildings of five or more units. What is not covered matters just as much:

• The City of Los Angeles. If your building is in the city, including the neighborhoods we cover as a Northeast LA multifamily broker, this proposal does not reach it. A “Los Angeles” mailing address does not tell you whether a parcel is inside city limits, so confirm yours.
• Other incorporated cities. They set their own rules.
• City-only rules you may be thinking of. The Measure ULA transfer tax is a City of Los Angeles measure, and COPA would be a separate, county-level process.

Owners in unincorporated areas already operate under the county’s own rent stabilization ordinance, which we cover in our city-by-city rent control guide.

How COPA Works in San Francisco: The Closest Preview

San Francisco’s COPA has been in effect since September 3, 2019, and was amended in November 2020, according to the city’s program FAQ. It is the only working California version we can point to, and the county’s 2023 report studied it. It is a preview, not a forecast: the LA County ordinance has not been written. The table below keeps the three sets of rules apart.

	San Francisco COPA (in effect)	LA County motion (July 2026)	County’s 2023 consultant framework (not adopted)
Covers	Buildings with 3 or more residential units, plus lots that could hold 3 or more	Residential sales of 5 or more units and mobile home parks, in unincorporated areas	5 or more units and mobile home parks for qualified organizations; 2 to 4 units for tenants
Who gets the rights	Nonprofits on a city-maintained qualified list	Certified “qualified mission-driven purchasers”; ROFO and ROFR options to be explored	Tenant organizations first, certified organizations second
Time to express interest	5 calendar days	Not decided	Up to 30 days (60 for mobile home parks)
Time to make an offer	25 calendar days after the seller’s tenant disclosure	Not decided	Up to 25 days
Right of first refusal	30 days to exercise on a third-party offer	Not decided	Up to 7 additional days
Closing or financing time	60 days if a nonprofit’s offer is accepted	Not decided	90 to 120 days
Affordability after purchase	Rent-restricted in perpetuity	Purchasers certified to preserve affordability	Rent limits at 30% of 80% of area median income for larger properties
Enforcement	Civil actions by nonprofits; civil penalties for knowing or willful violations	Enforcement procedures to be developed	Not specified

Sources for the table: the SF program FAQ, the county motion, and the 2023 DCBA report. A few mechanics from the San Francisco program are worth knowing, because they show how a notice-first law behaves in a real sale:

• Notice comes before marketing. A seller must send a notice of sale to every nonprofit on the list before listing or otherwise selling. The notice states the intent to sell, the unit count, each unit’s address, and each unit’s rent. A list price is not required.
• Changes restart the clock. If sale terms change, including the list or sales price, the seller must send an updated notice to interested nonprofits. A building still unsold after a year needs a fresh notice.
• Unsolicited offers are covered. A seller may accept one only on the condition that no nonprofit exercises its right of first refusal.
• Matching means matching. A nonprofit matching a third-party offer must meet the same terms, including the identical price and the buyer’s broker commission.
• A nonprofit can be turned down. San Francisco’s program rules let a seller reject a nonprofit’s offer, although a nonprofit can still match a later third-party offer.
• Estates are not fully exempt. Transfers to heirs are excluded, but probate sales to third parties are covered.
• The paperwork follows the sale. A seller must file a signed declaration within 15 days of closing.

What COPA Could Mean for Selling an Apartment Building in LA County

If LA County follows a model like San Francisco’s, a sale in a covered area would gain a step before marketing and a possible match right after you accept an offer. We cannot say how much time that adds, because the county has not set the clocks. Here is how the pieces could touch a sale.

Timing

A notice window sits ahead of the listing date, and any right of first refusal sits between accepted offer and closing. Buyers may account for that in their offers. How much it matters depends on the final clocks.

Pricing

The motion tells staff to explore how “fair market offers” are determined. Until that is defined, we would not guess at pricing effects. In San Francisco, price changes trigger a new notice, so a price reduction mid-listing is a process event, not just a marketing decision.

Marketing and confidentiality 

A rent roll with tenant details is part of what San Francisco requires sellers to share with an interested nonprofit. Owners who prefer a quiet, off-market sale should know San Francisco treats unsolicited offers as covered. Whether an LA County ordinance would do the same is an open question.

Tenants 

COPA changes who buys, not what tenants are owed. Existing tenancies and protections continue with the building, as we explain in our guide to selling a tenant-occupied apartment building.

Buyer pool 

A COPA step adds another buyer profile to plan around. Narrowing a sale to the right buyers is how our 10-unit sale at 9025 Mills Avenue came together, and the same discipline would apply with one more party in the mix.

1031 exchanges 

The IRS clock starts when you transfer the property you sold. Per the IRS instructions for Form 8824, replacement property must be identified within 45 days and received within 180 days, or by your tax return due date if earlier. A COPA notice would come before closing, so in our read it would not shorten those deadlines, but it could shift the date they begin. If you are planning a 1031 exchange in Los Angeles, build that uncertainty into your replacement timeline.

Supporters and Critics: Where the Debate Stands

The vote was unanimous, but the public comment was not. The two sides are making different arguments, and both deserve a fair hearing.

What supporters say

Supervisor Solis framed the proposal around displacement, saying rents are outpacing incomes, and pointed to data showing more than half of LA County renters are rent-burdened. Brenda Tafoya of the El Sereno Community Land Trust told the Board that organizations like hers already work within the real estate market and can make market-rate offers. Funding could come from Measure A sales tax revenue, according to Supervisor Mitchell.

What critics say

The California Apartment Association argues that the policy would interfere with open-market sales, add complexity, and create barriers to housing investment, as it said in its action alert. Elizabeth de Carteret of the Southland Regional Association of Realtors told the Board it adds a layer of regulation and taxpayer expense without creating new housing units. The Valley Industry and Commerce Association’s letter to the Board argued that COPA programs can delay transactions, create uncertainty for owners, and increase compliance costs.

What the record shows so far

Two points help calibrate both arguments. The motion’s own figure on corporate ownership, that corporations and trusts owned about 47 percent of rental properties in the City of Los Angeles as of 2018, comes from the city, and the motion acknowledges that data for unincorporated areas is limited.  And on Washington, D.C.’s long-running TOPA, LAist reported that a 2023 study found tenants form associations that negotiate with buyers in about half of buildings coming up for sale, while the same study found tenant-sponsored cooperatives were the outcome in only about 2 percent of sales. Those results come from a tenant program in a different market, so they inform the debate without settling it. “We don’t know yet what the final ordinance will require. We do know it is being written now, so this is the right time for owners in unincorporated areas to understand their options.” – Max Berger, Multifamily Broker at Compass

What Unincorporated LA County Owners Can Do Now

Nothing in the motion changes your obligations today. These steps keep you ready without acting on a headline.

1. Confirm your building’s jurisdiction and unit count. COPA, as described, would apply only to unincorporated areas and buildings of five or more units.
2. Mark the two report-backs. Watch for the 120-day written reassessment (about early November 2026) and the 180-day draft ordinance (about early January 2027), followed by a Board vote.
3. Use the comment window. The motion directs DCBA to engage landlords and property associations while it drafts. Notice timelines and pricing mechanics are the details owners can still influence.
4. Stress-test your sale timeline. If you are considering a sale, ask your broker and attorney how an added notice step would fit, especially for estate and trust sales or a 1031 exchange.
5. Keep your records current. San Francisco’s process requires a rent roll, lease status, and annual expenses to be shared with interested nonprofits. Clean records shorten any process like it.
6. Decide on the economics, not the headline. Our guide on when to sell an apartment complex walks through how to weigh timing for your building, and you can browse our current listings to see how active buildings are priced.

Talk Through Your Options Before the Rules Are Written

An ordinance that is still being drafted is the best time to understand your options, not the worst. Max Berger is a Compass multifamily broker who has spent more than a decade advising Los Angeles apartment owners, with 75+ transactions and over $300M in sales across Northeast LA, Hollywood, and South LA. If you own apartment buildings in or near unincorporated Los Angeles County, Max can look at your building, confirm whether the proposal could reach it, and compare selling, holding, and exchanging on your numbers. Book a call with Max.

Sources

• LA County revised motion, Advancing a Community Opportunity to Purchase Act Program for Unincorporated Los Angeles County (July 7, 2026)
• https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/los-angeles-county-board-supervisors-community-opportunity-to-purchase-act-vote-apartment-building-sales-renters-landlords
• California Apartment Association, L.A. County could add new barriers to property sales under COPA proposal (June 22, 2026)
• LA County DCBA, Final Report on Developing Recommendations for a Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (May 22, 2023)
• San Francisco MOHCD, Community Opportunity to Purchase Act
• San Francisco MOHCD, COPA Frequently Asked Questions
• San Francisco MOHCD, COPA Program Rules (September 3, 2019)
• IRS, Instructions for Form 8824, Like-Kind Exchanges
• Valley Industry and Commerce Association, letter to the LA County Board of Supervisors