21st Century ROAD to Housing Act Becomes Law

Procedural Overview

On June 22, 2026, the Senate passed the final versionS.2651 of the ROAD to Housing Act (the Act) 85-5, and, on the following day, the House passed the final version of the ActH.R. 6644 358-32. While President Trump did not sign the Act into law, he also failed to timely veto the Act, and so, as of July 11, 2026, the Act was enacted into law and will take effect on January 7, 2027 (as set forth in the Act). 

The Act includes sweeping restrictions on institutional investor involvement in the single-family home market, as laid out in Title X, Section 1001 of the Act (“Homes are for people, not corporations”). 

The Act was co-sponsored by Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). For details on the bill that advanced through the Senate, see this Client Alert.

Overview of the Act

Core Prohibition

Title X of the Act prohibits large institutional investors from purchasing any single-family home, defined as a structure containing two or fewer dwelling units intended for residential occupancy by a single household (expressly excluding manufactured homes), unless such purchase qualifies for a statutory exemption. 

Definition of “Purchase”

The term “purchase” is defined broadly to include any purchase, transfer, or other acquisition of a single-family home, including through mergers, acquisitions, construction, foreclosures, or bulk purchases, whether or not for cash consideration.

Definition of “Large Institutional Investor”

“Large institutional investor” refers to any for-profit entity engaged in investing in, owning, renting, managing, or holding single-family homes, that alone or together with other entities has direct or indirect investment control over 350 or more single-family homes in the aggregate. The 350-house threshold excludes homes purchased under a statutory exception. 

Definition of “Investment Control”

The Act defines “investment control” broadly to include entities that: (i) own the home or have primary investment or management decision-making authority; (ii) directly or indirectly control the owning entity (e.g., general partner, managing member, investment manager, or advisor); or (iii) directly or indirectly own or control more than 25% of the equity class of any entity that owns the single-family home (unless such entity is a passive investor). Notably, “investment control” does not include ownership or control of debt investments and “single family home” excludes manufactured homes, homes of three or more dwelling units, and land.

Definition of an “Excepted Purchase”

The Act includes a list of “excepted purchases” — or purchases that are exempted from the general prohibition on purchases. 

An “excepted purchase” means any purchase of a single-family home that is:

• Newly constructed, renovated, or rental conversion homes: Newly constructed, renovated, or a rental conversion for sale by a large institutional investor and not as a residence rented pending sale. 
• Newly constructed build-to-rent programs: Pursuant to a build-to-rent program whereby the large institutional investor purchases, constructs, or constructs and retains newly constructed single-family homes to be managed as rental properties, whether as communities exclusively of renter-occupied single-family homes or as communities of single-family homes that are both owner- and renter-occupied.
• Renovate-to-rent programs: Pursuant to a renovate-to-rent program that (i) substantially rehabilitates single-family homes that do not meet structural or core system elements of local building codes, and (ii) makes improvements in an aggregate dollar amount of not less than 15% of the purchase price of the single-family home. 
• Homeownership programs: Pursuant to a homeownership program that, among other things, is a consumer credit transaction secured by a dwelling or real property.
• Programs to boost homeownership: Pursuant to a program to boost homeownership that, among other things, provides for the right of first refusal, a 30-day ‘‘first look’’ period, and positive credit reporting. 
• Debt satisfaction: In connection with the satisfaction of debts previously contracted in good faith and where the large institutional investor has the right to repossess the single-family home under such contract.
• Foreclosure transactions: Undertaken by a mortgage servicer, lender, or other entity that, among other things, has a legal right to a single-family home, for the purpose of loss mitigation or compliance with servicing or investor obligations, and not as a long-term investment strategy.
• Purchases from other large institutional investors: Purchased from another large institutional investor that either owned the single-family home on the Act’s date of enactment or purchased the single-family home in compliance with Title X.
• Transition period: Purchased from an investor not covered under this section, so long as the purchase occurred not more than two years after the Act’s effective date. 
• Senior housing: Newly constructed, renovated, or a rental conversion of housing for households with one or more members age 55 or older among other criteria.
• Aggregations: Purchased through a single purchase or combination or a series of purchases described in subparagraphs (A) through (J).

Notice Obligations

Each large institutional investor must, among other things, (i) provide each renter of a residential property owned by such large institutional investor at the time such renter first occupies the applicable residential property (and on an annual basis thereafter) information related to renter outreach resources and renter dispute forums, and (ii) prominently feature such renter outreach resources on a public website of the large institutional investor that is accessible by any such renters.

Additionally, each large institutional investor must confirm with the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) within 180 days after the Act’s enactment, and on an annual basis thereafter no later than December 31 of each year: 

• that such large institutional investor is in fact a large institutional investor under the Act, and 
• the number of single-family homes controlled by such large institutional investor, and the city and state in which all such single-family homes are located (unless it owns no more than 10 single-family homes in the applicable city).

Enforcement

Violations of the prohibition on purchases carry significant civil penalties: up to $1 million per violation or three times the purchase price of the property involved, whichever is greater enforced by the Secretary of the Treasury or, at the Secretary of the Treasury’s request, by the Attorney General. This civil penalty is tied expressly to violations of the purchase prohibition; the Act does not expressly extend it to failure to comply with the separate renter notice or annual HUD notification obligations described above. 

Regulatory Authority and Limitations

The Act authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to issue implementing regulations. Additional limitations — including an express ban on regulations that would amend the statutory definitions, narrow excepted purchases, expand the class of large institutional investors, or alter the 350-home threshold — confirm that the core restrictions are unlikely to be softened, or clarified, through regulation.

Sunset Provision

The requirements and prohibitions under Title X will take effect 180 days after the Act’s enactment and will be repealed 15 years after the effective date. The renter outreach resource, investor notice obligations, and annual HUD notification requirements are not subject to this 15-year sunset, and, as enacted, will remain in effect indefinitely absent future congressional action.

Key Update

With respect to an earlier version of the Act, Congress removed the seven-year disposition requirement in connection with a large institutional investor’s acquisition of single-family homes pursuant to certain excepted purchases.