For career landlords, you may find yourself evicting a tenant from your rental property.
After all, what other options would you have if a tenant violates a term of the rental agreement or lease, such as refusing to pay the rent due after repeated inquiries and reminders?
Violations of the lease, however, don’t mean you can just lock out the renter or shut off the tenant’s utilities. You must continue abiding by the Virginia landlord tenant law till the end of the whole eviction process.
The following is the eviction process you must follow for a successful tenant eviction.
What is the Virginia Eviction Process?
The successful eviction of a tenant from their rented premises requires strict compliance with the rental laws and security deposit laws.
Any mistakes, whether intentional or otherwise, or even procedural, are bound to reduce your efforts to rubble.
Here are the steps you must take for the swift and successful eviction of a tenant in Virginia:
Just Cause
You must have a just cause to even begin an eviction process against a tenant. A just cause is simply a legitimate reason for eviction. In Virginia, legitimate reasons for eviction include the following:
Tenant fails to pay rent after it became due.
Tenant fails to move out after their lease expired.
Violation of a lease term.
Engaging in an illegal activity while at the premises.
Once you have any of these reasons, you’d be legally justified under state law to begin the eviction against the tenant.
This means that the General District Court has received a filing for an eviction, known as a summons of unlawful detainer, and then the court process is legally underway.
Legally, Virginia landlords must first file for a summons of unlawful detainer, which means your property is being illegally occupied and you are seeking repossession.
After a judge rules to approve the summons of unlawful detainer, you will then file for a writ of possession. The writ of possession means that you are aiming to reclaim your property.
If you fail to follow the proper legal procedures, the eviction could be considered harassment and you could be liable to certain civil and punitive damages.
Eviction Notice
To move on with the eviction, tenants must be served with a written notice of the eviction reasons. The type of notice to the tenant must be appropriate for the just cause.
The following are the types of notices a landlord can use to evict a tenant under the Virginia Landlord Tenant Act:
5-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit
A 5-day notice to pay or quit is what you need for a tenant's failure to pay rent. You can serve the 5-day notice to pay or quit the day rent becomes late, which is usually a day after the due date.
Virginia law doesn’t require landlords to provide renters with a grace period. If the lease or rental agreement provides it, make sure to follow it.
For instance, if it gives tenants a grace period of 5 days, then you must wait until the 6th day to serve the written notice.
You, as the landlord, must then wait for another 5 days for the tenant to either pay the rent due or move out. If the tenant doesn’t, you could move to court and file an eviction lawsuit.
30-Day Notice to Quit for Tenants with No Lease Agreement
A tenant without a lease agreement lives at the will of the landlord. That’s why such tenants are referred to as “tenants at will.” As a Virginia residential landlord, you could evict them at any point during their tenancy.
The written notice would give the tenant up to 30 days to move out of the rental unit. If at the end of the 30 days the tenant doesn’t move out, you could take up the matter with the court for resolution.
30-Day Notice to Cure or Vacate for Minor Lease Violations
This written notice applies to tenants who commit minor lease violations. Examples include not ensuring the rental unit is clean or sanitary, an unauthorized pet, and not reporting issues on time.
The tenant will have 21 days to fix the issues or else move out at the end of the 30 days. For tenants who repeat the same violation within 30 days, you wouldn’t need to allow them to fix the violation.
You could just go ahead and serve them the 30-day eviction notice.
An example of an incurable violation is willful property damage, property alteration, or repeat of minor violations.
For tenants who engage in illegal drug activity, a criminal or willful act, or is guitly of a lease violation, no notice is mandated. You could just go ahead and ask them to leave immediately for immediate possession. If the tenant fails to do so, the courts would be your next course of action.
Please note that the Virginia landlord must serve the written notices in a legally-ordered manner.
Options include hand delivery to the tenant, hand delivery to an occupant of at least 16 years old (in the tenant’s absence), having the sheriff's office or a process server deliver it, or posting it on the front door.
The last option would also require you to mail another copy to the tenant by first-class mail.
Court Hearing
After filing an eviction lawsuit in court, a court date hearing will usually be scheduled no later than between 21 and 30 days later.
If the tenant appears for the hearing, they may try to fight or stop their eviction by providing the following legal defenses in court.
The process was flawed.
The tenant cured the violation. For example, they paid rent within the notice period
The Virginia eviction was based on a class protected by the Fair Housing Act.
The tenant withheld the rent because the landlord failed to keep the rental unit habitable.
The eviction notice was improperly served by the landlord, such as an incorrect address or a mistake in the date and time of the notice.
Writ of Eviction
If the court ruling is in your favor, and you have been granted possession of the rental property, you, as the landlord, must file a writ of eviction with the court.
After this has been filed with the court, this will authorize the forceful eviction of the tenant by the sheriff's office if the tenant is still adamant about staying on the property.
The sheriff's office then has between 15 and 30 days after receiving the writ of execution to serve it to the tenant. This is a court order that informs the tenant of the eviction date.
After successfully serving it to the tenant, the tenant will then have 72 hours to move out or else be forcefully evicted from the property. After the scheduled eviction, you must allow the tenant a 24-hour period of reasonable access so that the tenant's property left behind can be collected.
Conclusion
Now you’re familiar with what you must do when trying to evict a tenant from your Virginia rental property, from the proper notices, to court hearings!
If unsure of what to do at any point, or the entire process seems arduous, hiring an expert would be ideal. That's where Abrams Realty comes in!
At Abrams Realty, we are synonymous with reliability and consistency when it comes to offering quality property management services.
From rental marketing, tenant screening, repairs and maintenance, and legal compliance issues, our expert property managers have got you covered. Get in touch to learn more!
Disclaimer: Please note that the information provided in this blog is intended for general guidance and should not be considered as a replacement for professional legal advice. It is important to be aware that laws pertaining to property management may change, rendering this information outdated by the time you read it.
