Virginia Amends Provisions Relating to Foreclosure under Landlord and Tenant Law

The state of Virginia recently enacted House Bill 857, pertaining to Landlord and Tenant Law.  Some of the provisions are included in order to conform general landlord and tenant provisions to the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.  Those provisions relate to the following items, among others: (1) landlords’ rights to effectuate evictions through self-help evictions without further legal processes so long as the tenant’s right of possession has been terminated in a commercial or other nonresidential tenancy and the self-help eviction does not incite a breach of the peace; (2) tenants’ obligations to maintain dwelling units; (3) damages or other rights to which tenants are entitled for a landlord’s wrongful failure to supply heat, running water, hot water, or other essential services; (4) prohibited provisions in rental agreements; and (5) remedies for a landlord’s failure to deliver possession.

House Bill 857 also introduces new provisions that change Virginia’s existing landlord and tenant law.  Those changes include a clarification on the lease termination process, a provision allowing landlords to purchase renter’s insurance on a tenant’s behalf and at the tenant’s expense if the tenant allows a renter’s insurance policy required by rental agreement to lapse, and an explanation of the remedies that are available to landlords in the event of a tenant’s failure to prepare the dwelling unit for insecticide or pesticide applications, among others.

House Bill 857 takes effect on July 1, 2018.

More information regarding Virginia House Bill 857 can be found here.