Protecting Families and
Children from
Homelessness
Using Landlord/Tenant
Law to Prevent Evictions
The rights of families and youth living in rental housing in
Virginia
Christie
Marra
Staff Attorney in Housing, Family and
Child Welfare Law
Virginia Poverty Law Center
Richmond, Virginia
(804) 782-9430, x16
christie@vplc.org
Presenter Information

A tenant is anyone who pays rent to someone
else in exchange for lodging

Tenants can live in apartments, duplexes, single
family homes, manufactured homes/trailers or
individual rooms

Tenants can pay their rent by the week, month
or at some other interval the landlord and tenant
agree upon

People living in hotels or motels for more than 90
continuous days are tenants
Who is a tenant in Virginia?

The landlord can only enter at reasonable
times and with prior notice to the tenant
(at least 24 hours)

The tenant must allow the landlord to
enter, with proper notice, to inspect, make
necessary repairs, supply services, show
the unit to perspective purchasers,
tenants or workers
When can the landlord enter the
tenant’s home?

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A landlord cannot actually evict a tenant until he
has taken the tenant to court and obtained a writ
of possession
Use of “self-help” by landlords is unlawful in
Virginia BUT an owner of a hotel, motel or other
similar lodging can use self-help to evict guest
who has lived there less than 90 days (must
provide 5 days’ written notice to use self-help
eviction for nonpayment)
“Self-Help” occurs when the landlord locks the
tenant out, or cuts off a utility, in order to try to
evict the tenant without having to go to court
When can a landlord evict a
tenant?

A landlord can terminate the lease and
get an eviction order from the court if:
◦ The tenant doesn’t pay her rent when it’s due
◦ The tenant commits a material breach of the
lease
◦ A material breach can be a single serious lease
violation or repeated minor violations
◦ A criminal act that jeopardized the health and
safety of other tenants by a tenant or her
guest is grounds for lease termination
When can a landlord get a court
order to evict a tenant?

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Before the lease can be terminated, the
landlord must send the tenant a “five day pay
or quit” notice
If the tenant pays everything she owes on or
before the 5th day, the landlord can’t take her
to court
If she doesn’t pay by day 5 and the landlord
takes her to court, she can still avoid eviction
if she pays everything she owes (including
court costs and attorneys fees) by the court
date (“Redemption” is allowed once every 12
months)
What happens if the tenant pays
her rent before the court date?


If a tenant obtains a written promise from a
nonprofit or local government agency that
the agency will pay the rent, late fees and
any other amount sued for, the tenant can
bring the written promise (called a
“redemption tender”) to court and the case
will be continued for 10 days.
If the tenant does not make the promised
payment on or before the new court date,
the landlord will get immediate possession
of the tenant’s dwelling unit
What if a tenant can get the rent a
few days after the court date?

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There are two types of material breaches,
remediable and non-remediable. Very few
breaches are non-remediable.
Tenants who commit remediable breaches
are entitled to 21 days to remedy/fix the
problem that caused the breach (21/30
notice) if Virginia Residential Landlord Tenant
Act applies
VRLTA applies if housing is multifamily OR
landlord owns more than TWO single family
rental homes (as of 7/1/2014)
Repeat violations are not remediable
Are all material breaches grounds
for eviction of the tenant?

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If an act of family abuse is committed against
a tenant AND the abuser has been barred by
a preliminary or final protective order or by
the landlord based on family abuse, the
landlord cannot terminate the tenant’s lease
because of the abuse
Tenant must provide landlord with
documentation within 21 days of incident
Does not apply if abuser returns to premises
after the act of family abuse and tenant fails
to notify the landlord within 24 hours
What if the tenant is a DV victim
and her abuser causes the breach
by assaulting the tenant?
Written leases will state when they
terminate. Many will automatically renew
unless one party gives notice to the other
that they want the lease to end.
 If there’s no written lease, leases run
month-to-month, unless the rent is paid
weekly.
 Month to month leases require 30 days’
notice to terminate; week to week require
7 days’ notice.

When does a lease terminate?


A tenant with a final protective order for
family abuse or conviction of her abuser for
family abuse, sexual violence or sexual abuse
can terminate her lease with advance written
notice (30 DAYS BEFORE NEXT RENT IS DUE)
Tenant can terminate her lease when the
protective order (or extension) is in effect
AND can terminate a lease in effect when
the conviction order is entered and one
subsequent lease
Can a domestic violence survivor
end her lease early for safety?

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A security deposit is collected before move-in
and cannot be more than two months’ rent
Tenants have a right to do move-in and
move-out inspections with the landlord, and
the landlord must provide written inspection
reports to the tenant
The landlord has 45 days after the lease ends
and the tenant returns the key to return the
security deposit (minus lawful deductions) to
the tenant
Tenancy must be covered by VRLTA for above
When does a tenant get her
security deposit back?

Key Characteristics of Subsidized Housing
Programs:
◦ Conventional Public Housing: Owned and operated by
local Public Housing Authority
◦ Project Based Section 8: Owned by private for-profit or
non-profit LL; Certain number of units in building
reserved for Section 8 tenants
◦ Section 8 Housing Choice voucher: Tenants take their
Section 8 vouchers to private LL; vouchers pay all or part
of rent (Tenant share of rent = 30% of adjusted income)
◦ Section 202: Project based for elderly, low-income (less
than 50% area median income)
◦ Section 811: Project based (old) and subsidies (new) for
people with disabilities (<50% AMI)
How do advocates know which
subsidized housing clients have?

The Family Unification Program provides
Housing Choice (Section 8) vouchers to:
1. Families for whom lack of adequate
housing is likely to cause:
 Imminent placement of a child into foster care, or
 The delay of the return of a child from foster care
2. Youth between 18 and 21 who left foster care at
16 or older and lack adequate housing.
How does the Family Unification
Program fit in ?

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1. Family Unification Program vouchers are
grant funded through joint applications by
the local public housing authority and the
local child welfare agency. They are not
available everywhere.
2. Youth FUP vouchers are limited to 18
months. There are no time limits for family
FUP vouchers.
3. Youth must be provided IL services along
with the voucher.
What are the limits of FUP?

A family or youth lacks adequate housing
if they are:
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Living in substandard/dilapidated housing
Homeless
In imminent danger of losing their home
Displaced by domestic violence
Living in an overcrowded unit
Living in housing not accessible due to a
disability of a child or youth
What does it mean to “lack
adequate housing” for FUP ?

The following localities were awarded FUP
vouchers between FY2008 and FY2010:
◦
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Danville
Roanoke
Harrisonburg
Fairfax
Arlington
Prince William
AND: Alexandria and Albemarle (pre-2008)
Which Virginia localities have
been awarded FUP vouchers?

A tenant’s right to remain in subsidized
housing depends on the type of housing
she has:
◦ Conventional Public Housing: Tenant remains
in the housing unless she is evicted for good
cause.
◦ Section 8 voucher housing: The tenancy is
determined by the lease between the tenant
and the private landlord; however, the lease
cannot be terminated during the lease term
except for good cause.
How long can a tenant stay in
subsidized housing?
“Good cause” generally is a serious lease
violation (such as nonpayment of rent) or
repeated minor lease violations.
 Examples of good cause:

◦ Criminal activity
◦ Disturbance at the dwelling unit that disturbs
the other residents’ peaceful enjoyment
◦ Damage to the dwelling unit
◦ Nonpayment of rent
◦ Unauthorized household member
What is “good cause” to terminate
a tenant’s subsidized housing?
Domestic violence, stalking or sexual
assault cannot be treated as a lease
violation by the survivor
 Criminal activity related to domestic
violence or sexual assault cannot be used
to terminate the survivor’s lease or
subsidy
 PHA or private landlord receiving a
Section 8 voucher can bifurcate the lease
to remove the abuser

Are there exceptions to the “good
cause” rule for domestic violence?
PHA can require verification to be
provided within 14 days of request
 3 types of acceptable verification:

◦ Survivor’s statement on a HUD-approved form
◦ Statement from a qualified third party (such as
a domestic violence counselor)
◦ A police or court record
What is required to qualify for the
domestic violence exceptions?

Pre-termination proceeding for Public
Housing Tenants:
◦ Informal meeting
◦ Pre-eviction grievance hearing
◦ State Court proceeding

Pre-termination proceedings for Section 8
voucher tenants:
◦ Lease termination – State Court (AP=private LL)
◦ Voucher termination – Informal meeting (AP=PHA)
How can a tenant assert her rights
if the PHA isn’t following the law?
All residential tenants have the right to
file a Tenant’s Assertion in General District
Court to ask the court to order the LL to
make repairs, reduce the rent for the
period of time the repairs aren’t made
and/or terminate the lease
 In order to file a Tenant’s Assertion, the
tenant must first send landlord a written
request to make the repairs AND must be
current on his or her rent

What can a tenant do if a landlord
isn’t making needed repairs?

Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act:
◦ Federal Law
◦ Due to expire December 31, 2014
◦ “Immediate successor in interest” (including bank)
takes the foreclosed property subject to the rights
of the tenant
◦ Successor in interest (new owner) must provide
tenant at least 90 days notice to vacate the
premises
◦ Tenant must be allowed to stay until the end of the
lease UNLESS the property is sold to a purchaser
who will live their as his primary residence OR there
is no lease
What happens to tenants living in
properties that are foreclosed on?