Outline of the eviction process in Virginia

Virginia evictions are unlawful detainer actions filed in the General District Court, governed by the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (Va. Code Title 55.1, Chapter 12). The Act has been amended repeatedly, including again in the 2025 and 2026 General Assembly sessions. The rule landlords get wrong most often is the nonpayment notice: Virginia requires 14 days' written notice before you may terminate for nonpayment of rent (§ 55.1-1245(F)). Until July 1, 2026 the period was five days, so older forms and older guides are wrong. Serving too short a notice, or one that does not match your ledger, is the most common reason a case gets dismissed at the first return date.

1. Grounds for eviction in Virginia

• Nonpayment of rent (§ 55.1-1245(F)).
• Material noncompliance with the lease that can be remedied (§ 55.1-1245(A)).
• Non-remediable breaches and repeat violations, and criminal or willful acts that threaten health or safety, which can shorten or eliminate the cure period (§ 55.1-1245).
• Termination of a periodic tenancy: at least 30 days' written notice before the next rent due date for a month-to-month tenancy, at least seven days for a week-to-week tenancy (§ 55.1-1253).
• Holding over after a fixed-term lease ends without renewal.

Virginia has no statewide just-cause requirement and no rent control. Retaliation against a tenant for a good-faith complaint is a recognized defense under the Act, and source-of-income (including housing-voucher) discrimination is prohibited under the Virginia Fair Housing Law. Confirm the current text of any retaliation or source-of-income provision before relying on it in a specific case, since these sections are amended from session to session.

2. Notices

• Nonpayment: 14-day pay-or-quit. Written notice that the tenant has 14 days to pay the full amount owed or the lease terminates (§ 55.1-1245(F)). Section 55.1-1245 was amended again by the 2025 and 2026 General Assemblies; confirm you are working from the current statutory text and current form language before relying on the exact wording required in the notice, since requirements such as an itemized statement of charges have been added and adjusted in recent sessions.
• Lease violations: 30-day notice with 21 days to cure. Describe the breach and state that the rental agreement terminates on a date not less than 30 days after the tenant receives the notice unless the breach is remedied within 21 days (§ 55.1-1245(A)). A repeat of the same breach, or a breach the statute treats as non-remediable, can shorten this.
• Ending a periodic tenancy: 30 days' written notice for month-to-month, seven days for week-to-week, before the next rent due date (§ 55.1-1253).
• Federally covered properties: add the CARES Act 30-day notice for nonpayment where the property is federally backed or receives federal rental assistance; this federal overlay can extend the effective notice period beyond what state law alone requires.

Notices must be served in a way that satisfies the Act's delivery rules; hand delivery or mailing with proof of mailing are the safest methods. Do not rely on posting alone to start a notice period unless you have confirmed that method is valid for the specific notice you are serving, since Virginia does not treat every posting method as sufficient for every notice.

3. Filing the unlawful detainer

File a Summons for Unlawful Detainer in the General District Court for the city or county where the property sits. Filing and service fees vary by court and are set by statute and local schedule; confirm the current total with the clerk rather than relying on a fixed dollar figure. You can generally seek possession, unpaid rent, late charges and damages in the same summons, and attorney's fees if the lease provides for them. The sheriff or another authorized process server serves the summons. The court sets a first return date; the summons must be served at least 10 days before that return date, and the initial hearing must be held as soon as practicable but not more than 21 days after filing, or if that is not possible, no later than 30 days after filing (§ 8.01-126(B)).

4. The first return date and the right of redemption

On the return date the judge calls the docket. If the tenant does not appear, judgment can enter by default. If the tenant appears and contests the case, it is set for a trial date.

Right of redemption. In a nonpayment case, a tenant may pay, or present a redemption tender for, all rent due and owing as of the return date, including late charges, attorney's fees and court costs, at or before the first return date (§ 55.1-1250). If the tenant presents a redemption tender at the return date, the court continues the case for ten days for the payment to reach the landlord. Separately, a tenant (or someone paying on the tenant's behalf) may pay everything claimed, including sheriff fees for the writ if it has already issued, no less than 48 hours before the scheduled eviction, which stops it. A landlord who owns four or fewer rental units, or has an interest of 10 percent or less in four or fewer units, may limit a tenant's use of redemption to once per lease period if the landlord gives written notice of that limit; landlords above that size do not have this statutory limit, so a tenant may redeem more than once.

Eviction Diversion Program. Virginia has an Eviction Diversion Program under which a qualifying tenant in a nonpayment case can enter a court-supervised payment plan instead of being evicted; completing the plan can lead to dismissal, and a missed payment can lead to an order of possession. Any general district court may now run the program (§ 55.1-1260). A tenant qualifies only by appearing at the first docket call, paying the landlord or the court at least 10 percent of the amount due as amended at that hearing, testifying under oath about the ability to pay and the reason for the arrears, and not having defaulted on a payment plan or used the program in the last 12 months (§ 55.1-1262). Confirm with the court that it currently participates.

5. Trial and judgment

Trials in General District Court are before a judge, without a jury, and are typically short. Bring the lease, a ledger that matches the amount and dates stated in your notice, the notice with proof of how and when it was delivered, photographs for breach cases, and proof of your authority to act for the owner. Common defenses are a defective or premature notice, a ledger that does not match the notice, acceptance of rent after the notice without a written reservation of rights (the Act allows acceptance "with reservation" if you give the required written non-waiver notice, § 55.1-1250), retaliation, and a tenant's assertion of a repair-and-deduct or conditions defense, which generally requires the tenant to have paid disputed rent into the court. Judgment for possession and for money typically enters at trial if the landlord prevails and the case is uncontested on the merits.

6. Appeal, writ of eviction and the sheriff

Either side must note an appeal of a General District Court unlawful detainer judgment to the circuit court within 10 days, and the bond must be posted and the writ tax paid within the same 10 days (§ 8.01-129(A)). In a residential case the tenant’s appeal bond is payment into the general district court of the outstanding rent, late charges, attorney fees and other amounts due; if it is not paid, the appeal is not perfected. During the appeal the tenant must keep paying rent as it comes due, and a missed payment lets the circuit court enter judgment for possession without a further hearing. An indigent tenant is not required to post the appeal bond (§ 16.1-107).

Once the judgment is final, the landlord requests a Writ of Eviction from the clerk. The writ must be issued within 180 days of the judgment for possession and is returnable within 30 days; a writ not executed within 30 days of issuance is vacated as a matter of law (§ 8.01-471). The sheriff must serve the tenant with notice of the date and time of the eviction at least 72 hours in advance, and should carry it out within 15 calendar days of receiving the writ, or as soon as practicable, but no later than 30 days after it was issued (§ 8.01-470). On the eviction date, the sheriff's deputy supervises the removal; the landlord changes the locks. Property left behind is placed in the public way or, at the landlord’s request, in storage, and the tenant has 24 hours after the eviction to remove it before the landlord may dispose of it (§ 55.1-1255).

Self-help evictions, including changing locks or shutting off utilities without going through this court process, are unlawful under the Act. The tenant can recover actual damages, statutory damages of $5,000 or four months’ rent, whichever is greater, and reasonable attorney fees, and the court can restore the tenant to the unit (§ 55.1-1243.1).

Typical timeline

Step	Typical time
Nonpayment pay-or-quit notice	14 days
Filing to first return date	Hearing within 21 days of filing, 30 at most; summons served at least 10 days before (§ 8.01-126)
Trial, if contested	Additional weeks, set by the court
Appeal period	10 days to note the appeal and post the bond (§ 8.01-129)
Writ of eviction and sheriff notice	Writ issued within 180 days of judgment and executed within 30 days of issuance; at least 72 hours’ notice (§§ 8.01-470, 8.01-471)

An uncontested nonpayment case commonly takes roughly six to ten weeks from notice to a completed eviction, and longer in busier courts or where a diversion plan or an appeal is involved. Treat any specific number of weeks as an estimate, not a guarantee.

Recent law changes landlords should know

• Section 55.1-1245 amended again in 2025 and 2026. The nonpayment and lease-violation notice section has been amended by multiple Acts of Assembly in both the 2025 and 2026 sessions. The most important change: HB 15 (2026 Acts of Assembly, ch. 353), effective July 1, 2026, lengthened the nonpayment notice from 5 days to 14 days. A five-day pay-or-quit notice served on or after that date does not support an unlawful detainer. Confirm the current notice content requirements directly against the statute before using an older template.
• Payment plan requirement for larger landlords, effective July 1, 2027. Under § 55.1-1245(G), a landlord who owns more than four rental dwelling units (or more than a 10 percent interest in more than four units) will be required to offer a written payment plan before terminating for nonpayment where the arrears are no more than one month's rent, with the balance paid in equal monthly installments over the lesser of six months or the time remaining on the lease. This is not yet in force; build it into your process ahead of the effective date.
• Eviction Diversion Program (2025, cc. 476, 490). Any general district court may now run the program; the tenant must pay at least 10 percent of the amount due at the first docket call (§§ 55.1-1260, 55.1-1262).
• Retaliation statute rewritten, effective January 1, 2027 (2026, c. 1111). The new § 55.1-1258 also protects a tenant who complains to a news outlet or files a fair housing complaint or action, and bars refusing to renew a tenancy because the tenant receives Housing Choice Voucher or other rental assistance.

What actually goes wrong

• Serving a nonpayment notice for less than 14 days, or with a demand amount that does not match the ledger produced at trial.
• Relying on posting alone to serve a notice without confirming that method is valid for that specific notice.
• Accepting rent after serving a notice without giving the required written non-waiver notice, which can undercut the case.
• Missing the 10-day appeal window, or failing to post the required bond and keep paying rent during an appeal (§§ 8.01-129, 16.1-107).
• Requesting or executing a writ of eviction outside its statutory deadlines, or giving the tenant less than the required advance notice.
• Disposing of a tenant's belongings without following the Act's property-handling rules.
• Attempting a self-help lockout or utility shutoff instead of going through the court process.
• Assuming the Eviction Diversion Program or the larger-landlord payment plan works the same way, or applies the same way, as it did in an earlier year.

When to bring in an attorney

Virginia's court forms are standardized, and many landlords file straightforward, uncontested nonpayment cases themselves. Bring in counsel when the tenant contests the case or is represented by legal aid, when a voucher tenant or federally backed property is involved, when you own more than four units and need the payment-plan and diversion rules applied consistently, and for any lease-violation or holdover case with a factual dispute. Corporations and LLCs generally must appear through counsel in Virginia courts, not through a non-lawyer employee or officer. The Virginia attorneys listed below represent landlords in the General District Courts across the Commonwealth.

Sources

• Va. Code Title 55.1, Chapter 12 (Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act), including §§ 55.1-1245, 55.1-1250, 55.1-1253, as published at law.lis.virginia.gov, checked for the version currently in force and for versions with a future effective date.
• Va. Code § 55.1-1245, legislative history line as codified: 2019, c. 712; 2020, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 46, 47; 2025, cc. 684, 688; 2026, cc. 353, 354, 844, 1105.
• Va. Code § 8.01-470 (writ of eviction) and General District Court unlawful detainer procedure; confirm current text directly, as these could not be fully re-verified in this review.

This guide is general information for Virginia landlords, not legal advice for any specific property or tenant. Statutes and court procedures change, and a small factual difference can change the outcome of a case, so confirm current requirements against the official code or with a Virginia landlord-tenant attorney before you act.