Friday, September 5, 2008
The General Assembly is not in session.
Tracking Virginia’s General Assembly
since 2007.
HB1816: Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; early termination of leases by military personnel.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 55-248.21:1 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 55-248.21:1. Early termination of rental agreement by military personnel.
A. Any member of the armed forces of the United States or a member of the National Guard serving on full-time duty or as a Civil Service technician with the National Guard may, through the procedure detailed in subsection B, terminate his rental agreement if the member (i) has received permanent change of station orders to depart 35 miles or more (radius) from the location of the dwelling unit; (ii) has received temporary duty orders in excess of three months' duration to depart 35 miles or more (radius) from the location of the dwelling unit; (iii) is discharged or released from active duty with the armed forces of the United States or from his full-time duty or technician status with the National Guard; or (iv) is ordered to report to government-supplied quarters resulting in the forfeiture of basic allowance for quarters.
B. Tenants who qualify to terminate a rental agreement pursuant to subsection A shall do so by serving on the landlord a written notice of termination to be effective on a date stated therein, such date to be not less than 30 days after the first date on which the next rental payment is due and payable after the date on which the written notice is given. The termination date shall be no more than 60 days prior to the date of departure necessary to comply with the official orders or any supplemental instructions for interim training or duty prior to the transfer. Prior to the termination date, the tenant shall furnish the landlord with a copy of the official notification of the orders or a signed letter, confirming the orders, from the tenant's commanding officer.
The final rent shall be prorated to the date of
termination and shall be payable at such time as would have otherwise been
required by the terms of the rental agreement.
The landlord may not charge any liquidated damages.
C. Nothing in this section shall affect the tenant's obligations established by § 55-248.16.
D. The exemption provided in subdivision 10 of subsection A of § 55-248.5 shall not apply to this section.
Additional Data
Explanation
This is the actual text of the bill — the legislation itself. Generally this is amending existing law, proposing the addition or removal of words from laws that are already on the books.
Words that are highlighted in yellow are
proposed additions, and words that are crossed out in
red are proposed removals.
The numbers with the § symbol before them are references to existing laws, and if you click on them they’ll take you to that part of the law on the state's website.