Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia

Re: rental property/tenants

I am not sure I understand. Was he renting the entire house with garage previously?

If he is still using any of the house then legally he is still using ALL of the house.

That is, you can't rent it someone else as long as he is still using part of the premises. (Although if you explain to him that he will be responsible for the rent on the entire house, he will probably mvoe his car. So you really do have an obligation to simply ASK him to move the car before taking any dramatic consequences.)

If he has breached the lease by not paying or otherwise, you can evict him, but you MUST formally evict him, by taking him to court. You need to give him a 5 day "pay or quit" notice and that sort of thing.

Of course a tenant can voluntarily move out on his own. If he chooses to leave, you don't have to evict him.

So it sounds like he has CHOSEN to move out (in which case you don't have to evict him -- he is already gone), EXCEPT that he still has his car there.

So you would still have to go to court and get the lease terminated (in effect, which is what eviction means).

However, if he was intending to move out voluntarily, and if he does not want to be responsible for further rent, he may cooperate -- once he undersands that it will cost him money.