Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

I apologize for the length of this however it's been a bear on my family. Here goes....

Moved into a place after a short sale which I would have had to sell if I rotated from the area (thanks to the US Army wanting to rotate me 2 years from retirement) and my father in law dying of brain cancer so I was trying to keep my wife in the area. Lucky for me I didn't waste my 17 years of Active Duty and the National Guard gave me a three year Active tour to hit 20!

Moved into a rental after the house sold and no worries or so I thought. On our lease we wrote the deficiencies and he has only fixed two of the issues and several remain, one is windows don't stay up and some don't secure properly, another is a doorbell doesn't work and the molding on the kitchen counters is off.

A month after we moved in, we started receiving Hope for Homeowners messages on our door. I contacted the owner and he said "oh he was late because my rent check didn't hit in his account on time" ok that was one time, the next month another, 5 months later and 5 notices I did a google search and noticed nothing on the house by number, so I looked up his name, thats when I found "public knowledge" information him and his brothers were arrested back in March for stealing utilitiy trailers and riding lawn mowers from Lowes stores in several states. He posted 10k bond and has had several court dates that I have monitored. His brothers were on the run. Fearing that they would come here I started to worry, however now found his brothers were captured and arrested, still in custody in PA.

Now the landlord has been going to court in one county and has been placed on probation for 24 months and on the NC website it shows status of supervised. He still has several felony charges in another county upcoming in January (15 to be exact 2 felony larceny, others are possession of stolen goods and obtaining property by false pretense.

In October I contacted him again via phone and mentioned that I was concerned that my wife is 4 months pregnant due in March and we keep getting these notices and he said no no it's a mistake I will find out and get back to you. He said he was coming up in November and would provide a document that he wasn't in default and all was fine, even called and stated it was a property he cosigned with his brother and needed 25k to keep the house and he couldn't do it ( ironic his brothers bail in PA is 25k ).

I paid my rent by direct deposit up until November. I didn't pay November and waited for him to come, convenient he hasn't came or contacted us as of yet and here it is December, I haven't paid now 2 months, he has my security deposit of 1900$ but I am worried that even though I have the two months rent possibly 3 I still am constantly waiting for a foreclosure person at the door and my wife due in 3 months!!!!!

Oh by the way I am having shoulder surgery on the 29th so it's not like I am going to be able to move anything myself so that's another issue. I signed a 2 year lease in Mar of 09 and feel that I am wasting my time but the military lawyer says I am wrong for not honouring the lease, however he sees how I am trying to protect my two kids / wife and new baby in Mar.

Stressful!!!! Any suggestions??? My fear is that either way I am screwed or I could pay for a civilian lawyer ( more money down the drain, although would be peace of mind to move on ) or sit and wait, but what does that do for me in the military / my clearance?

Just a mess!

Thanks for viewing and positive feedback in advance for the gracious person who read this all the way through!!!

CD

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