Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

I am filing a Warrant In Debt because I haven't received a security deposit. Today marks the 45th day which according to Virginia law, i'm suppose to receive my deposit back by. I should mention I have moved out of state to Ohio. In the section Claims, i'm not sure how to answer the homestead exemption waived question. I'm assuming it doesn't apply to me, but there are boxes for yes, no, and cannot be demanded. I'm not sure which box to check. Another thing i'm wondering about is, how do i go about requesting a court date? Is this something i need to figure out before sending the Warrant In Debt form? Or is that figured out afterwards? Also do i need to fill out a certificate of mailing form as well? If so, should i mail that with the Warrant, or sometime after?


Asked on 8/14/17, 11:40 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jonathon Moseley Jonathon A. Moseley

Yes (regarding the date): Call the Court in the relevant County. Every County can be different. They will have their own preferences and rules. Some even expect you to RESERVE a date in advance If you don't put a date they approve of on the form, they can kick it back to you.

Just call the Clerk and they will give you a date. Then act promptly, don't let time slip, because it takes time to process the WID and make sure it gets served on the Defendant. So you must mail it right away after you get the date.

As for the Certificate of Mailing you should print the two pages back to back so that the certificate of mailng is on the back of the Warrant in Debt. Yes you should fill that out. Mail a copy to the Defendant at the same time that you mail at least 2 copies also to the Court.

I have done over a thousand General District Court cases and I have never yet seen the Homestead exemption matter at all. Nobody pays any attention to it that I know of

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Answered on 8/14/17, 3:15 pm


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