Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

Re: Lease Alteration

Unless your current lease gives the landlord the right to undertake the action you've described, the answer must be that you have the right to remain in your unit at the current rent rate (absent a material violation of the lease on your part)until this particular lease expires.

Re: Lease Alteration

The landlord does not have any right to change

the rent, unless the lease says something giving

the landlord the right to change the rent even

at the start of the lease.

You can bet that if you were not living up to

the lease, they would be suing you for not

following the lease. They must also follow the

lease.

I would do the following:

1) Send a letter repeating in writing what the

landlord said to you and what the landlord is

asking you to do.

2) Ask in this letter for the landlord to

please identify where in the lease the

landlord is authorized to change the rent after

entering into a contract.

3) DO NOT sign anything agreeing to this.

4) Unfortunately, however, if you are right

but you get thrown out anyway, then this won't

help you very much. Therefore, I would recommend

that you pay the extra $50 without signing

anything and then sue them in small claims court

to get the money back. With an actual decision

by the judge that they are wrong in asking for

the increase, they will not throw you out.

5) If they try to evict you DO NOT AGREE.

They will have to go to court and file an

"Unlawful Detainer" action. When they do this,

the court will see that it is illegal and

DENY their lawsuit.

6) Then ask the Court to impose sanctions

against them for a frivolous lawsuit under

Va. Code 8.01-271.1