Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

Renter not paying rent

I have had a renter who has been a tenant for some time. Frequently he paid his rent late and had a few bounced checks, but I did not charge him any late fees out of good will. This summer he complained that the air conditioning was not cooling properly and that his electricity bill was very high which he attributed to the inefficiency of the air conditioner. The technician checked it out and found that he had 8 people living in the unit when there were supposed to be only 4 as specified by the lease - he had overseas guests for the summer. Also he had the return duct blocked with furniture preventing the air conditioning from working properly. Remedying the problems fixed the cooling performance but he still insists on replacing the air conditioning claiming that it keeps tripping the breaker. I feel that if the air conditioning is indeed malfunctioning as he claims, it is because of his abuse. Still, I verbally agreed to replace the air conditioning next year when an equivalent model using the environment friendly refrigerants are available and gave him a $300 rent discount. He agreed to the arrangement but keeps giving me the run around to pay the rent and is already 10 days late. Can I evict him. The lease is exempt from VRLTA


Asked on 9/10/08, 1:37 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: Renter not paying rent

If your tenant is in material breach (failure to pay rent on time) of the lease agreement, he must be given whatever notice is required under the agreement to cure his default before you can start eviction proceedings.

Only one such notice should be required, and if he's subsequently late or doesn't pay in the future, you should then have sufficient grounds to proceed with his eviction.

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Answered on 9/10/08, 2:21 pm


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