Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

Re: Verbal agreement on voicemail

The verbal agreement could be valid----if you can prove it, although an attorney might argue that since it apparently involves a lease of one year or longer, it has to be in writing(to be valid) so as not to violate the Virginia Statute of Frauds.

Your legal predicament is complicated enough in terms of various legal issues(not only the validity of the verbal agreement but the admissibility of evidence) that when you first appear in court you might want to consider asking for a continuance in order to give you time to retain an attorney. If your adversary is represented by counsel, you, also, will most defintely want to have an attorney on your side.

Re: Verbal agreement on voicemail

I think there are enough issues here where the

advice to see a lawyer is really rather important.

I keep my expenses and my rates very low. However, I would note the following:

First, you say you received a phone message that

you have a court date. Unless you have been

officially "served" with a lawsuit, you do NOT

have a court date. However, Virginia allows a

lawsuit to be "posted" on the door at your last

known address. So it may be that the lawsuit

was posted on your old door and you don't know

it. But, on the other hand, your landlord knew

where you were in order to give you a phone call?

No, that don't cut it. A phone call is not valid

service for a lawsuit, and if he knows you don't

live at the old address (i.e., the phone call)

then he can't use that old address, either.

You need to go to the courthouse and talk to the

clerk and look up your case. Don't sign anything.

I don't know if it will be in general district

court or circuit court, but probably G.D.C.

See what the file says. Look for any information

about service on you. If it is in G.D.C., there

will be a form with your name and your husband's

name on the back. If the Sheriff's office notes

next to your name say "not found" then go to

the court BUT DO NOT ANSWER when your case is

called. LISTEN CAREFULLY to what they are

saying (try to sit in the front). If the judge

or attorney talk about "not found," then say

nothing. There is NO lawsuit against you, despite

the attorney's attempts. It is quite likely that

the attorney will try again by serving the

Secretary of the Commonwealth or something by

talking about an "alias" -- which means a 2nd

attempt at filng a lawsuit against you.

If the attorney and/or judge talk about entering

judgment against you --- NOT your husband, but

YOU, because these are TWO SEPARATE THINGS, one

lawsuit against you, the other against your

husband, in one single lawsuit -- then stand

up and object and say I do not live at that

address, the landlord knows I don't live at that

address (he called me by phone) and I am NOT

accepting service, and walk out. DO NOT SIGN

ANYTHING. If the judge asks you to sign anything

politely REFUSE.

As an alternative to speaking in court, you could

also send a note to the court saying that you

were told there was a lawsuit, and the address

on the lawsuit is NOT your address and the

landlord KNOWS it is not your address because

he called you on the phone at your new address.

Finally, you need to look very carefully at the

lease. It is likely that the act of placing the

house on the market -- regardless of the later

decision to take it off -- canceled the lease.

But that depends on what the lease says. If you

want me to review it, you could fax it to me.