Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

Yes. Law in all 50 States and in England require the same thing.

The reasons are a little complicated and technical and go back to real estate law over centuries.

However, when the owner of a house leases or rents the house to a renter, they are giving a little piece of the "estate" (of the real estate) away. THey are giving away some of the house for a period of time to the renter (tenant).

The owner can only sell what they own and the buyer can only buy what the seller has to sell.

The owner can only sell ownership of the house "minus" the period of time when the renter (tenant) has rights to the house.

So when the new owner buys the house (or apartment building or whatever) they are buying the house MINUS the period of time that that the renter has rights to occupy the house.

The renter has all of the rights in the contract against the property, no matter who owns it.

Now, the rental contract is NOT absolute. The new owner does not have to honor the rental contract any more than the original owner.

So if the renter has broken the rental contract, the new owner might be able to cancel it.

The renter does not have any MORE rights than the rental contract says.

The rights of the renter might be LESS than what the renter thinks.

Now, one assumes that the seller of the real estate TOLD the new owner about the renter and the terms of the contract.

There could be a problem BETWEEN the seller and the buyer if the seller did not fully disclose all the facts.

But that would be between the seller and the buyer, and would not affect the renter.