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Hi--I have been impressed with the quality of responses here, but I haven't seen something that describes my situation.
I am a landlord in Virginia. I have a tenant (couple) with 9 months to go on a lease governed by VRLTA (payable on the 1st), but they have been paying rent late. With no rent paid in July I posted a 5-day notice to pay or quit. They did not pay (or leave) and I filed for Unlawful Detainer listing $960 for unpaid rent, late fees and court costs. The court date was set at Sept 6. They did not pay for August, so I added that and late fees, but in mid August they paid $1000 which I accepted with reservation in writing. This brought them up with July, but did not cover August. I did not cancel the UD suit.
On Sept 6th, the tenants did not show up at court, but the judge did not allow me to add the unpaid August and September (now late) to the claim. Instead, he applied the rule (in Virginia) that a tenant may pay all the rent to avoid eviction. He counted the $1000 in August towards the original claim and the case was dismissed. (The court clerk later told me the judge was a substitute.)
I have posted a new 5-day notice with the tenant and I am preparing a new Unlawful Detainer which lists the outstanding amount at over $3000. The new court date will be in October.
Did the judge make an error? Should I just live with it and start over? What should I do if they try to pay the rest while this process grinds forward?
Yes but it is too late now.....when I file a UD, I also file a companion suit in Small Claims court.....In Aug, I filed a UD against a tenant that will be heard on the 11th of Sept...at the same time I filed the UD for Aug I filed max VA Small Claims court of $2,000 which will be heard in October....the $2,000 will be for the SEPT rent and any damages to the property since she will be out via the UD by the end of Sept.
Unless you are required because of the VRLTA trigger #, don't use VRLTA and make your leases under the Virginia Landlord Tenant Act - common law leases...you can accelerate rent and don't have these hoops to jump through.
I was told ( by a judge) that they never make mistakes, just inccorct rulings, since you would have to appeal a ruling even if it is wrong.
So a bad ruling is still a valid one even when wrong, untill it is appealed.
So you have a new court date and doing it over again. Good luck
Thanks very much for your advice. I'll have to check into the small claims process. I got the lease from a friend who has used it with much success elsewhere, although I did note that because I only have 2 properties I wouldn't normally be under the rule of VRTLA. It's not been too expensive a lesson, and the tenant seems to be able to come up with money at the last minute (they came by with more partial payment which I did accept again with reservation in writing--we'll have to see what happens.)
Matt - in VA, you can accept as partial payment with reservation and continue on the your lawsuit....the amount is credited to the ultimate judgement.
You should NOT be using VRLTA lease as it obligates you to pay interest on the tenants' security deposit with a calculation formula developed by NASA...
I would not accept anything but full payment. By accepting even partial payments, you may be letting yourself in for the same type of ruling.
I think you have a valid point, but I went the other way anyway. I decided to accept a partial payment because I think the first ruling was really about the tenant's right to redeem, which can only be done once in 12 months. Supposedly that defense is now used up. Money in hand now is better than trying to get it out of them later. In my optimist way, I think the 5-day notices and court date have made them more attentive to their responsibilities--they're really only behind by 1/2 a month now.
I agree. When their first year's lease expired instead of going to month-to-month my wife insisted on a new full year lease, so I don't think I have much opportunity to change it until next year.
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