I live and own a home in Fairfax Virginia. I am currently renting to someone that has not paid rent sense they moved in on March 20th. I have sent them several letters and talked to them on two different occasions and still they have not paid there rent. What do I need to do to start an eviction process?

nosekg, the first thing you must do is wait until the rent is late, beyond the grace period you allow in the lease (if there is a grace period). If rent was due on the first, and considered late after the 5th, you are well beyond that now.

Next you will need to go to the county Sheriff's office and file a "5-day pay-or-quit notice". I recommend having the Sheriff's office serve this notice; there will be a fee (in my county it's $12). Once you file the notice and it is served (on the next business day), your tenant has five days to pay up. If he does not pay, you go back to the courthouse and file an "Unlawful Detainer". This is where you will receive a court date. The court will serve your tenant with the unlawful detainer. On your scheduled court date, you show up with all your paperwork, and a judge will rule on your case.

Your tenant can pay you during these proceedings, and you can accept payment. BUT, you will want to ONLY take payment in cash or certified funds, and give your tenant a letter indicating if you plan to proceed with eviction.

There's a sticky at the top of this forum with the landlord tenant laws in it; look for the VRLTA (Virginia Residential Landlord Tenant Agreement). Read up on your tenant law, you NEED to know these things to protect yourself and be a good landlord.

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Originally Posted by nosekg

I live and own a home in Fairfax Virginia. I am currently renting to someone that has not paid rent sense they moved in on March 20th. I have sent them several letters and talked to them on two different occasions and still they have not paid there rent. What do I need to do to start an eviction process?

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I have the same issue. You need to have your late notices, your delinquent notice, and your 5 day notice to pay rent or quit. If they are not out by the 5th day, you go to the courts. But these notices are important.

Just an aside for future reference. Someone added a note to your thread with a misplaced question. This was clearly a situation where the person wasn't aware how to use this site. The appropriate response would have been to Use the Report Inappropriate Post option and one of the Mods would have moved it to the appropriate place. Giving it an negative rating was inappropriate in itself. For more on how to use the Comments feature see here:

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