When a tenant stops paying rent, it’s a crucial time for the owner of a rental property. That’s because Virginia law states you have to send a 5 Day Noncompliance Notice. This means if the rent is due on the first and it hasn’t been paid on the fifth, you need to send that 5 Day Noncompliance right away.
If, after five days, the rent is still not paid, you will need to go to the courthouse in order to obtain a warrant for an unlawful detainer. These days, the courts are incredibly crowded. Because of the busy court schedule, your eviction process can take you one or two months, and even longer if you don’t follow all of the steps exactly.
Here at Lorac Realty and Property Management, we immediately send out a 5 Day Pay or Quit Notice or a Noncompliance Notice when the rent is late. If the tenant does not pay after receiving our notice, we hand the case over to our attorney right away so our legal counsel can file for the unlawful detainer. This is important because we want to get into the court system that same month.
When you go to court, you’ll need some key pieces of information with you. You need to document how much rent the tenants owe, what late charges have been accrued and any other charges such as attorney fees, court fees and filing fees.
Virginia law requires you to follow specific rules when you’re pursuing an eviction against a tenant who isn’t paying rent. It’s a complex process that we would be happy to help you with.
If you are faced with a tenant who is not paying rent and you’d like some advice, please contact us at Lorac Realty and Property Management.