Norfolk, VA tenant refuses to leave room.

[Amberle Farthing]

I am renting out rooms in a SFH. A tenant who has only been renting for a week has managed to turn every single roommate against her for various reason and now everyone in the house is begging for me to evict her. Everyone is extremely uncomfortable and she is showing red flags for worse to come.
The tenant is now refusing to leave and saying that her family in the magistrates office is telling her that because she works full time she has 30 days after her new month starts to be out and even longer if it goes to court. Is that true? And does anyone have any advice on how I should proceed?

[Patti Robertson]

In VA if she owes you money you give her a 5 Day Pay or Quit letter and on the 6th day you can file an unlawful detainer. If she doesn't owe you money, but has another lease violation, you give her a 21 Day Notice to Cure Lease Violation letter and if she hasn't cured on the 22nd day you can file an unlawful detainer. If she has no lease violations but is in a month to month lease, you have to follow the notice term in your lease. That is usually 30 days. If you give notice to terminate in 30 days, you can file a UD on the 31st day. When you file you will be assigned a court date 3 weeks later. If she shows to the hearing, she will get to stay an add'l 10 days. If she doesn't you can file the WRIT of Possession the day of court and then it will take about 2 weeks for the sherriff to evict. It may be better to offer cash for keys so she can move out quicker.

NOTE - It is REALLY important that your address matches exactly on all your paperwork.  This can be tricky in a room rent situation,  In order to evict from a room, the room has to be labeled.  You will have to make sure the Sheriff has access to the door to post notice.