Rent With Reservation Clause Evicting Tenant In Northern Virginia

[Kevin L.]

Hey All,

Recently I went to court for tenant who actually always pays rent on-time (if not early) but is the dirtiest, messiest, hoarding tenant I've ever had. To make things worse, he lives in a shared living situation with 2 other families, one is a single individual but the other is a single mother of 2. Anyway, I attempted to evict him for noncompliance with rentals agreement and tenant to main dwelling unit. My lease and notice to quit were seemingly fine and I had more than a plethora of pictures of him leaving food out, fruit flies all over the place, and nothing but trash in his room (this guy is retired but doesn't have a bed nor is there any space on the floor of his room, how or where he sleeps is still a mystery to me). I even had another tenant as a witness to testify the grotesque living conditions...

But I lost...

Apparently there's a Virginia code that if an individual continues paying rent, that the landlord waives his right to continue eviction unless there's a rent with reservation clause in the notice to quit. Has anyone ever heard of that and what would the verbiage be to put that in the notice to quit?

Also, any tips on writing a full proof notice of non-renewal of lease and can you serve your tenant that notice "too early"?

Any input would help!

Thanks guys!

-Kevin

[Theresa Harris]

Does your lease have a clause in it about keeping the place clean?  If you serve the non-renewal too early, you can risk them damaging the unit, but in this case I doubt it would matter.  Other option is cash for keys, offer him money to get him out early.