I'm Not Renewing a Lease - What if Tenant Refuses to Leave?

[Michael A.]

HI Everyone,

In short, what happens when you decide to not renew a tenant's lease, give proper notice, and they refuse to leave? 

More detail: Having trouble finding this in the VRLTA, but I have a tough situation. Tenant has refused to pay me since February. Coincidentally, the eviction moratorium prevented me from getting them out of my property. They remained employed throughout the pandemic. I'm working with my lawyer to re-schedule our court date that was cancelled by the city (was scheduled for 6/15) where I was hoping to get my writ of possession. But now I potentially face a new problem. The lease expires in November, and I believe that it may take that long, if not longer, to fully go through the eviction process to get them out of my house. Some of my colleagues are being rescheduled to as late as September for the same types of cases. What do I do if the tenant simply refuses to leave when the lease expires? I fully intend to go through the eviction process as both a back-up plan and as a public service, because the community needs to know via court records that this person does not pay their bills. Appreciate any experience you've had where your leases have expired but tenants have refused to leave. How does this work in Richmond?