---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; noncompliance with rental agreement, etc."
description: "Provides that a tenant is entitled to reasonable attorney fees when a tenant successfully raises as a defense the landlord's noncompliance with the rental agreement and the court enters judgment in favor of the tenant."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 1923"
citation: "Virginia HB 1923 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Property and Conveyances"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jeffrey M. Bourne"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 19
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-01-04"
last_action: "2019-03-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/11bbfd6b-ffd3-4ad5-8829-d21c4e52e1c6"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB1923"
source_hash: "6083a71f5b49463d52bbb108cb7c4fe1f31d41ce89186e821d161bf163973649"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 1923 (2019) — Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; noncompliance with rental agreement, etc.

Provides that a tenant is entitled to reasonable attorney fees when a tenant successfully raises as a defense the landlord's noncompliance with the rental agreement and the court enters judgment in favor of the tenant.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0324)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0324)
2. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB1923)
3. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1923ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1923ER)
4. **House: Committee substitute printed 19105504D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1923H1)
5. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19101389D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1923)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from General Laws with substitute — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from General Laws and Technology — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Jeffrey M. Bourne — primary (person)
- Alfonso H. Lopez — cosponsor (person)
- Betsy B. Carr — cosponsor (person)
- C.E. Cliff Hayes, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Dawn M. Adams — cosponsor (person)
- Debra H. Rodman — cosponsor (person)
- Delores L. McQuinn — cosponsor (person)
- Hala S. Ayala — cosponsor (person)
- Jeion A. Ward — cosponsor (person)
- Jennifer L. McClellan — cosponsor (person)
- Joseph C. Lindsey — cosponsor (person)
- Karrie K. Delaney — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler — cosponsor (person)
- Kenneth R. Plum — cosponsor (person)
- Lamont Bagby — cosponsor (person)
- Luke E. Torian — cosponsor (person)
- Marcia S. "Cia" Price — cosponsor (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)
- Paul E. Krizek — cosponsor (person)
- Richard C. "Rip" Sullivan, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Sam Rasoul — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-01-04** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19101389D `introduction`
- **2019-01-04** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-14** Assigned GL sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-28** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-01-29** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-01-29** Committee substitute agreed to 19105504D-H1
- **2019-01-29** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1923H1
- **2019-01-30** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-01-30** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
- **2019-01-30** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2019-01-31** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-01-31** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-14** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-19** Enrolled
- **2019-02-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-20** Signed by President
- **2019-02-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 21, 2019
- **2019-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 324 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/11bbfd6b-ffd3-4ad5-8829-d21c4e52e1c6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).