---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; security deposits."
description: "Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; security deposits."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 891"
citation: "Virginia SB 891 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bell"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 23
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2023-01-04"
last_action: "2023-03-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6058d1cd-0b7f-410f-92e4-76a77b2e9857"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+sum+SB891"
source_hash: "b5e601c01a42ad9d928878f75b2cb5cada70c7f93779fa9c8018db21a933028d"
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 SB 891 (2023) — Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; security deposits.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0434** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+CHAP0434)
2. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102194D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB891)
3. **SB891ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB891ER)

## Votes

- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Reported from General Laws (22-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Reported from General Laws and Technology (14-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-04** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102194D `filing, introduction`
- **2023-01-04** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-16** Impact statement from DPB (SB891)
- **2023-01-18** Reported from General Laws and Technology (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-20** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2023-01-23** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2023-01-24** Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-02-09** Placed on Calendar
- **2023-02-09** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2023-02-09** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-09** Reported from General Laws (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-13** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2023-02-14** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-14** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-16** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-02-16** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB891ER) `passage`
- **2023-02-16** Impact statement from DPB (SB891ER)
- **2023-02-16** Signed by President `passage`
- **2023-02-16** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2023-03-02** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 2, 2023 `enrolled`
- **2023-03-02** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 27, 2023 `executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-23** Approved by Governor-Chapter 434 (effective 7/1/23) `executive-signature`
- **2023-03-23** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0434)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6058d1cd-0b7f-410f-92e4-76a77b2e9857`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).