Fabio
136 lines
8.9 KiB
Markdown
136 lines
8.9 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: "Bill"
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title: "Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; tenant remedies for exclusion from dwelling unit."
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description: "Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; tenant remedies for exclusion from dwelling unit, interruption of services, or actions taken to make premises unsafe. Provides that a general district court shall enter an order upon petition by a tenant that his landlord has (i) removed or excluded the tenant from the dwelling unit unlawfully, (ii) interrupted or caused the interruption of an essential service to the tenant, or (iii) taken action to make the premises unsafe for habitation. The bill allows entry of a preliminary order ex parte to require the landlord to allow the tenant to recover possession of the dwelling unit, resume any such interrupted essential service, or fix any willful actions taken by the landlord or his agent to make the premises unsafe for habitation if there is good cause to do so and the tenant made reasonable efforts to notify the landlord of the hearing. The bill requires that any ex parte order entered shall further indicate a date for a full hearing on the petition that is no later than 10 days from the initial hearing date. Finally, the bill provides that, at a full hearing on such petition, the tenant shall recover actual damages, the greater of $5,000 or four months' rent, and reasonable attorney fees."
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jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
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legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
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session: "2021"
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identifier: "HB 1900"
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citation: "Virginia HB 1900 (2021)"
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classification: ["bill"]
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subjects: []
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status: "enacted"
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primary_sponsors: ["Sally L. Hudson"]
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version_count: 4
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action_count: 50
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vote_count: 11
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first_action: "2021-01-08"
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last_action: "2021-03-30"
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source: "openstates"
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source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4a464f79-8876-40ad-8b98-24dfd6a4702e"
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source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+HB1900"
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source_hash: "08519b1ae2555d1830d808ea63cb4a2dd4f1735018474ac1722815e5a9fe17bb"
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vintage: "2026-07-01"
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source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
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retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
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confidence: "reported"
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tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
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---
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# Virginia HB 1900 (2021) — Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; tenant remedies for exclusion from dwelling unit.
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Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; tenant remedies for exclusion from dwelling unit, interruption of services, or actions taken to make premises unsafe. Provides that a general district court shall enter an order upon petition by a tenant that his landlord has (i) removed or excluded the tenant from the dwelling unit unlawfully, (ii) interrupted or caused the interruption of an essential service to the tenant, or (iii) taken action to make the premises unsafe for habitation. The bill allows entry of a preliminary order ex parte to require the landlord to allow the tenant to recover possession of the dwelling unit, resume any such interrupted essential service, or fix any willful actions taken by the landlord or his agent to make the premises unsafe for habitation if there is good cause to do so and the tenant made reasonable efforts to notify the landlord of the hearing. The bill requires that any ex parte order entered shall further indicate a date for a full hearing on the petition that is no later than 10 days from the initial hearing date. Finally, the bill provides that, at a full hearing on such petition, the tenant shall recover actual damages, the greater of $5,000 or four months' rent, and reasonable attorney fees.
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## Version chain
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The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
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1. **CHAP0403** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0403)
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2. **HB1900ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1900ER)
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3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102519D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1900)
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4. **Printed as engrossed 21102519D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1900E)
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## Votes
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- Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N) — **32–0** (pass) · upper
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- Conference report agreed to by Senate (20-Y 19-N) — **20–19** (pass) · upper
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- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment (6-Y 1-N) — **6–1** (pass) · lower
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- VOTE: REJECTED (1-Y 97-N) — **1–96** (fail) · lower
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- Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in General Laws and Technology (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
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- Reported from General Laws and Technology (9-Y 5-N) — **9–5** (pass) · upper
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- VOTE: Agreed To (54-Y 45-N) — **53–45** (pass) · lower
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- Senate insisted on amendment (35-Y 2-N) — **35–2** (pass) · upper
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- Passed Senate with amendment (21-Y 18-N) — **21–18** (pass) · upper
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- Reported from General Laws with amendment(s) (13-Y 8-N) — **13–8** (pass) · lower
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- VOTE: Passage (54-Y 44-N) — **53–44** (pass) · lower
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## Sponsors
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- Sally L. Hudson — primary (person)
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- Betsy B. Carr — cosponsor (person)
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- Chris L. Hurst — cosponsor (person)
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- David L. Bulova — cosponsor (person)
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- Dawn M. Adams — cosponsor (person)
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- Elizabeth R. Guzman — cosponsor (person)
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- Ibraheem S. Samirah — cosponsor (person)
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- Kathleen Murphy — cosponsor (person)
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- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
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- Kenneth R. Plum — cosponsor (person)
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- Lamont Bagby — cosponsor (person)
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- Lee J. Carter — cosponsor (person)
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- Marcia S. "Cia" Price — cosponsor (person)
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- Marcus B. Simon — cosponsor (person)
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- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)
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- Sam Rasoul — cosponsor (person)
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- Shelly A. Simonds — cosponsor (person)
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## Timeline
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The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
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- **2021-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102519D `introduction`
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- **2021-01-08** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
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- **2021-01-12** Assigned GL sub: Housing/Consumer Protection `referral-committee`
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- **2021-01-14** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
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- **2021-01-14** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
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- **2021-01-14** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment (6-Y 1-N)
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- **2021-01-19** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
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- **2021-01-19** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
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- **2021-01-19** Reported from General Laws with amendment(s) (13-Y 8-N) `committee-passage`
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- **2021-01-19** Impact statement from DPB (HB1900)
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- **2021-01-20** Read first time `reading-1`
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- **2021-01-21** Read second time `reading-2`
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- **2021-01-21** Committee amendments agreed to
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- **2021-01-21** Engrossed by House as amended HB1900E
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- **2021-01-21** Printed as engrossed 21102519D-E
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- **2021-01-22** Read third time and passed House (54-Y 44-N) `passage, reading-3`
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- **2021-01-22** VOTE: Passage (54-Y 44-N)
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- **2021-01-25** Constitutional reading dispensed
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- **2021-01-25** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
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- **2021-01-29** Impact statement from DPB (HB1900E)
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- **2021-02-05** Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in General Laws and Technology (14-Y 0-N)
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- **2021-02-17** Reported from General Laws and Technology (9-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
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- **2021-02-19** Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N)
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- **2021-02-22** Read third time `reading-3`
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- **2021-02-22** Passed by for the day
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- **2021-02-23** Read third time `reading-3`
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- **2021-02-23** Reading of amendment waived
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- **2021-02-23** Amendment by Senator Petersen agreed to `amendment-passage`
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- **2021-02-23** Engrossed by Senate as amended
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- **2021-02-23** Passed Senate with amendment (21-Y 18-N) `passage`
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- **2021-02-24** Placed on Calendar
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- **2021-02-24** Senate amendment rejected by House (1-Y 97-N)
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- **2021-02-24** VOTE: REJECTED (1-Y 97-N)
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- **2021-02-25** Senate insisted on amendment (35-Y 2-N)
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- **2021-02-25** Senate requested conference committee
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- **2021-02-25** House acceded to request
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- **2021-02-25** Conferees appointed by House
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- **2021-02-25** Conferees appointed by Senate
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- **2021-02-27** Amended by conference committee
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- **2021-02-27** Conference report agreed to by House (54-Y 45-N)
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- **2021-02-27** VOTE: Agreed To (54-Y 45-N)
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- **2021-02-27** Passed by temporarily
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- **2021-02-27** Conference report agreed to by Senate (20-Y 19-N)
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- **2021-03-09** Enrolled
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- **2021-03-09** Signed by President
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- **2021-03-11** Signed by Speaker
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- **2021-03-15** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 15, 2021
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- **2021-03-15** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
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- **2021-03-17** Impact statement from DPB (HB1900ER)
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- **2021-03-30** Approved by Governor-Chapter 403 (effective 7/1/21) `executive-signature`
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## Source
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OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4a464f79-8876-40ad-8b98-24dfd6a4702e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).
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