Fabio
106 lines
7.5 KiB
Markdown
106 lines
7.5 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 and upon proper evidence presented, 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: "SB 1215"
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citation: "Virginia SB 1215 (2021)"
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classification: ["bill"]
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subjects: []
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status: "enacted"
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primary_sponsors: ["Adam P. Ebbin"]
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version_count: 4
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action_count: 35
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vote_count: 9
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first_action: "2021-01-11"
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last_action: "2021-03-30"
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source: "openstates"
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source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b29cd140-6646-4ca8-ace3-dbd68f878e96"
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source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+SB1215"
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source_hash: "e6d1aa9b1536621e8919829861ded977bde8dd833c566a6ddb87ab15988c125c"
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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 SB 1215 (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 and upon proper evidence presented, 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. **CHAP0404** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0404)
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2. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102805D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1215)
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3. **Printed as engrossed 21102805D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1215E)
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4. **SB1215ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1215ER)
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## Votes
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- House amendment agreed to by Senate (24-Y 15-N) — **24–15** (pass) · upper
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- Reconsideration of House amendment agreed to by Senate (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
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- Continued to Special Session 1 in General Laws — **0–0** (fail) · lower
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- Reported from General Laws with amendment(s) (13-Y 9-N) — **13–9** (pass) · lower
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- VOTE: Passage (54-Y 45-N) — **53–45** (pass) · lower
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- House amendment agreed to by Senate (24-Y 13-N) — **24–13** (pass) · upper
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- Read third time and passed Senate (27-Y 12-N) — **27–12** (pass) · upper
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- Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment (13-Y 0-N 2-A) — **13–0** (pass) · upper
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- Constitutional reading dispensed (35-Y 0-N) — **35–0** (pass) · upper
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## Sponsors
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- Adam P. Ebbin — primary (person)
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- Ghazala F. Hashmi — cosponsor (person)
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- Jennifer B. Boysko — cosponsor (person)
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- Jennifer L. McClellan — cosponsor (person)
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## Timeline
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The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
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- **2021-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102805D `introduction`
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- **2021-01-11** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
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- **2021-01-19** Impact statement from DPB (SB1215)
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- **2021-01-27** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
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- **2021-01-27** Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment (13-Y 0-N 2-A) `committee-passage`
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- **2021-01-29** Constitutional reading dispensed (35-Y 0-N)
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- **2021-02-01** Read second time `reading-2`
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- **2021-02-01** Reading of amendment waived
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- **2021-02-01** Committee amendment agreed to
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- **2021-02-01** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB1215E
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- **2021-02-01** Printed as engrossed 21102805D-E
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- **2021-02-02** Read third time and passed Senate (27-Y 12-N) `passage, reading-3`
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- **2021-02-04** Impact statement from DPB (SB1215E)
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- **2021-02-05** Placed on Calendar
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- **2021-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
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- **2021-02-05** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
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- **2021-02-08** Continued to Special Session 1 in General Laws
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- **2021-02-11** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
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- **2021-02-11** Reported from General Laws with amendment(s) (13-Y 9-N) `committee-passage`
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- **2021-02-15** Read second time `reading-2`
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- **2021-02-16** Read third time `reading-3`
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- **2021-02-16** Committee amendment agreed to
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- **2021-02-16** Engrossed by House as amended
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- **2021-02-16** Passed House with amendment (54-Y 45-N) `passage`
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- **2021-02-16** VOTE: Passage (54-Y 45-N)
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- **2021-02-18** House amendment agreed to by Senate (24-Y 13-N)
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- **2021-02-18** Reconsideration of House amendment agreed to by Senate (38-Y 0-N)
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- **2021-02-18** House amendment agreed to by Senate (24-Y 15-N)
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- **2021-02-22** Enrolled
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- **2021-02-22** Impact statement from DPB (SB1215ER)
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- **2021-02-22** Signed by President
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- **2021-02-24** Signed by Speaker
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- **2021-02-25** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on February 25, 2021
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- **2021-02-25** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
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- **2021-03-30** Approved by Governor-Chapter 404 (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/b29cd140-6646-4ca8-ace3-dbd68f878e96`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).
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