republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/hb-1909.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Real property tax; nonjudicial sale of tax delinquent property."
description: "Permits the nonjudicial sale of unimproved real property valued at less than $5,000 if taxes are delinquent for at least three years. The bill also permits the nonjudicial sale of real property valued at no less than $5,000 but no greater than $20,000 if taxes are delinquent for at least three years, the property is not subject to a recorded mortgage or deed of trust lien, and the property (i) is unimproved and measures less than 4,000 square feet; (ii) is unimproved and has been determined to be unsuitable for building (the bill expands the bases on which unsuitability may rest); (iii) has a structure on it that has been condemned by the local building official; (iv) has been declared a nuisance by the locality; (v) contains a derelict building; or (vi) has been declared to be blighted by the locality. The bill also modifies current law regarding notice of the sale, redemption of the property, and application of excess proceeds. Current law permits the nonjudicial sale of unimproved real property valued at less than $10,000 if taxes are delinquent for at least three years and the property (a) measures less than 4,000 square feet or (b) has been determined to be unsuitable for building."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1909"
citation: "Virginia HB 1909 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Real Estate and Real Estate Tax", "Taxation"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Joseph R. Yost"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 18
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2017-01-10"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b4545293-5007-4a40-9c36-b85b06a4967b"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1909"
source_hash: "a3b4aff6d3586c6dfbb2f87f09250ea80d5727ea7d7a881cbaa2848e1ba03725"
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 1909 (2017) — Real property tax; nonjudicial sale of tax delinquent property.

Permits the nonjudicial sale of unimproved real property valued at less than $5,000 if taxes are delinquent for at least three years. The bill also permits the nonjudicial sale of real property valued at no less than $5,000 but no greater than $20,000 if taxes are delinquent for at least three years, the property is not subject to a recorded mortgage or deed of trust lien, and the property (i) is unimproved and measures less than 4,000 square feet; (ii) is unimproved and has been determined to be unsuitable for building (the bill expands the bases on which unsuitability may rest); (iii) has a structure on it that has been condemned by the local building official; (iv) has been declared a nuisance by the locality; (v) contains a derelict building; or (vi) has been declared to be blighted by the locality. The bill also modifies current law regarding notice of the sale, redemption of the property, and application of excess proceeds. Current law permits the nonjudicial sale of unimproved real property valued at less than $10,000 if taxes are delinquent for at least three years and the property (a) measures less than 4,000 square feet or (b) has been determined to be unsuitable for building.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0437)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0437)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1909ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1909ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101474D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1909)
4. **House: Printed as engrossed 17101474D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1909E)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed House — **82–15** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Finance with amendments — **19–3** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments — **8–1** (pass) · legislature
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Finance — **13–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Joseph R. Yost — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101474D `introduction`
- **2017-01-10** Referred to Committee on Finance `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-20** Assigned Finance sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-06** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2017-02-06** Engrossed by House as amended HB1909E
- **2017-02-06** Printed as engrossed 17101474D-E
- **2017-02-07** Read third time and passed House (82-Y 15-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-02-08** Referred to Committee on Finance `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-16** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-20** Enrolled
- **2017-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-21** Signed by President
- **2017-02-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/21/17
- **2017-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 437 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b4545293-5007-4a40-9c36-b85b06a4967b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).