2015 Code of Virginia
Title 55 - Property and Conveyances
§ 55-248.5. Exemptions; exception to exemption; application of chapter to certain occupants

A. Except as specifically made applicable by § 55-248.21:1, the following conditions are not governed by this chapter:

1. Residence at a public or private institution, if incidental to detention or the provision of medical, geriatric, educational, counseling, religious or similar services;

2. Occupancy under a contract of sale of a dwelling unit or the property of which it is a part, if the occupant is the purchaser or a person who succeeds to his interest;

3. Occupancy by a member of a fraternal or social organization in the portion of a structure operated for the benefit of the organization;

4. Occupancy in a hotel, motel, extended stay facility, vacation residential facility, boardinghouse, or similar lodging as provided in subsection B;

5. Occupancy by an employee of a landlord whose right to occupancy is conditioned upon employment in and about the premises or an ex-employee whose occupancy continues less than sixty days;

6. Occupancy by an owner of a condominium unit or a holder of a proprietary lease in a cooperative;

7. Occupancy under a rental agreement covering premises used by the occupant primarily in connection with business, commercial or agricultural purposes;

8. Occupancy in a public housing unit or other housing unit subject to regulation by the Department of Housing and Urban Development where such regulation is inconsistent with this chapter;

9. Occupancy by a tenant who pays no rent;

10. Occupancy in single-family residences where the owners are natural persons or their estates who own in their own name no more than two single-family residences subject to a rental agreement; and

11. Occupancy in a campground as defined in § 35.1-1.

B. A guest who is an occupant in a hotel, motel, extended stay facility, vacation residential facility, boardinghouse, or similar lodging shall not be construed to be a tenant living in a dwelling unit if such person does not reside in such lodging as his primary residence. Such guest shall be exempt from this chapter and the innkeeper or property owner, or agent thereof, shall have the right to use self-help eviction under Virginia law, without the necessity of the filing of an unlawful detainer action in a court of competent jurisdiction and the execution of a writ of possession issued pursuant thereto, which would otherwise be required under this chapter. For purposes of this chapter, a hotel, motel, extended stay facility, vacation residential facility, boardinghouse, or similar transient lodging shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter if overnight sleeping accommodations are furnished to a person for consideration if such person does not reside in such lodging as his primary residence.

C. If a person resides in a hotel, motel, extended stay facility, vacation residential facility, boardinghouse, or similar transient lodging as his primary residence for fewer than 90 consecutive days, such lodging shall not be subject to the provisions of this chapter. However, the owner of such lodging establishment shall give a five-day written notice of nonpayment to a person residing in such lodging and, upon the expiration of the five-day period specified in the notice, may exercise self-help eviction if payment in full has not been received.

D. If a person resides in a hotel, motel, extended stay facility, vacation residential facility, boardinghouse, or similar transient lodging as their primary residence for more than 90 consecutive days or is subject to a written lease for more than 90 days, such lodging shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter.

E. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection A, the landlord may specifically provide for the applicability of the provisions of this chapter in the rental agreement.

1974, c. 680; 1975, c. 314; 1977, c. 427; 1983, c. 244; 1985, c. 314; 1988, cc. 184, 602; 1991, c. 552; 2000, c. 760; 2013, cc. 279, 712; 2014, c. 651; 2015, c. 394.