Title 8.01, Title 8.01. Civil Remedies and Procedure

When distress is made for rent justly due and any irregularity or unlawful act is afterwards done by the party distraining, or his agent, the distress itself shall not be deemed to be unlawful, nor is the party making it therefore deemed a trespasser ab initio. The party aggrieve…

The sheriff under writ of execution from the court after hearing and judgment for the landlord, except as otherwise provided by law, shall make return on his execution as may be placed in his hands for collection and file the same, within 90 days after the same may have come to h…

If a person is entitled to rent or compensation, whether such person has the reversion or not, then his personal representative or assignee may recover it as provided in § 8.01-130.1, whatever the estate of the person owning it, or though his estate or interest in the land has en…

Rent may be recovered from the lessee or other person owing it, or his assignee, or the personal representative of either; however, no assignee shall be liable for rent that became due before his interest began. Nothing in this section shall impair or change the liability of heir…

A distress action for rent may be brought no later than five years from the time the rent becomes due, whether the lease is ended or not. The distress shall be made by a sheriff of the county or city where the premises yielding the rent, or some part thereof, is located or the go…

The distress warrant shall contain a return date and be tried in the same manner as an action on a warrant as prescribed in § 16.1-79, except that the case shall be returnable not more than 30 days from its date of issuance. The trial or hearing of the issues, except as otherwise…

The distress may be levied on any goods of the lessee, his assignee, or any sublessee that are found on the premises or that may have been removed from the premises not more than 30 days prior to the levy. A levy within such 30 days shall have like effect as if the goods levied o…

A. On affidavit by a tenant, whose property has been levied on under a warrant of distress, that (i) he is unable to give the bond required in § 8.01-526 and (ii) he has a valid defense under subsection B, the officer levying the warrant shall permit the property to remain in the…

Promptly after levy on the property or promptly after possession of the property is taken by the officer pursuant to an ex parte order, or after denial of an application to issue such order by a magistrate, upon application of either party, and after reasonable notice, a judge of…

If, after the commencement of any tenancy, a lien is obtained or created by deed of trust, mortgage, or otherwise upon the interest or property in goods on premises leased or rented of any person liable for the rent, or such goods are sold, the party having such lien, or the purc…

A. The action of ejectment is retained, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, and to the applicable Rules of Court. B. Such action may be brought in the same cases in which a writ of right might have been brought prior to the first day of July, 1850, and by any person …

No person shall bring such ejectment action unless he has, at the time of commencing it, a subsisting interest in the premises claimed and a right to recover the same, or to recover the possession thereof, or some share, interest or portion thereof.

The person actually occupying the premises and any person claiming title thereto or claiming any interest therein adversely to the plaintiff may also, at the discretion of the plaintiff, be named defendants in the action. If there be no person actually occupying the premises adve…

The action shall be commenced and prosecuted as other actions at law. The name of the real claimant shall be inserted as plaintiff, and all the provisions of law concerning a lessor of a plaintiff shall apply to such plaintiff.

It shall be sufficient for the plaintiff to aver in his motion for judgment that on some day specified therein, which shall be after his title accrued, he was possessed of the premises claimed, and, being so possessed thereof, the defendant afterwards, on some day likewise specif…

The premises claimed shall be described in the motion for judgment with convenient certainty, so that, from such description, with the aid of information derived from the plaintiff, possession thereof may be delivered.

The plaintiff shall also state whether he claims in fee or for his life, or the life of another, or for years, specifying such lives or the duration of such term, and when he claims an undivided share or interest he shall state the same.

The motion for judgment may contain several counts, and several parties may be named as plaintiffs jointly in one count and separately in others.

The consent rule, formerly used, remains abolished. The plaintiff need not prove an actual entry on, or possession of, the premises demanded, or receipt of any profits thereof, or any lease, entry, or ouster, except as hereinafter provided. But it shall be sufficient for him to s…

In any action, suit or other judicial proceeding involving the title to land embraced in the exterior boundaries of any patent, deed or other writing, which reserves one or more parcels of land from the operation of such patent, deed or other writing, if there be no claim made by…

If the action be by one or more tenants in common, joint tenants or coparceners against their cotenants, the plaintiff shall be bound to prove actual ouster or some other act amounting to total denial of the plaintiff's right as cotenant.

If the action be against several defendants, and a joint possession of all be proved, and the plaintiff be entitled to a verdict, it shall be against all, whether they pleaded separately or jointly.

If the action be against several defendants, and it appear on the trial that any of them occupy distinct parcels in severalty or jointly, and that other defendants possess other parcels in severalty or jointly, the plaintiff may recover several judgments against them, for the par…

The plaintiff may recover any specific or any undivided part or share of the premises, though it be less than he claimed in the motion for judgment.

In a controversy affecting real estate, possession of part shall not be construed as possession of the whole when an actual adverse possession can be proved.

A vendor, or any claiming under him, shall not, at law any more than in equity, recover against a vendee, or those claiming under him, lands sold by such vendor to such vendee, when there is a writing, stating the purchase and the terms thereof, signed by the vendor or his agent …

The payment of the whole sum, or the performance of the whole duty, or the accomplishment of the whole purpose, which any mortgage or deed of trust may have been made to secure or effect, shall prevent the grantee, or his heirs, from recovering at law, by virtue of such mortgage …

Whether the defendant shall or shall not make or attempt a defense under §§ 8.01-146 and 8.01-147, he shall not be precluded from resorting to equity for any relief to which he would have been entitled if such sections had not been enacted.

If the jury be of opinion for the plaintiffs, or any of them, the verdict shall be for the plaintiffs, or such of them as appear to have right to the possession of the premises, or any part thereof, and against such of the defendants as were in possession thereof or claimed title…

When any plaintiff appears to have no such right, the verdict as to such plaintiff shall be for the defendants.

When the right of the plaintiff is proved to all the premises claimed, the verdict shall be for the premises generally as specified in the motion for judgment, but if it be proved to only a part or share of the premises, the verdict shall specify such part particularly as the sam…

If the verdict be for an undivided share or interest in the premises claimed, it shall specify the same, and if for an undivided share or interest of a part of the premises, it shall specify such share or interest, and describe such part as before required.

The verdict shall also specify the estate found in the plaintiff, whether it be in fee or for life, stating for whose life, or whether it be a term of years, and specifying the duration of such term.

If the right or title of a plaintiff in ejectment expire after the commencement of the suit, but before trial, the verdict shall be according to the fact, and judgment shall be entered for his damages sustained from the withholding of the premises by the defendant, and as to the …

The judgment for the plaintiff shall be, that he recover the possession of the premises, according to the verdict of the jury, if there be a verdict, or if the judgment be by default, or on demurrer, according to the description thereof in the motion for judgment.

In any county or city, when personal property is removed from premises pursuant to an action of unlawful detainer or ejectment, or pursuant to any other action in which personal property is removed from premises in order to restore such premises to the person entitled thereto, th…

If the plaintiff file with his motion for judgment a statement of the profits and other damages which he means to demand, and the jury find in his favor, they shall, at the same time, unless the court otherwise order, assess the damages for mesne profits of the land for any perio…

If there be no issue of fact tried in the cause, and judgment is to be rendered for the plaintiff on demurrer, or otherwise, such damages shall be assessed by the court, unless either party shall move to have them assessed by a jury, or the court shall think proper to have them s…

If the defendant intends to claim allowance for improvements made upon the premises by himself or those under whom he claims, he shall file with his pleading a statement of his claim therefor, in case judgment be rendered for the plaintiff.

In such case, the damages of the plaintiff, and the allowance to the defendant for improvements, shall be estimated, and the balance ascertained, and judgment therefor rendered, as prescribed in Article 15 (§ 8.01-166 et seq.) of this chapter.

On the motion of either party, the court may order the assessment of such damages and allowance to be postponed until after the verdict on the title is recorded.

Any such judgment in an action of ejectment shall be conclusive as to the title or right of possession established in such action, upon the party against whom it is rendered, and against all persons claiming from, through, or under such party, by title accruing after the commence…

Nothing in this chapter shall prevent the plaintiff from recovering mesne profits, or damages done to the premises, from any person other than the defendant, who may be liable to such action.

No writ of right, writ of entry, or writ of formedon, shall be hereafter brought.

Any defendant against whom a decree or judgment shall be rendered for land, when no assessment of damages has been made under Article 14 (§ 8.01-131 et seq.) of this chapter, may, at any time before the execution of the decree or judgment, present a pleading to the court renderin…

The jury, in assessing such damages, either under this article or under Article 14 (§ 8.01-131 et seq.) of this chapter, shall determine the annual value of the premises during the time the defendant was in possession thereof, exclusive of the use by the tenant of the improvement…