Virginia Eviction Notices: 14-Day Pay-or-Quit and 30-Day Notices

Virginia eviction notices are the written warnings a landlord serves before asking a court to remove a tenant. The Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act sets out a small set of notice types, each tied to a reason for ending the tenancy: a 14-day notice for unpaid rent and a 30-day notice with a 21-day window to fix a lease violation under Va. Code § 55.1-1245, plus a 30-day notice to end a month-to-month tenancy under Va. Code § 55.1-1253. Ending a tenancy this way is one of the topics in Virginia’s landlord-tenant law. A notice is not itself an eviction; it is the step the law requires before a landlord files an unlawful detainer in the General District Court.

What notice Virginia requires before an eviction

Virginia does not allow “self-help” eviction. A landlord cannot change the locks, remove a tenant’s belongings, or shut off utilities to force someone out. The landlord must serve a written termination notice, wait out the notice period, and, if the tenant neither leaves nor cures, file an unlawful detainer case in court.

Three situations cover most residential cases: the tenant owes rent, the tenant has broken a term of the lease, or a party wants to end a month-to-month arrangement with no allegation of fault. Each carries its own notice and its own number of days. Serving the wrong notice, or counting the days wrong, can force a landlord to start over. The Virginia Judicial System’s self-help resources for landlord and tenant cases describe eviction, which the courts call “unlawful detainer”, as a technical area of law with strict deadlines.

The 14-day notice for unpaid rent

When rent is not paid when due, the process starts with a written pay-or-quit notice. Under Va. Code § 55.1-1245, the notice tells the tenant the amount of unpaid rent and states that the rental agreement will terminate if the rent is not paid within 14 days. Pay the full amount inside that window and the tenancy continues. Let the 14 days pass without payment, and the landlord may terminate the tenancy and file for possession.

This 14-day period replaced Virginia’s older five-day pay-or-quit rule when the General Assembly rewrote the Act. For some landlords, Va. Code § 55.1-1245 also requires the notice to offer the tenant a payment plan when the unpaid balance is no more than one month’s rent plus any late charges allowed by the lease. Only after the tenant fails to accept or keep up that plan can the landlord terminate for nonpayment.

The 30-day notice with a 21-day chance to cure

When a tenant breaks a term of the lease, an unauthorized pet, extra occupants, or other conduct short of nonpayment, the landlord uses a different notice. Under Va. Code § 55.1-1245, the notice must identify the specific act or omission that breaches the agreement and state that the rental agreement will terminate on a date at least 30 days after the tenant receives the notice if the breach is not remedied within 21 days. Tenants sometimes call this the “21/30-day” notice.

Fix the problem within the 21-day cure period and the tenancy continues. If the breach is not remedied, the agreement terminates on the date stated in the notice, no sooner than 30 days out, and the landlord may file for possession.

When the tenant has no right to cure

Some conduct does not come with a second chance. Under Va. Code § 55.1-1245, when a breach involves a criminal or willful act that cannot be remedied and that poses a threat to health or safety, the landlord may serve a notice that ends the tenancy without offering the 21-day cure period. The notice still has to state the acts that justify it.

The 30-day notice to end a month-to-month tenancy

Not every eviction notice involves fault. To end a month-to-month tenancy, either the landlord or the tenant gives written notice at least 30 days before the next rent due date, under Va. Code § 55.1-1253, unless the rental agreement sets a different notice period. A week-to-week tenancy requires at least seven days’ written notice before the next rent due date. If the tenant stays past the termination date, the landlord may bring an action for possession and recover damages, reasonable attorney fees, and court costs.

Large apartment owners follow an added rule. Under Va. Code § 55.1-1253, an owner of a multifamily property that declines to renew 20 or more month-to-month tenancies, or half of them, within a 30-day period must give each affected tenant at least 60 days’ written notice.

How a Virginia eviction notice must be delivered

A notice only counts if it reaches the tenant the way the law allows. Under Va. Code § 55.1-1202, notice to a tenant is served at the tenant’s last known place of residence, which may be the rental unit itself. The landlord and tenant may agree in the lease to send notices electronically, but a tenant who asks to receive paper notices is entitled to them, and the sender must keep proof of any electronic delivery.

Counting matters. The notice period generally runs from the date the notice is served, and the day counts set by statute, 14 days, 21 days, or 30 days, are minimums, not targets. A landlord who files an unlawful detainer before the period ends under Va. Code § 55.1-1245 risks having the case dismissed and having to serve a fresh notice.

What happens after the notice period ends

The notice itself does not remove the tenant. If the tenant has not paid, cured, or moved out by the deadline, the landlord’s next step is to file an unlawful detainer, a “Summons for Unlawful Detainer,” Form DC-421, in the General District Court for the city or county where the property sits. Only a court can order the tenant removed, and only a sheriff can carry out that removal after the court issues a writ of eviction.

Because the deadlines are strict and a defective notice can restart the clock, the Virginia Judicial System points self-represented landlords and tenants to its court self-help resources on landlord and tenant cases. The steps that follow the notice, filing, the court date, judgment, and the writ of eviction, belong to the broader eviction process covered in Virginia’s landlord-tenant law.