Just cause eviction rules in Suffolk, VA — sometimes called tenant protection or "for cause" eviction ordinances — list the specific legal reasons a landlord can end a tenancy.
Suffolk has no just-cause eviction ordinance. Under the VRLTA a landlord may end a month-to-month tenancy without giving a reason on 30 days' written notice. Nonpayment requires a 14-day pay-or-quit notice, and self-help lockouts are illegal.
Virginia's Dillon's Rule bars Suffolk from requiring a landlord to prove cause, so the city follows the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. A landlord may terminate a month-to-month tenancy for no stated reason with at least 30 days' written notice (Va. Code §55.1-1253), and a fixed-term lease simply ends on its date. For cause, the landlord must first serve written notice: 14 days to pay overdue rent, or 21 days to cure a remediable lease violation before a 30-day termination. Eviction runs through the court as an unlawful detainer under §55.1-1251, so self-help lockouts or utility shutoffs are illegal.
A self-help eviction — changing locks, removing doors, or shutting off utilities — is illegal, and the tenant may recover damages. Filing to evict without the required 14-day or 30-day written notice gets the case dismissed.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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See how Suffolk's just cause eviction rules stack up against other locations.
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