Virginia law protects Richmond tenants from landlord retaliation and harassment for asserting their rights, including filing habitability complaints, joining tenant organizations, or pursuing legal remedies under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act.
VA §55.1-1258 prohibits retaliatory conduct by landlords against tenants who exercise their statutory rights. Prohibited conduct includes raising rent, decreasing services, filing eviction, or refusing renewal in response to a tenant's good-faith complaint to a code enforcement agency, organization activity, or assertion of repair rights. Richmond's Department of Housing and Community Development handles habitability complaints, and tenants may also file civil actions for damages plus attorney fees. The Eviction Diversion Program provides mediation services that can address harassment concerns before formal court action.
Retaliatory rent increases, service reductions, evictions, or non-renewals can trigger statutory damages, court-ordered injunctions, and attorney fee awards under VA §55.1-1258.
Richmond, VA
Richmond follows Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (VRLTA) under VA Code Title 55.1 Chapter 12. No local just-cause eviction ordinance; state law ...
Richmond, VA
Virginia's Residential Landlord-Tenant Act caps security deposits at two months' rent, requires return within 45 days of move-out with itemized deductions, a...
See how Richmond's tenant anti-harassment rules stack up against other locations.
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