I just learned of a new law in VA, and my city is one of the "lucky: pilot program cities. Legislators want to give tenants 4 months to pay their overdue rent, on a payment program, before you can file for eviction.

The person interviewed said her income decreased - how was I going to survive? Apparently, the answer is: Steal from your Landlord - let them figure out how to survive. Check it out: www.wavy.com/news/virginia/va-lawmakers-try-to-cut-down-on-evictions-create-pilot-program/1928769439

while I agree it's a load of crap, it doesn't sound completely devastating to land lords who themselves aren't on the fringe. Per the article...

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"Tenants will have a four-month period to pay back the rent they owe, either paid to the courts or landlord directly. They have to make every court appearance and also explain to a judge, on the record, why they couldn’t pay up in the first place.

“They explain why they aren’t able to pay their rent, but they do have the capacity going forward to pay that rent,” she said, meaning they need a source of income and can afford to live where they are."

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If VA truly wants to help and not do so solely at the LL's expense, have the tenant post a bond of an amount to equal the entire rent past due, all late fees, and court costs along with a 15% premium to cover the extra costs and hassle the LL must endure, so that if they fail to make even 1 appearance or payment, they get immediately evicted (24 hours...gone) AND the land lord receives every penny owed for being so nice as to "participate" in this program.

If they are a few months behind... what makes someone believe that they will be able to pay their current rent as well as make payments on the back rent?

Fishsticks...

While reading the article, the proponents gave the example of a one time medical bill or a flat tire.

Now you and I both know that's B.S. First off, medical providers frequently make payment arrangements as long as they're receiving a reasonable amount...and a flat tire costs...$70 for a new tire? Maybe $200 if you're driving a mega-SUV or pick 'em up truck? Not a life-ending amount, and certainly something you could come up with to avoid losing your home. But for the sake of argument...

The idea is this "one time" event is the ONLY thing, and were it not for that event these are good renters who would never miss a payment. Well...whatever. My guess is they will try the pilot and it will help some, but most will still be evicted.

Also, it is likely that VA land lords will be much QUICKER to pull the trigger now, because the 4 month delay means they have a potentially larger loss. Late 3 days? Nope, we're not waiting...let the judge give you the time.

A history of eviction filings will be almost as damaging as an eviction itself, especially to FUTURE land lord who will be even less likely to "give someone a chance" how that this chance involves up to 4 months of drama.

wages are paid in arrears .... mortgages are paid in arrears ... rent is paid in advance.

Incredible absolutely incredible. Here in my area, eviction prevention involves giving emergency funds to pay the rent arrears not LL's financing them for four months. At some point, they're going to block LL's even from finding out about past evictions to prevent the hammer coming down with far tighter screening.

I'm looking at the top 100 cities for evictions and the rates are high. It might be interesting to see what's actually behind it. My area has an eviction rate under 3% in comparison, Richmond Virginia's rate is nearly 4 times that at 11.44%. That would be a hard place for me to consider investing in even if they were no pilot programs. Based on those numbers, there is a crisis for both tenants and LL's. It a twisted sort of way, an argument could be made that this helps LL's given the high eviction rates.

And it looks like giving over 2 million more to legal aid to help the tenants.

Why not give the 2 mil to a fund to help tenants pay rent.

Main concern with the 4 months is how a tenant friendly Judge will apply the law.

Does say they cant have been late more than 2 times in 6 months or 3 times in past year.

Think I may change my lease a little. So it is very clear the rent is considered late after the 1 st but a late fee is not charged until after the 5th.

A lot of ours still pay on the 5th. In their minds it is not late until they are charged the fee.

So let them continue to do so and at least I will have a strong argument that the laws does not apply.

Why focus on the rent payment, that should only be 1/3 or less of their income. Maybe they could defer their car payment, cell phone, Amazon bill, or restaurant bills so they can pay their rent. That would be more effective long term in lowering the eviction rate as the non-essential expenses go away as they can't catch up.

Looking at the numbers again comparing Richmond VA to the two cities here in PA where I have rentals. Again, PA is a LL friendly state by all accounts in comparison to other states. Poverty rates in Richmond are slightly higher than the two towns I'm invested in, however the rent burden (percentage of household income spent on rent) is comparable. Median gross rents are comparable as well as is median household income, yet the eviction filing rate and the eviction rates are far higher in Richmond. Here's the comparison of the eviction rates:

Richmond VA: 11.44%

My City # 1: 1.51%

My City # 2: .91%

Again, this is a LL friendly area and there is no shortage of deadbeats here, but there has to be some reason for this huge difference. Median property values in Richmond are higher, but not obscenely so; $ 193,700 for Richmond versus 170,500 and 125,800 for my two cities. In Richmond, the filing rate for evictions is 31% vs 7% and 10% for my cities---in other words for every 100 rentals in Richmond, 31 of them have eviction cases filed against them. Something is up and I can see why the politicians felt compelled to do something but it's not clear what is driving the difference.

Freedom and liberty are NOT passed down through the generations

You must fight for them every day

YOU need to scream at the top of your lungs to your representatives.

If you dont know your Reps on a 1st name basis make sure you change that quickly

uninformed/complacent electorate = basically, downfall of every democracy/representative form of gov’t ever.

I think it was really thoughtful of them to look out for the landlord by allowing the tenant to be late ONLY 3 times in a year.

(Sarcasm!)