“There were certain protections against eviction based on non-payment of rent that were tied to the state of emergency,” said Laura Dobbs this week. She is a housing attorney that works at the Virginia Poverty Law Center.
“Now that the state of emergency has ended, so do certain protections,” she said.
According to Dobbs, landlords can now take legal action to evict tenants for unpaid rent, even if that landlord is refusing to cooperate with the Virginia Rent Relief Program.
During the state of emergency, landlords were required to apply for relief on their tenant’s behalf, and wait a period of time for that application to be approved before moving forward with an eviction.
They’re no longer required to do that and the court rosters are showing it.