Virginia Law

A. Any locality may adopt an ordinance to require the owner of publicly supported housing to provide written notice to (i) the locality; (ii) all tenants residing in the property at the time of such notice; and (iii) the tenant association, if any, 24 months before the termination of an affordability restriction affecting publicly supported housing.

1. The written termination notice shall specify in plain language whether the owner (i) intends to allow the termination of affordability restrictions to continue, (ii) intends to convert the publicly supported housing to nonresidential use, (iii) is involved in negotiations to renew or enter into a new equivalent affordability restriction, or (iv) intends to sell the publicly supported housing to a third-party buyer, including information about whether such third-party buyer intends to comply with an equivalent affordability restriction.

2. The written termination notice may include the address of the publicly supported housing, the name and address of the owner, the termination date of each affordability restriction, and an explanation and any expiration date of any provisions that may allow the tenant to retain the tenancy after the affordability restrictions are terminated.

3. If more than one termination will occur, the owner may send one written notice so long as the terminations are scheduled to occur within one year of each other and the notice is given 24 months prior to the earliest termination.

B. The written termination notice required by this section shall be delivered in a format prescribed by the locality. The owner shall retain sufficient proof of delivery, as determined by the locality. Any notice required by this section to tenants shall be provided in accordance with §§ 55.1-1200 and 55.1-1202.

C. An owner of publicly supported housing that, on the effective date of the ordinance adopted pursuant to this section, has less than 24 months remaining prior to the date when the affordability restriction affecting the publicly supported housing will terminate, shall not be required to give the 24-month notice required by subsection A, but shall provide such notice within 90 days after the effective date of such ordinance.

D. Any ordinance adopted pursuant to this section may require that an owner subject to such notice requirements submit to the locality, no more than 30 days after the notice requirement date, sufficient verification that the owner has complied with the provisions of this section. If the locality did not receive or plans to contest the validity of such verification, the locality shall notify the owner, by certified mail, return receipt requested, within 60 days of receipt of such verification or after such verification should have been received. If the locality does not contest the owner's compliance within the 60-day period, a certificate of compliance shall be recorded in the land records of the locality. The certificate of compliance shall (i) contain a legal description of the property, (ii) identify the owner as the grantor, and (iii) be acknowledged by the owner and the locality in the manner required for acknowledgement of a deed.

E. Any locality may establish by ordinance a uniform schedule of fines or penalties, not to exceed $5,000 per violation, upon a publicly supported housing owner for failure to comply with the notice provisions of this section, except that no locality shall impose a fine or penalty upon the owner if a certificate of compliance for that owner was recorded in the land records of the locality or the owner was not notified of noncompliance according to the provisions of this section.

2026, c. 352.