Virginia Law

Article 2. Limitations on Recovery of Realty and Enforcement of Certain Liens Relating to Realty.

No person shall make an entry on, or bring an action to recover, any land unless within fifteen years next after the time at which the right to make such entry or bring such action shall have first accrued to such person or to some other person through whom he claims; provided that an action for unlawful entry or detainer under § 8.01-124 shall be brought within three years after such entry or detainer.

Code 1950, § 8-5; 1954, c. 604; 1977, c. 617; 1978, c. 471.

Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection A of § 8.01-229, no disabilities or tacking of disabilities shall preserve to any person or his successors a right to make entry on or bring an action to recover land for more than twenty-five years after such right first accrued, although such person or persons shall have been disabled during the whole of such twenty-five years.

Code 1950, §§ 8-7, 8-8; 1977, c. 617.

A bill in equity to repeal, in whole or in part, any grant of land by the Commonwealth, shall be brought within ten years next after the date of such grant.

Code 1950, § 8-9; 1977, c. 617.

No action shall be brought for the recovery of any ground rent reserved upon real estate after the expiration of ten years from the time such ground rent becomes due and payable.

Code 1950, § 8-10; 1977, c. 617.

No suit shall be brought to enforce the lien of any water, sewer, or sidewalk assessment, heretofore or hereafter made, against lands which have been conveyed by the person owning them at the time of such assessment to a grantee for value unless the same be brought within ten years from the due recordation of the deed from such person to grantee and within twenty years from the due docketing of such assessment.

Code 1950, §§ 8-10.1, 8-10.2; 1958, c. 516; 1966, c. 434; 1977, c. 617.

A. No deed of trust or mortgage heretofore or hereafter given to secure the payment of money, and no lien heretofore or hereafter reserved to secure the payment of unpaid purchase money, shall be enforced after 10 years from the time when the original obligation last maturing thereby secured shall have become due and payable according to its terms and without regard to any provision for the acceleration of such date; provided that the period of one year from the death of any party in interest shall be excluded from the computation of time.

B. Notwithstanding the limitations prescribed by subsection A, a deed of trust or mortgage given, and a lien reserved to secure the payment of money, for which the original obligation last maturing thereby secured became due and payable according to its terms between July 1, 1988, and July 1, 2000, without regard to any provision for the acceleration of the date such obligation became due and payable, shall not be enforced after July 1, 2010. However, the provisions of this subsection shall have no effect on the rights of a person who (i) acquired an interest in the real property securing such deed of trust or mortgage between July 1, 2008, and the date of enactment of this subsection and (ii) would otherwise have priority over or take free of such deed of trust or mortgage under the laws of the Commonwealth at that time.

C. The limitations prescribed by this section may be extended by the recordation of a certificate in the form provided in § 8.01-241.1 prior to the expiration of the limitation period prescribed herein in the clerk's office in which such lien is recorded and executed either by the party in whom the beneficial title to the property so encumbered is vested at the time of such recordation or by his duly authorized attorney-in-fact, or agent. Recordation of the certificate shall extend the limitations of the right to enforce the lien for 10 years from the date of the recordation of the certificate. The clerk of the court shall index the certificate in both names in the index of the deed book and give reference to the book and page in which the original writing is recorded. Unless the deed or deeds executed pursuant to the foreclosure of any mortgage or to the execution of or sale under any deed of trust is recorded in the county or city where the land is situated within one year after the time the right to enforce the mortgage or deed of trust shall have expired as hereinabove provided, such deed or deeds shall be void as to all purchasers for valuable consideration without notice and lien creditors who make any purchase of or acquire any lien on the land conveyed by any such deed prior to the time such deed is so recorded.

Code 1950, § 8-11; 1950, p. 19; 1977, c. 617; 1980, c. 499; 1994, c. 547; 1999, c. 788; 2008, c. 226; 2009, c. 163.

Any extension of the limitations of the right to enforce the lien of a deed of trust or mortgage shall conform substantially with the following form:

CERTIFICATE OF EXTENSION OF LIMITATION OF
RIGHT TO ENFORCE DEED OF TRUST OR MORTGAGE

Place of Record...........................................................…
Date of Deed of Trust/Mortgage...........................................…
Deed Book..............… Book Page....................................…
Name of Guarantor(s)......................................................…
Name of Trustee(s)........................................................…
Maker(s) of Note..........................................................…
Date of Note(s)...........................................................…

I/we, the beneficial title holder(s) of the property encumbered by the
above mentioned deed of trust/mortgage, do hereby certify that the lien of
the same is hereby extended 10 years from the date of my/our endorsement upon
this certificate.

...........................................................…

Beneficial Titleholder/Attorney-in-Fact/Agent
Commonwealth of Virginia
County/City of................…:

Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by

...........…, this … day of........, 20 …

My Commission expires:................…

Notary Public

1994, c. 547; 2008, c. 226.

No deed of trust or mortgage given to secure the payment of money, other than credit line deeds of trust described in § 55.1-318, and no lien reserved to secure the payment of unpaid purchase money, in which no date is fixed for the maturity of the debt secured by such deed of trust, mortgage, or lien, shall be enforced after twenty years from the date of the deed of trust, mortgage, or other lien; provided that the period of one year from the death of any party in interest shall be excluded from the computation of time, and provided further that the limitation may be extended by recordation of a certificate within the twenty-year period in the manner set forth in § 8.01-241. No credit line deed of trust described in § 55.1-318 in which no date is fixed for the maturity of the debt secured thereby shall be enforced after forty years from the date of the credit line deed of trust; provided that the period of one year from the death of any party in interest shall be excluded from the computation of time.

Code 1950, § 8-12; 1977, c. 617; 1994, c. 547; 1999, c. 788.