Sam Roach (he/him/his) is a senior philosophy major. He is the co-president of the W&M’s nationally ranked Ethics Bowl Team and an executive of the philosophy club. In the fall, he will begin his 1L year at Washington and Lee Law School where he hopes to prepare to become a public interest attorney. Contact him at msroach@wm.edu.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and this is not official legal advice. I am just an undergrad who has an interest in landlord-tenant law.
Dec. 3, 2024, The Flat Hat published an article detailing some of the startling conditions that students at the College of William and Mary face when navigating off-campus housing accommodations. My goal in this article is to detail the legal steps tenants can take to force their landlords to obey the law and the terms of their lease. One way of doing this is filing what is known as a tenant’s assertion. While I will outline how to file one here, it is worth checking out the Virginia Residential Landlord-Tenant Act (specifically § 55.1-1244) as well as resources on the VALegalAid.org website for more information.
I am going to tell you what I would do if I were dealing with a bad situation with my landlord. To file a tenant’s assertion, I would need to be current on rent, and I’d need to give written notice to my landlord of the problem about which I was filing the assertion. After filing the assertion, I’d continue paying my rent into escrow. Paying rent into escrow means I’d be paying my rent to the court instead of to my landlord. In court, the judge decides which party will get how much of the escrowed rent.
After giving my landlord written notice of the problem, they would have a reasonable amount of time to fix the problem (usually 21 days unless there are emergency conditions). Notice can be a written maintenance request, an email, a text, etc. If my landlord did not fix my problem in a reasonable time frame, I would fill out the Tenant’s Assertion and Complaint Form (just Google “Form DC-429” and it’ll pop up). Then, I’d take that form to the Williamsburg-James City County Courthouse.
When filling out the form, I’d make sure to write the name of the entity that owns the property that I am leasing. If I was not sure who owns the property, I would find the property at gis.williamsburg.gov, which provides that information. If the property were owned by an LLC or corporation, I would also need to find the registered agent, so I would look up the name of that registered agent via the entity search on cis.scc.virginia.gov. The registered agent is the person to whom I would send the tenant’s assertion. If the property were owned by an individual, I would write the name and address of that individual.
Problems that can be cause for a tenant’s assertion are those that constitute “a material noncompliance by the landlord with the rental agreement or with provisions of law or that, if not promptly corrected, will constitute a fire hazard or serious threat to the life, health, or safety of occupants of the premises” (Va. Code 55.1-1244). For some examples of what falls under this broad umbrella, I will refer to the previous Flat Hat article about housing in Williamsburg. In that article, interviewed students mentioned that their apartments had black mold, broken ACs, rats, fleas, broken heating, non-functional toilets, dangerous floorboards, doors that don’t lock or seal and broken appliances. These are all examples of things that I would file a tenant’s assertion for if my landlord were not fixing them. Of course, there are other things for which a tenant’s assertion can be filed.
As an added bonus to my tenant’s assertion, I would call the local housing inspector (757-220- 6136) to come write a report about my landlord’s non-compliance with health and safety regulations. I would submit inspection results with my tenant’s assertion form, and I would also bring pictures of the problem addressed in the assertion. Since the courthouse might not allow me to bring my phone, I would print physical copies of the pictures and notices given to my landlord. Since I am a student and have little to no income, I might also fill out a fee waiver form since the fee to file a tenant’s assertion is $58. To do so, I would ask the clerk for a “Petition for Proceeding in Civil Case without Payment of Fees or Costs.” If I needed to call the inspector, I would subpoena them, which requires another form that you can get when you take your tenant’s assertion to the courthouse.
The Va. Code quoted above gives one the ability to file a tenant’s assertion when their landlord is breaking the law or the conditions of their lease. Read your lease! Maybe a lack of AC does not qualify as a serious threat to safety under the law, but if my lease guarantees AC, I’d assert away! This process might sound arduous, but you will be glad you did it once you have rent money back in your pocket and safe, healthy living conditions.
Additional resources:
- Legal Aid Society of Eastern Virginia can be reached at 757-220-6837
- The Statement of Tenant’s Rights and Responsibilities:
https://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/sites/default/files/Docx/landlord-tenant/final-vrlta-statement formatted.pdf
- The SCC website to find the registered agent for your apartment/house:
https://cis.scc.virginia.gov/EntitySearch/Index
- Williamsburg GIS to find who owns your apartment:
https://gis.williamsburgva.gov/portal/apps/sites/#/williamsburg-gis
- City of Williamsburg Inspections: https://www.williamsburgva.gov/223/Inspections • The tenant’s assertion form: https://www.vacourts.gov/static/forms/district/dc429.pdf
