As of July 1, 2026, a Virginia landlord serving notice for unpaid rent has to give the tenant 14 days to pay, not five, under Virginia Code § 55.1-1245. That is the entire change. The rest of how an eviction moves through a Virginia court still works the way it always has. But a landlord who misses the new number can hand a nonpaying tenant an easy way to get the case thrown out, and the cost of that is a dismissed case and another month of lost rent.
The change applies to every residential landlord in the state, no matter the portfolio size, and our guide to Virginia's eviction process walks through the full sequence the notice sits at the front of. This post covers what changed, when it takes effect, what did not change, and what Richmond-area owners and their notice forms should do before the new period applies.
Key Takeaways
- As of July 1, 2026, Virginia's nonpayment notice period is 14 days, up from five, under § 55.1-1245(F).
- The change applies to every residential landlord in Virginia, no matter how many units they own.
- A notice form that still says five days is a procedural defect that can get an unlawful detainer dismissed.
- Only the notice period changed. Proper service, the court process, the ban on self-help, and the tenant's right to pay and stay still matter.
- The practical move is to update notice forms now and serve the day rent is late, because the 14-day clock does not start until the notice is served.
What Changed, and When
For years, a Virginia landlord could serve a five-day pay or quit notice when rent went unpaid. The tenant had five days to pay in full or the landlord could terminate the rental agreement and file in court. As of July 1, 2026, that window is 14 days under § 55.1-1245(F). The change is already enacted. It simply takes effect on that date.
Serving a 14-day notice before the effective date generally gives more time than the old rule required, while serving a five-day notice after the effective date gives less time than the new rule requires. That is why owners should update forms before July 1 instead of discovering the problem after a case is filed.
The Two Situations the 14 Days Covers
The longer notice period applies in two places. The first is ordinary nonpayment of rent: rent is late, the landlord wants to terminate, and the notice now gives the tenant 14 days from service to pay in full.
The second is a payment that bounces or is stopped in bad faith. If a tenant's check or electronic payment is rejected for insufficient funds, or the tenant places a stop payment in bad faith, the landlord serves notice giving 14 days to cure. Both situations moved from five days to 14.
What Changed and What Did Not
Only the notice period moved. Everything around it is the same. The table below separates the one change from the parts of the process owners sometimes assume changed with it.
| Element | Status as of July 1, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Nonpayment notice period | Changed: 14 days, up from five, under § 55.1-1245(F). |
| Service method | Unchanged: the notice still has to be served in a legally valid way. Email should not be treated as sufficient unless the lease and Virginia notice rules allow it. |
| Court process after the notice expires | Unchanged: the landlord still files an unlawful detainer and cannot skip the court process. |
| Self-help eviction | Unchanged: changing locks, cutting off essential services, or making the premises unsafe to force a tenant out remains unlawful and exposes the landlord to serious remedies. |
| Tenant's redemption right | Unchanged: in nonpayment cases, the tenant may still be able to stop the eviction by paying the required amounts within the statutory window. |
Self-help eviction is worth a closer look because it carries real exposure. A landlord who willfully excludes a tenant from the dwelling unit, interrupts essential services, or takes action to make the premises unsafe can face tenant remedies under § 55.1-1243.1. The 14-day change gives the tenant more time at the front of the process, not a new way out of it, and it gives the landlord no new shortcut either.
What Owners Should Do Before July 1
Two things. First, replace any five-day pay or quit form with a 14-day version so nothing referencing the old period is still in use on July 1. An outdated form is the kind of small error that gets a clean nonpayment case dismissed and sends the landlord back to the start. Second, serve the notice the day an account goes delinquent.
This is where a consistent process matters more than the individual number. The 14-day clock does not start until the notice is served, so an account that sits through a week of informal back-and-forth has not started its legal timeline at all. With the longer period, that delay now stacks: the days spent trying to work it out before serving, plus the full 14 days after. At PMI James River we serve notice the moment an account is delinquent, then use the 14-day window itself for any payment conversation rather than letting the conversation delay the notice. We log every notice and payment in Rentvine so the ledger holds up if the case is contested, and we have already moved our notice templates to the 14-day period across Richmond City, Henrico, Chesterfield, and Hanover.
A disciplined rent collection process is what keeps a late payment from turning into a two-month loss, and strong tenant screening is what keeps most of these cases from starting at all.
How the Change Affects Your Eviction Timeline
The new notice period adds nine days to the front of every nonpayment eviction. A process that used to reach the courthouse a few days sooner now waits two full weeks before a landlord can file. That makes early action more important, not less. Waiting to serve, or negotiating informally for a few weeks first, now stacks on top of a longer statutory window and pushes the whole timeline out.
The takeaway is the same one that applied under the old rule, just with more weight behind it: start the clock the day rent is late.
How Virginia's 14 Days Compares to Other States
Fourteen days is on the generous end of the national range. Many states give a tenant only a few days to pay before the landlord can move to court, and in several of them those days exclude weekends and holidays, which makes the real window even shorter. The table below shows where Virginia's new period lands against a sample of other states.
| State | Nonpayment notice period | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| California | 3 days, excluding weekends and holidays | Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1161 |
| Florida | 3 days, excluding weekends and holidays | Fla. Stat. § 83.56(3) |
| Texas | 3 days, unless the lease sets a different period | Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005 |
| Illinois | 5 days | 735 ILCS 5/9-209 |
| Virginia, as of July 1, 2026 | 14 days | Va. Code § 55.1-1245(F) |
| New York | 14 days | N.Y. Real Prop. Acts. Law § 711(2) |
| Washington | 14 days | Wash. Rev. Code § 59.12.030(3) |
The practical point for a Virginia owner is not that other states are stricter. It is that Virginia has moved from the short end of this range to the long end. Until July 1 the state's five-day period sat alongside the three-to-five-day group, and after July 1 it joins New York and Washington at 14. That is more runway for a tenant to catch up, which is one more reason to serve the notice the day rent is late rather than after an informal grace period.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Virginia's 14-day pay or quit notice take effect?
July 1, 2026. The change is already enacted under § 55.1-1245(F), and on that date the nonpayment notice period becomes 14 days instead of five. Because serving a longer notice generally gives more time than the old rule required, owners can move to 14-day notices ahead of the effective date instead of waiting until the last minute.
Does the 14-day notice apply to landlords with only one rental property?
Yes. The notice period applies to every residential landlord in Virginia regardless of portfolio size. There is no small-landlord exception. An owner renting out a single house in Henrico operates under the same 14-day requirement as a manager handling dozens of units.
What happens if my notice still says five days after July 1?
It can sink the case. A notice that gives less time than the law requires is a procedural defect, and a tenant or their legal aid attorney can use it to get an unlawful detainer dismissed. The landlord then has to serve a corrected notice and start the timeline over, losing the weeks already spent.
Did this change make the rest of the eviction process longer?
Only by the nine extra days in the notice period. The court filing, the hearing, the appeal window, and the writ of eviction all work the same way they did before. The single change is the number of days the tenant gets to pay before the landlord can file.
Can a tenant still pay to stop the eviction after I file?
Yes. Virginia's redemption rules still allow a tenant to stop a nonpayment eviction by paying the required amounts within the statutory window, including in some cases no less than 48 hours before the scheduled eviction. The 14-day change did not remove that protection. It only extended how long the tenant has to respond to the initial notice.
The Bottom Line
This is a small change with a sharp edge. The number moved from five to 14, and a landlord who updates their forms and serves promptly will barely feel it, while one still using an old notice on July 1 can lose a case over a single outdated line. The rest of the eviction process is unchanged, and getting it right still comes down to documentation, timing, and a clean paper trail.
If keeping up with Virginia's notice rules and running a defensible nonpayment process across Richmond City, Henrico, Chesterfield, or Hanover is more than you want to manage alone, PMI James River handles it day to day. Learn more about our Richmond property management services. This article is general information, not legal advice for a specific case. For a particular situation, talk to a Virginia landlord-tenant attorney.
