Your rights as a tenant are governed by the lease and the Virginia Code. Virginia has a residential landlord tenant act. This may apply to your lease. That may depend on how many rental units the landlord has. If there is a conflict between the lease and the statute then the law is going to prevail.
If you did not sign a written lease, then you may be governed by the oral terms that were agreed to. The problem with an oral contract is it sometimes becomes a subject of dispute as to what the terms of that agreement were.
What Are My Rights As A tenant-Tenant Rights & Personal Injury Issues
In regards to personal injury issues, a landlord owes you as a tenant a duty of reasonable care. That care means keeping the premises reasonably safe. If the landlord violates that duty then the landlord may be liable for resulting injury. This duty may apply to cleaning the walkways and stairs. Also it may apply to removing ice and snow and providing reasonable security. Depending on your lease it may not apply to interior conditions that you have to maintain.
What Are My Rights As a Tenant-Learn More
See Brien Roche’s book Law 101 published by Sphinx Publishing for more information on this subject.
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Legal answers provided by Brien Roche, a personal injury attorney with over 45 years of trial experience. Contact Us today to discuss your personal injury matter.
For more information about tenant rights see the pages on Wikipedia.