Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Where the Virginia Housing Development Authority obtained a district court detainer order that granted it possession of a house plaintiff was living in, plaintiff has pleaded insufficient facts to show the order was obtained by extrinsic fraud. The VHDA’s plea ...

Tagged with: Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Real Estate Virginia Circuit Courts

Where a bank had first- and third-priority liens on real property and recorded an agreement that subordinated the first-priority lien to the third-priority lien, the liens survived when the second-priority lienholder foreclosed after the property owners defaulted. The agreement was ...

Tagged with: Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy Real Estate Supreme Court of Virginia

Plaintiffs’ claim of a prescriptive easement to use defendants’ road survives demurrer because the complaint alleges exclusive and continuous use, from which plaintiffs’ use under claim of right is presumed. Because plaintiffs have stated a claim, they can seek permanent ...

Tagged with: Judge Fredrick A. Rowlett Real Estate Virginia Circuit Courts Washington County Circuit Court

Plaintiffs lack the necessary property interest to raise constitutional and inverse condemnation claims arising from the city-ordered demolition of a fire-damaged building in a historical district. Background In 2015, Sinesi bought the Grandy House, which was built in 1901 and ...

Tagged with: Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Real Estate Virginia Circuit Courts

The Fairfax Board of Zoning Appeals correctly upheld the county zoning administrator’s violation notice to petitioners, who were making short-term rentals of their residential home. Violation notice Petitioners own a home in a district zoned for “dwellings.” The applicable ordinance, ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Daniel E. Ortiz Real Estate Virginia Circuit Courts

The circuit court’s disposition of funds placed into an escrow account by a bankruptcy court’s order is affirmed. Facts Thoburn was a general partner of Thoburn Limited Partnership, which owned property that was used to secure several loans. A $320,000 ...

Tagged with: Order Real Estate Supreme Court of Virginia

Where the court has previously denied plaintiffs summary judgment on their claim that Fairfax County unreasonably amended its zoning ordinance to regulate short term leases of residential property, plaintiffs erroneously argue in a motion for reconsideration that the court determined ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Richard E. Gardiner Real Estate Virginia Circuit Courts

Where plaintiffs claim a right to make short-term leases (STLs) of their residential homes through online platforms and allege that Fairfax County unreasonably amended its zoning ordinance regarding STLs by not considering the amendment’s effect on plaintiffs’ by-right use of ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Richard E. Gardiner Real Estate Virginia Circuit Courts

A homeowner association’s seasonal decoration guidelines exceeded its declaration of restrictive covenants and are thus unenforceable. The circuit court’s judgment, which upheld fines imposed against appellant property owners for violating the guidelines, and which awarded attorney fees and costs, is ...

Tagged with: Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Real Estate Supreme Court of Virginia

Evidence of the probability that appellant’s farmland would be rezoned for commercial use was admissible in this condemnation case to determine the compensation due for land taken to construct a highway interchange. Background The highway commission sought to take a ...

Tagged with: Justice Cleo E. Powell Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn Justice Stephen R. McCullough Real Estate Supreme Court of Virginia