Subcommittee removes emergency-protective-order trigger, approves amended bill letting tenants end leases with 28 days' notice

The House General Laws Committeehousing and consumer protection subcommittee voted 6-2 to report Senate Bill 884 as amended, changing the lease-termination notice to 28 days and removing language that would have allowed tenants to terminate leases based solely on an emergency protective order.

Senator Mark Perry, the billpatron, told the subcommittee the measure expands existing protections to allow tenants who obtain a magistrate- or judge-issued emergency, preliminary or permanent protective order, or who have a magistrate finding probable cause or a charging document, to give notice and terminate their lease early in order to escape domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or human trafficking situations. "This bill really seeks to protect victims of some of the most serious crimes we see in our country and particularly the most vulnerable victims," Perry said.

Supporters and opponents focused debate on emergency protective orders, which magistrates can issue for immediate, short-term protection (72 hours). Several housing-industry groups and the Virginia Poverty Law Center told the committee they worried abusers could misuse emergency protective orders as a tool to displace people or further control victims. Karen Korman of the realtors said her group supported the bill"We support the concept," she saidbut added concerns about the automatic 72-hour emergency order. Christy Marrow of the Virginia Poverty Law Center said "our concern is that it would be misused because we know that sometimes abusers get emergency protective orders as a further form of control and abuse against the victim." Representatives of apartment and management trade groups expressed similar worries.

Several delegates and senators on the dais debated safeguards and practical effects. Perry said the bill aims to balance protections for victims with safeguards; he noted that under current statutory practice tenants who use a protective order to terminate a lease still must pay the final rent period specified by statute. Opponents raised scenarios where short-term orders could inadvertently displace other household members who share a lease.

After extended discussion, a motion was made and seconded to remove the emergency protective order language from the bill and to shorten the notice period from 30 days to 28 days. The subcommittee adopted that amendment and then voted to report the bill as amended; the clerk recorded the final report vote as 6 to 2 in favor.

The measure now moves forward in the legislative process as a reported, amended bill from the housing and consumer protection subcommittee.