Author: Kathleen McDermott

Residential leases normally are written by, or on behalf of, landlords. As such, they often give landlords the right to recover their attorneys’ fees and costs in a successful legal action against a tenant – but don’t give similar rights to tenants. But a recent trend in Virginia landlord-tenant law has created opportunities for tenants […]

The provision of short-term rentals via online platforms such as Airbnb, FlipKey and HomeAway is part of the growing “shared economy.” In 2017, the Virginia General Assembly established a framework by which local governments may regulate these and other short-term rentals. The law defines a short-term rental (STR) business as “the provision of a room…intended […]

Under federal and Virginia fair housing laws, a landlord must provide reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities. A person is considered disabled when he or she has a physical or mental impairment that that substantially limits one or more of that person’s life activities, and that person has a record of having the impairment or […]