Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 55.1 > Subtitle III - Rental Conveyances

• Abandoned manufactured home: means a manufactured home occupying a manufactured home lot pursuant to a written agreement under which (i) the tenant has defaulted in rent or (ii) the landlord has the right to terminate the written rental agreement pursuant to § 55. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Action: means any recoupment, counterclaim, setoff, or other civil action and any other proceeding in which rights are determined, including actions for possession, rent, unlawful detainer, unlawful entry, and distress for rent. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• agency: means any authority, instrumentality, officer, board or other unit of state government empowered by the basic laws to adopt regulations or decide cases. See Virginia Code 2.2-4115
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Application deposit: means any refundable deposit of money, however denominated, including all money intended to be used as a security deposit under a rental agreement, or property, that is paid by a tenant to a landlord for the purpose of being considered as a tenant for a dwelling unit. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Application fee: means any nonrefundable fee that is paid by a tenant to a landlord or managing agent for the purpose of being considered as a tenant for a dwelling unit. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Asset: means property:

  1. See Virginia Code 13.1-1088

• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Assignee: means a person to which all or part of a membership interest has been transferred, whether or not the transferor is a member. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Associated asset: means an asset that meets the requirements stated in § 13. See Virginia Code 13.1-1088
• Associated member: means , with respect to a protected series, a member that meets the requirements stated in § 13. See Virginia Code 13.1-1088
• Association: means the Virginia Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association created by Chapter 16 (§ 38. See Virginia Code 38.2-1501
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Authority: means the respective political subdivisions of the Commonwealth created in this subpart. See Virginia Code 2.2-2200
• Authority: means an authority created under the provisions of § 15. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• Authorized occupant: means a person entitled to occupy a dwelling unit with the consent of the landlord, but who has not signed the rental agreement and therefore does not have the financial obligations as a tenant under the rental agreement. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Ballot scanner machine: means the electronic counting machine in which a voter inserts a marked ballot to be scanned and the results tabulated. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Board: means the State Board of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Board: means the respective boards of directors for the authorities created in this subpart. See Virginia Code 2.2-2200
• Board: means the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• Board of supervisors: means the governing body of a county. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Bonds: means any bonds, refunding bonds, notes, debentures, interim certificates, or any bond, grant, revenue anticipation notes or any other evidences of indebtedness or obligation of an authority, whether in temporary or definitive form and whether the interest thereon is exempt from federal income taxation. See Virginia Code 2.2-2200
• Building or housing code: means any law, ordinance, or governmental regulation concerning fitness for habitation or the construction, maintenance, operation, occupancy, use, or appearance of any structure or that part of a structure that is used as a home, residence, or sleeping place by one person who maintains a household or by two or more persons who maintain a common household. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• business of insurance: include solicitation, negotiations preliminary to execution, execution of an insurance contract, and the transaction of matters subsequent to execution of the contract and arising out of it. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Central absentee voter precinct: means a precinct established pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission of Virginia. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Commission: means the Virginia Code Commission. See Virginia Code 2.2-4101
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• Commodity contract: means :

  1. See Virginia Code 38.2-1501

• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Community land trust: means a community housing development organization whose (i) corporate membership is open to any adult resident or organization of a particular geographic area specified in the bylaws of the organization and (ii) board of directors includes a majority of members who are elected by the corporate membership and are composed of tenants, corporate members who are not tenants, and any other category of persons specified in the bylaws of the organization and that:

  1. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200

• Company: means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contribution: means any cash, property or services rendered, or a promissory note or other binding obligation to contribute cash or property or to perform services, which a member contributes to a limited liability company in his capacity as a member. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Cost: means as applied to a project financed under the provisions of this article, the sum total of all costs reasonable and necessary for carrying out all works and undertakings necessary or incident to accomplish a project, including, but not limited to the cost of all necessary developmental, planning and feasibility studies, surveys, plans and specifications, architectural, engineering, financial, legal or other special services, the cost of acquisition of land and any buildings and improvements thereon, including the discharge of any obligations of the vendor of such land, buildings or improvements, site preparation and development including demolition or removal of existing structures, construction, and reconstruction, furnishing of a project, the reasonable cost of financing incurred in the course of the development of a project, carrying charges during construction to the occupancy date, interest on bonds issued to finance a project to a date subsequent to the estimated date of completion of a project, necessary expenses incurred in connection with the initial occupancy of a project, the cost of reimbursing the Central Capital Planning Fund, established under § 2. See Virginia Code 2.2-2260
• Cost of improvements: means the cost of constructing improvements and includes the cost of all labor and material; the cost of all land, property, rights, easements, franchises, and permits acquired which are deemed necessary for such construction; interest during any period of disuse during such construction; the cost of all machinery and equipment; financing charges; cost of engineering and legal expenses, plans, specifications; and such other expenses as may be necessary or incident to such construction. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• County: means any existing county or such unit hereafter created. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Credit Score: A number, roughly between 300 and 800, that measures an individual's credit worthiness. The most well-known type of credit score is the FICO score. This score represents the answer from a mathematical formula that assigns numerical values to various pieces of information in your credit report. ^{Source: OCC}
• Damage insurance: means a bond or commercial insurance coverage as specified in the rental agreement to secure the performance by the tenant of the terms and conditions of the rental agreement and to replace all or part of a security deposit. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Delinquency proceeding: means any proceeding commenced against an insurance company for the purpose of liquidating, rehabilitating, reorganizing, or conserving an insurer. See Virginia Code 38.2-1501
• Department: means the state agency headed by the Commissioner of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Dispute resolution proceeding: means any structured process in which a neutral assists parties to a dispute in reaching a voluntary settlement by means of dispute resolution processes such as mediation, conciliation, facilitation, partnering, fact-finding, neutral evaluation, use of ombudsmen or any other proceeding leading to a voluntary settlement. See Virginia Code 2.2-4115
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Dwelling unit: means a structure or part of a structure that is used as a home or residence by one or more persons who maintain a household, including a manufactured home, as defined in § 55. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Election: means a general, primary, or special election. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Election district: means the territory designated by proper authority or by law which is represented by an official elected by the people, including the Commonwealth, a congressional district, a General Assembly district, or a district for the election of an official of a county, city, town, or other governmental unit. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Entity: includes any domestic or foreign limited liability company, any domestic or foreign other business entity, any estate or trust, and any state, the United States, and any foreign government. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Essential service: includes heat, running water, hot water, electricity, and gas. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Facility: means something that is built, constructed, installed, or established to perform some particular function. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• farm: means any person that obtains at least 51 percent of its annual gross income from agricultural operations and produces the agricultural waste used as feedstock for the waste-to-energy technology, (ii) "agricultural waste" means biomass waste materials capable of decomposition that are produced from the raising of plants and animals during agricultural operations, including animal manures, bedding, plant stalks, hulls, and vegetable matter, and (iii) "waste-to-energy technology" means any technology, including but not limited to a methane digester, that converts agricultural waste into gas, steam, or heat that is used to generate electricity on-site. See Virginia Code 1-222.1
• Federal agency: means the United States; the President of the United States; and any department, corporation, agency, or instrumentality heretofore or hereafter created, designated, or established by the United States. See Virginia Code 2.2-2200
• Federal agency: means the United States of America or any department, agency, instrumentality, or bureau thereof. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Foreign limited liability company: means an entity, excluding a foreign business trust, that is an unincorporated organization that is organized under laws other than the laws of the Commonwealth and that is denominated by that law as a limited liability company, and that affords to each of its members, pursuant to the laws under which it is organized, limited liability with respect to the liabilities of the entity. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Foreign protected series: means a protected series established by a foreign series limited liability company and having attributes comparable to a protected series established under Article 16 (§ 13. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Foreign series limited liability company: means a foreign limited liability company having at least one foreign protected series. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fruit: means any apples and peaches. See Virginia Code 3.2-4600
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• General election: means an election held in the Commonwealth on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November or on the first Tuesday in May for the purpose of filling offices regularly scheduled by law to be filled at those times. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• General registrar: means the person appointed by the electoral board of a county or city pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Good faith: means honesty in fact in the conduct of the transaction concerned. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Governing body: means the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Guest or invitee: means a person, other than the tenant or an authorized occupant, who has the permission of the tenant to visit but not to occupy the premises. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Guest or invitee: means a person, other than the tenant, who has the permission of the tenant to visit but not to occupy the premises. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Improvements: means such repairs, replacements, additions, extensions and betterments of and to a system as an authority deems necessary to place or maintain the system in proper condition for the safe, efficient and economical operation thereof or to provide service in areas not currently receiving such service. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• inhabitants: means with reference to any county, city, town, political subdivision of the Commonwealth or any combination thereof, the natural persons in such county, city, town, political subdivision or combination as shown by the unadjusted United States decennial census last preceding the time at which any provision dependent upon population is being applied or the time as of which it is being construed. See Virginia Code 1-235
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Insolvent: means (i) the condition of an insurer that has liabilities in excess of assets or (ii) the inability of an insurer to pay its obligations as they become due in the usual course of business. See Virginia Code 38.2-1501
• Insurer: means an insurance company. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• interest: means a member's share of the profits and the losses of the limited liability company and the right to receive distributions of the limited liability company's assets. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Interior of the dwelling unit: means the inside of the dwelling unit, consisting of interior walls, floor, and ceiling, that enclose the dwelling unit as conditioned space from the outside air. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Judgement: The official decision of a court finally determining the respective rights and claims of the parties to a suit.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Land: is a three-dimensional concept and includes parcels with upper or lower boundaries, or both upper and lower boundaries, as well as parcels extending ab solo usque ad coelum. See Virginia Code 55.1-1500
• Landlord: means the owner, lessor, or sublessor of the dwelling unit or the building of which such dwelling unit is a part. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Landlord: means the manufactured home park owner or the lessor or sublessor of a manufactured home park. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• lease agreement: means all rental agreements, written or oral, and valid rules and regulations adopted under § 55. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• local electoral board: means a board appointed pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• local government: shall be construed to mean a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Machine-readable ballot: means a tangible ballot that is marked by a voter or by a system or device operated by a voter, is available for verification by the voter at the time the ballot is cast, and is then fed into and scanned by a separate counting machine capable of reading ballots and tabulating results. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Manager-managed limited liability company: means a limited liability company that is managed by a manager or managers as provided for in its articles of organization or an operating agreement. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Managing agent: means the person authorized by the landlord to act as the property manager on behalf of the landlord pursuant to the written property management agreement. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Manufactured home: means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, that in the traveling mode is eight body feet or more in width or 40 body feet or more in length, or, when erected on site, is 320 or more square feet, and that is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained in the structure. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Manufactured home lot: means a parcel of land within the boundaries of a manufactured home park provided for the placement of a single manufactured home and the exclusive use of its occupants. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Manufactured home owner: means the owner of a manufactured home. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Manufactured home park: means a parcel of land under single or common ownership upon which five or more manufactured homes are located on a continual, nonrecreational basis together with any structure, equipment, road, or facility intended for use incidental to the occupancy of the manufactured homes. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Manufactured home park operator: means a person employed or contracted by a manufactured home park owner or landlord to manage a manufactured home park. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Manufactured home park owner: means a person who owns land that accommodates a manufactured home park. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Mediation: means a process in which a neutral facilitates communication between the parties and without deciding the issues or imposing a solution on the parties enables them to understand and resolve their dispute. See Virginia Code 2.2-4115
• Mediation program: means a program of a public body through which mediators or mediation is made available and includes the director, agents and employees of the program. See Virginia Code 2.2-4115
• Mediator: means a neutral who is an impartial third party selected by agreement of the parties to a dispute to assist them in mediation. See Virginia Code 2.2-4115
• MEI project: means a high-impact regional economic development project in which a private entity is expected to make a capital investment in real and tangible personal property exceeding $250 million and create more than 400 new full-time jobs, and is expected to have a substantial direct and indirect economic impact on surrounding communities. See Virginia Code 2.2-2260
• Member: means a person that has been admitted to membership in a limited liability company as provided in § 13. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Mold remediation in accordance with professional standards: means mold remediation of that portion of the dwelling unit or premises affected by mold, or any personal property of the tenant affected by mold, performed consistent with guidance documents published by the U. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Multifamily dwelling unit: means more than one single-family dwelling unit located in a building. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Netting agreement: means :

  1. See Virginia Code 38.2-1501

• Neutral: means an individual who is trained or experienced in conducting dispute resolution proceedings and in providing dispute resolution services. See Virginia Code 2.2-4115
• Non-associated asset: means :

  1. See Virginia Code 13.1-1088

• nonresidential tenancy: means the rental of any real estate for purposes other than residential use, including business, industrial, or agricultural purposes. See Virginia Code 55.1-1400
• Notice: means notice given in writing by either regular mail or hand delivery, with the sender retaining sufficient proof of having given such notice in the form of a certificate of service confirming such mailing prepared by the sender. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oath: includes affirmation. See Virginia Code 1-228
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Obligee: means any person or entity to whom a residential ground rent is owed. See Virginia Code 55.1-1500
• Obligor: means one or more individuals who are obligated to pay a residential ground rent. See Virginia Code 55.1-1500
• Officer of election: means a person appointed by an electoral board pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Operating agreement: means an agreement of the members as to the affairs of a limited liability company and the conduct of its business, or a writing or agreement of a limited liability company with one member that satisfies the requirements of subdivision A 2 of § 13. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Organization: means a corporation, government, governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, or association; two or more persons having a joint or common interest; any combination thereof; and any other legal or commercial entity. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owner: means one or more persons or entities, jointly or severally, including a mortgagee in possession, in whom is vested:

  1. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200

• Owner: includes a mortgagee in possession. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Paper ballot: means a tangible ballot that is marked by a voter and then manually counted. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: includes a protected series. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Person: means any individual, group of individuals, corporation, partnership, business trust, association, or other legal entity, or any combination thereof. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Person: means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, company, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal representative: includes the executor of a will or the administrator of the estate of a decedent, the administrator of such estate with the will annexed, the administrator of such estate unadministered by a former representative, whether there is a will or not, any person who is under the order of a circuit court to take into his possession the estate of a decedent for administration, and every other curator of a decedent's estate, for or against whom suits may be brought for causes of action that accrued to or against the decedent. See Virginia Code 1-234
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• political party: means an organization of citizens of the Commonwealth which, at either of the two preceding statewide general elections, received at least 10 percent of the total vote cast for any statewide office filled in that election. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Political subdivision: means a locality or any institution or commission of the Commonwealth of Virginia. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• Polling place: means the structure that contains the one place provided for each precinct at which the qualified voters who are residents of the precinct may vote. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Precinct: means the territory designated by the governing body of a county, city, or town to be served by one polling place. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Premises: means a dwelling unit and the structure of which it is a part, facilities and appurtenances contained therein, and grounds, areas, and facilities held out for the use of tenants generally or whose use is promised to the tenant. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• primary election: means an election held for the purpose of selecting a candidate to be the nominee of a political party for election to office. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Principal office: means the office, in or out of the Commonwealth, where the principal executive offices of a domestic or foreign limited liability company are located or, if there are no such offices, the office, in or out of the Commonwealth, so designated by the limited liability company. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Principal office of the protected series: means the office, in or out of the Commonwealth, where the principal executive offices of a protected series of a domestic or foreign series limited liability company are located or, if there are no such offices, the office, in or out of the Commonwealth, so designated by the protected series. See Virginia Code 13.1-1088
• Printed ballot: means a tangible ballot that is printed on paper and includes both machine-readable ballots and paper ballots. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Probate: Proving a will
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Project: means any structure, facility, personal property or undertaking that the Authority is authorized to finance, refinance, construct, improve, furnish, equip, maintain, acquire, or operate under the provisions of this article. See Virginia Code 2.2-2260
• Property: means all property, whether real, personal, or mixed or tangible or intangible, or any right or interest therein. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Protected series assignee: includes a person that owns a protected series membership interest as a result of ceasing to be an associated member of a protected series. See Virginia Code 13.1-1088
• Protected series manager: means a person under whose authority the powers of a protected series are exercised and under whose direction the activities and affairs of the protected series are managed pursuant to the operating agreement, this article, and other provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 13.1-1088
• Protected series membership interest: means the share of the profits and losses of a protected series and the right to receive distributions. See Virginia Code 13.1-1088
• Public body: includes any committee, subcommittee, or other entity however designated, of the public body or formed to advise the public body, including those with private sector or citizen members and corporations organized by the Virginia Retirement System. See Virginia Code 2.2-4115
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Qualified financial contract: means any commodity contract, forward contract, repurchase agreement, securities contract, swap agreement, or any similar agreement that the Commission determines to be a qualified financial contract for the purposes of this chapter. See Virginia Code 38.2-1501
• Qualified voter: means a person who is entitled to vote pursuant to the Constitution of Virginia and who is (i) 18 years of age on or before the day of the election or qualified pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Readily accessible: means areas within the interior of the dwelling unit available for observation at the time of the move-in inspection that do not require removal of materials, personal property, equipment, or similar items. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Reasonable charges in addition to rent: means any routine maintenance and utility charges for which the tenant is liable under the rental agreement. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Receiver: means the Commission or any person appointed to manage delinquency proceedings. See Virginia Code 38.2-1501
• Reciprocal: means the aggregation of subscribers under a common name. See Virginia Code 38.2-1201
• Record: when used as a noun, means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Referendum: means any election held pursuant to law to submit a question to the voters for approval or rejection. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Refuse: means solid waste, including sludge and other discarded material, such as solid, liquid, semi-solid or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations or from community activities or residences. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• Refuse collection and disposal system: means a system, plant or facility designed to collect, manage, dispose of, or recover and use energy from refuse and the land, structures, vehicles and equipment for use in connection therewith. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• Registered voter: means any person who is maintained on the Virginia voter registration system. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Registrar: means the Registrar of Regulations employed as provided in § 2. See Virginia Code 2.2-4101
• Registration records: means all official records concerning the registration of qualified voters and shall include all records, lists, applications, and files, whether maintained in books, on cards, on automated data bases, or by any other legally permitted record-keeping method. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Rent: means all money, other than a security deposit, owed or paid to the landlord under the rental agreement, including prepaid rent paid more than one month in advance of the rent due date. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Rent: means payments made by the tenant to the landlord for use of a manufactured home lot and other facilities or services provided by the landlord. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Rental agreement: means any agreement, written or oral, and valid rules and regulations adopted in conformance with § 55. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Rental application: means the written application or similar document used by a landlord to determine if a prospective tenant is qualified to become a tenant of a dwelling unit. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Residential ground rent: means a rent or charge paid for the use of land, whether or not title to such land is transferred to the user, or a lease of land, for personal residential purposes, (i) which is assignable by the obligor without the obligee's consent; (ii) which is for a term in excess of 15 years, including any rights of renewal at the option of the obligor; (iii) where the obligor has a present or future right to terminate such ground rent and to acquire the entire interest of the obligee in the land by the payment of a determined or determinable amount; and (iv) where the obligee's interest in the land is primarily a security interest to protect his right to be paid the rent or charge. See Virginia Code 55.1-1500
• revenue bonds: include notes, bonds, bond anticipation notes, and other obligations of an authority for the payment of money. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• Roomer: means a person occupying a dwelling unit that lacks a major bathroom or kitchen facility, in a structure where one or more major facilities are used in common by occupants of the dwelling unit and other dwelling units. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Secured party: means the same as that term is defined in § 8. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Security deposit: means any refundable deposit of money that is furnished by a tenant to a landlord to secure the performance of the terms and conditions of a rental agreement, as a security for damages to the leased premises, or as a pet deposit. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Security interest: means the same as that term is defined in § 8. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Sewage: means the water-carried wastes created in and carried, or to be carried, away from residences, hotels, schools, hospitals, industrial establishments, commercial establishments or any other private or public buildings, together with such surface or ground water and household and industrial wastes as may be present. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• Sewage disposal system: means any system, plant, disposal field, lagoon, pumping station, constructed drainage ditch or surface water intercepting ditch, incinerator, area devoted to sanitary landfills, or other works, installed for the purpose of treating, neutralizing, stabilizing or disposing of sewage, industrial waste or other wastes. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• Single-family residence: means a structure, other than a multifamily residential structure, maintained and used as a single dwelling unit, condominium unit, or any other dwelling unit that has direct access to a street or thoroughfare and does not share heating facilities, hot water equipment, or any other essential facility or essential service with any other dwelling unit. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Special election: means any election that is held pursuant to law to fill a vacancy in office or to hold a referendum. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• State: means any commonwealth, state, territory, district or insular possession of the United States. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• state: means the Commonwealth of Virginia or any of its agencies or departments. See Virginia Code 2.2-2200
• state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § 2. See Virginia Code 1-206
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Stormwater control system: means a structural system of any type that is designed to manage the runoff from land development projects or natural systems designated for such purposes, including, without limitation, retention basins, ponds, wetlands, sewers, conduits, pipelines, pumping and ventilating stations, and other plants, structures, and real and personal property used for support of the system. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subscriber: means a person obligated under a reciprocal insurance agreement. See Virginia Code 38.2-1201
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• Surviving company: means a merging company that is the survivor of a merger under § 13. See Virginia Code 13.1-1088
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
• System: means any sewage disposal system, sewer system, stormwater control system, water or waste system, and for authorities created under Article 6 (§ 15. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• Tenant: means a person entitled only under the terms of a rental agreement to occupy a dwelling unit to the exclusion of others and includes a roomer. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Tenant: means a person entitled as under a rental agreement to occupy a manufactured home lot to the exclusion of others. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
• Tenant records: means all information, including financial, maintenance, and other records about a tenant or prospective tenant, whether such information is in written or electronic form or any other medium. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July one, nineteen hundred seventy-one, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
• Transfer: includes an assignment, a conveyance, a sale, a lease, an encumbrance including a mortgage or security interest, a gift, and a transfer by operation of law. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• Unit: means any department, institution or commission of the Commonwealth; any public corporate instrumentality thereof; any district; or any locality. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
• Utility: means electricity, natural gas, or water and sewer provided by a public service corporation or such other person providing utility services as permitted under § 56-1. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Virginia Administrative Code: means the codified publication of regulations under the provisions of Chapter 15 of Title 30. See Virginia Code 2.2-4101
• Visible evidence of mold: means the existence of mold in the dwelling unit that is visible to the naked eye by the landlord or tenant in areas within the interior of the dwelling unit readily accessible at the time of the move-in inspection. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200
• voter registration system: means the automated central record-keeping system for all voters registered within the Commonwealth that is maintained as provided in Article 2 (§ 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Voting system: means the electronic voting and counting machines used at elections, including direct recording electronic machines (DRE), ballot scanner machines, and on-demand ballot printing systems and ballot marking devices used to manufacture or mark ballots to be cast by voters on electronic voting and counting machines. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Water or waste system: means any water system, sewer system, sewage disposal system, or refuse collection and disposal system, or any combination of such systems. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• Water system: means all plants, systems, facilities or properties used or useful or having the present capacity for future use in connection with the supply or distribution of water, or facilities incident thereto, and any integral part thereof, including water supply systems, water distribution systems, dams and facilities for the generation or transmission of hydroelectric power, reservoirs, wells, intakes, mains, laterals, pumping stations, standpipes, filtration plants, purification plants, hydrants, meters, valves and equipment, appurtenances, and all properties, rights, easements and franchises relating thereto and deemed necessary or convenient by the authority for the operation thereof but not including dams or facilities for the generation or transmission of hydroelectric power that are not incident to plants, systems, facilities or properties used or useful or having the present capacity for future use in connection with the supply or distribution of water. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Written notice: means notice given in accordance with § 55. See Virginia Code 55.1-1200