§ 8.01-241.Limitation of enforcement of deeds of trust, mortgages and liens for unpaid purchase money.

Section 8.01-241 sets the basic enforcement deadline for the security instruments that back most real estate financing in Virginia: deeds of trust, mortgages, and liens reserved for unpaid purchase money. None of these can be enforced more than ten years after the original secured obligation that matures last becomes due and payable according to its own terms, and any acceleration clause is ignored for that calculation — the ten years runs from the stated maturity date, not from an earlier date triggered by acceleration. One year following the death of any party in interest is excluded from that computation, giving estates time to sort out affairs without losing lien rights to the clock.

Subsection B adds a transitional rule for obligations that matured between July 1, 1988, and July 1, 2000: those instruments cannot be enforced after July 1, 2010, regardless of the general ten-year rule, though the subsection protects certain third parties who acquired an interest in the property between July 1, 2008, and the subsection’s enactment date and who would otherwise have had priority under Virginia law at that time.

Subsection C is what keeps a lien alive past the default deadline: recording a certificate in the form set out in § 8.01-241.1, before the original period expires, extends enforcement for another ten years from the date of that recordation, and the clerk indexes it under both parties’ names. The section closes with a related recording deadline for deeds executed under a foreclosure or trustee’s sale — those deeds must be recorded within one year after the right to enforce the underlying mortgage or deed of trust expired, or they become void against later purchasers for value without notice and lien creditors.