§ 8.01-471.Time period for issuing writs of eviction in unlawful entry and detainer; when returnable.

Winning an unlawful entry and detainer case does not give a landlord an open-ended right to evict whenever convenient. Section 8.01-471 puts two clocks on the process: the writ of eviction itself must be requested and issued within one hundred eighty days of the judgment for possession, and once issued, it must be made returnable within thirty days.

The thirty-day deadline has real bite. If the sheriff does not execute the writ within thirty days of issuance, the writ is vacated by operation of law — no court order is needed, and the clerk takes no further action. A landlord who lets a writ lapse must request a new one, so long as the underlying one-hundred-eighty-day window from judgment has not closed. The section also blocks a new writ altogether if the landlord and tenant signed a new written rental agreement after judgment, under the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.

A reporting requirement rounds out the section: the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia must tell the General Assembly’s courts committees and the Virginia Housing Commission, every year by September 1, how many executed writs of eviction were returned under this section, starting with a report covering the year ending June 30, 2024.