§ 8.01-561.How property to be kept; how sold, when expensive to keep or perishable.

Once property is in the sheriff’s custody under an attachment, it has to sit somewhere while the case runs its course — and this section ties that custody to a familiar standard, the same way property taken under an ordinary execution is kept. That default works fine for most seized property, but not for everything.

Some property does not wait well. Livestock needs feeding, produce spoils, storage costs pile up on bulky goods. For anything expensive to keep or perishable, the court can order a sale before judgment, on whatever terms the court sets. If the court allows that sale on credit rather than cash, it can direct the sheriff to secure the deal with a bond, backed by sufficient surety, payable to the sheriff for the benefit of whichever party turns out to be entitled to the proceeds. That bond does not sit around either — the officer must return it to the court right away.