§ 8.01-178.3.Waste for tenant to sell or remove manure from leased premises.

Section 8.01-178.3 defines a specific, agricultural species of waste. A tenant at will or for years who, without special license, sells or otherwise removes manure made on the leased premises in the ordinary course of husbandry commits waste for purposes of this article. The rule reflects an old principle of farm tenancy: manure produced on a farm is meant to replenish that farm’s soil, not to be sold off as a separate commodity that depletes the land’s future productivity.

The section lists three categories that count as manure for this purpose: ashes, whether leached or unleached; collections from stables, barnyards, cattle pens, or similar places on the premises; and composts formed by mixing any such manure with soil or other substances. A tenant who sells or hauls away any of these, without the landlord’s special license to do so, has committed waste, exposing that tenant to the liability and remedies the rest of Article 15.1 provides.