Virginia

Virginia — Contract for Deed / Residential Executory Real Estate Contract

Legal information, not legal advice. Verify against the cited primary sources before acting. Statutes in this area are frequently amended. Last verified: 2026-06-08.

Virginia is a split-regime state, and the split is driven entirely by who the seller is. Effective in 2018, the General Assembly enacted the Residential Executory Real Estate Contracts Act (Code of Virginia §§ 55.1-3000 through 55.1-3003), which sweeps installment land contracts, lease-options, and rent-to-own deals for an owner-occupant’s primary residence into the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (VRLTA). For contracts the Act covers, the seller is treated like a landlord: the remedy on monetary default is terminate-and-evict after a statutory cure notice, the seller may not forfeit the buyer’s option payment, and the protections cannot be waived by contract (§ 55.1-3002). But the Act exempts small sellers — a person or entity owning no more than two single-family dwelling units in the Commonwealth, real estate licensees, and licensed banks/lenders (§ 55.1-3001). For an exempt or non-residential contract, no anti-forfeiture statute applies; the deal is governed by Virginia common-law contract and equity, under which forfeiture clauses are generally enforceable but courts retain discretion to relieve against forfeiture in the interest of justice. The net: a covered residential CFD behaves like a regulated lease; an exempt CFD behaves like a classic common-law forfeiture instrument.

0. Identity & Terminology

• In-state name(s): “installment land contract,” “land contract,” “contract for deed,” “lease-option / lease-purchase,” “rent-to-own.” The statutory umbrella term is “residential executory real estate contract,” defined as an installment land contract, lease option contract, or rent-to-own contract by which a purchaser acquires any right or interest in real property (other than a right of first refusal) and occupies or intends to occupy it as a primary residence. Va. Code § 55.1-3000, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter30/section55.1-3000/.
• Recognition: statutory and common law. The consumer-protection overlay is statutory (Chapter 30); the buyer’s equitable interest and the forfeiture/equitable- relief rules for exempt contracts are common law.
• Statutory home: Va. Code, Title 55.1, Chapter 30, Residential Executory Real Estate Contracts Act, §§ 55.1-3000 to 55.1-3003 — https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodepopularnames/residential-executory-real-estate-contracts-act1/. Recording: Title 55.1, Ch. 4, § 55.1-407. Interest/usury: Title 6.2, Ch. 3, §§ 6.2-301, 6.2-303.
• Remedy regime: hybrid. Two tracks: (a) Covered residential contracts (seller owns >2 units / not a licensee or lender): the contract is subject to the VRLTA and the buyer is treated as a tenant; the seller’s remedy on payment default is lease termination and recovery of possession (eviction / unlawful detainer) — but only after the statutory cure notice runs and the buyer fails to cure, and the seller may not forfeit the option payment. § 55.1-3002, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter30/section55.1-3002/. This is a statutory cancellation by lease-reclassification. (b) Exempt / non-residential contracts: no anti-forfeiture statute; common-law contract forfeiture is generally enforceable, subject to equity’s discretionary power to relieve against forfeiture (see clay-v-landreth-1948; forfeiture-vs-foreclosure).

1. Formation & Mandatory Disclosures

• Statute of frauds: Writing required. A contract “for the sale of real estate, or for the lease thereof for more than a year” is unenforceable absent a signed writing under Virginia’s statute of frauds, Va. Code § 11-2(6) (current and in effect; not repealed), and Chapter 30 presupposes a written contract. Va. Code § 11-2, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title11/chapter1/section11-2/. The § 55.1-3003 best-practice provisions separately require notarized signatures and a precise fixed dollar sales price. § 55.1-3003, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter30/section55.1-3003/.
• Mandatory disclosures: best-practice provisions, not a self-executing pre-sale mandate. § 55.1-3003 directs the Board for Housing and Community Development to develop and publish best-practice provisions for residential executory contracts that require disclosure of: the parties’ full names and addresses; a legal property description; the contract term and payment amounts; property tax assessment information; any liens or encumbrances; the sales price as “a precise fixed amount in United States dollars”; option-payment amounts and deadlines; the total amount the purchaser must pay; and notarized signatures. § 55.1-3003, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter30/section55.1-3003/.
  • Penalty for omission: Chapter 30 does not prescribe a per-day or rescission penalty tied specifically to a § 55.1-3003 disclosure omission; the § 55.1-3003 items are “best practice provisions,” and the Act’s enforcement teeth sit in § 55.1-3002 (vendor-default remedies: injunction, actual damages, specific performance, rescission, equitable relief, plus attorney fees to the prevailing party) and in the VRLTA overlay. A separate Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act (Va. Code § 55.1-700 et seq.) governs property-condition disclosure on residential sales generally. (Whether a § 55.1-3003 disclosure defect independently supports rescission vs. only the § 55.1-3002 vendor-default remedies is flagged in needs_verification — no Virginia case retrieved this run resolves it.)
• Recording requirement: permitted, not mandatory; no fixed deadline. A residential executory real estate contract may be recorded among the land records of the circuit court clerk where the property sits. § 55.1-3002 (recording sentence), https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter30/section55.1-3002/. Recording is governed by the general race-notice statute: a written contract under which the grantor keeps possession is void as to subsequent purchasers for value without notice and as to lien creditors until and except from the time it is recorded. Va. Code § 55.1-407, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter4/section55.1-407/. There is no 30-day-style recording deadline as in Texas; the incentive to record is priority/notice, and either party may record to protect the buyer’s interest.
• Annual accounting statement: Not statutorily required. Chapter 30 contains no annual-statement mandate analogous to Texas Prop. Code § 5.077. (Confirmed absent in the retrieved Chapter 30 text.)
• Prepayment / early option exercise: Allowed without penalty. The purchaser may exercise the option to purchase at any time before the option expires, and no fee or penalty may be charged for exercising earlier than anticipated. § 55.1-3002, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter30/section55.1-3002/.
• Usury / interest cap: The legal rate is 6%/yr when no rate is expressed. Va. Code § 6.2-301, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title6.2/chapter3/section6.2-301/. Virginia’s general usury ceiling is 12%/yr on a “loan,” with numerous statutory carve-outs (consumer-finance companies, motor-vehicle title lenders, etc.); there is no blanket “any rate by written agreement” exception. Va. Code § 6.2-303, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title6.2/chapter3/section6.2-303/. Whether a seller-financed installment land contract is a “loan” subject to the 12% cap (versus a bona fide credit sale, traditionally outside usury) is fact-specific. (Applicability of the § 6.2-303 cap to a CFD’s financed balance flagged in needs_verification — no retrieved Virginia case characterizes a CFD as a usurious “loan” this run.)

2. Buyer’s Equitable Interest

• Equitable title / equitable conversion: Virginia recognizes equitable conversion: on a valid contract of sale, equity treats the buyer as owner of the land and the seller as trustee of legal title for the buyer (and as owner of the purchase money). clay-v-landreth-1948, 187 Va. 169, 45 S.E.2d 875 (1948). The doctrine is discretionary, not mechanical — it yields where enforcement would be inequitable (Clay denied specific performance after a supervening zoning change). See equitable-conversion.
• Recordability / insurability: The buyer’s interest is recordable (§ 55.1-3002; § 55.1-407) and, once recorded, takes priority over later BFPs/lien creditors. Title insurance on the seller’s underlying title is available in the ordinary Virginia market.
• Risk of loss: Contract-governed in practice. Under equitable conversion the risk default falls on the equitable owner (buyer), but Virginia allows the parties to allocate risk by contract, and most contracts shift casualty risk to the seller until closing. clay-v-landreth-1948; see equitable-conversion.
• Improvements / waste: Governed by the contract; for covered residential contracts the VRLTA’s repair/maintenance allocation also applies because the relationship is statutorily a tenancy (§ 55.1-3002). (VRLTA section governing maintenance flagged in needs_verification.)

3. Default & Remedies → see forfeiture-vs-foreclosure

• Primary remedy: split by coverage.
  • Covered residential contracts — terminate-and-evict after cure notice. Because the contract is subject to the VRLTA, the seller-as-landlord’s remedy on monetary default is to terminate the lease and recover possession. § 55.1-3002 provides that where default is limited solely to failure to pay rent or other monetary charges, the vendor may terminate and recover possession only if the delinquent obligation remains outstanding more than 30 days after notice is served stating (i) the nonpayment, (ii) the amount of the delinquency, and (iii) the vendor’s intention to terminate if the default is not cured. § 55.1-3002, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter30/section55.1-3002/. The VRLTA’s general nonpayment machinery (§ 55.1-1245 — five-day pay-or-quit notice, then unlawful detainer) supplies the eviction procedure once the § 55.1-3002 cure window has run. § 55.1-1245, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter12/section55.1-1245/.
  • Exempt / non-residential contracts — common-law forfeiture (subject to equity). No statute bars forfeiture; a contractual forfeiture/time-is-of-the-essence clause is generally enforceable, but Virginia equity disfavors forfeitures and may relieve against them where it would be unconscionable or where the buyer can be allowed to perform. clay-v-landreth-1948; forfeiture-vs-foreclosure.
• Statutory cure period — 30 days, runs from service of notice (covered contracts). The § 55.1-3002 cure period is more than 30 days after notice is served; the notice must state the nonpayment, the delinquency amount, and the intent to terminate. Service is by regular mail or hand delivery with proof of service (“notice”) as defined in § 55.1-3000. The protection may not be waived by contract (§ 55.1-3002). The buyer’s option payment may not be forfeited (the vendor may apply it to amounts owed or as a court directs). § 55.1-3002, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter30/section55.1-3002/.
• Substantial-equity bar: None codified. Unlike Texas (40%/48-payments) or the Skendzel line (skendzel-v-marshall-1973), Virginia has no statutory substantial-equity threshold that flips the remedy from forfeiture to foreclosure. For covered contracts the lease-reclassification + non-forfeitable-option-payment rule does the protective work; for exempt contracts, only general equitable relief against forfeiture is available, and no retrieved Virginia case adopts a Skendzel-style substantial-equity rule. (Flagged in needs_verification.)
• Judicial foreclosure required when: Virginia does not statutorily require a CFD to be foreclosed like a mortgage. Covered contracts are enforced by VRLTA termination/unlawful detainer, not foreclosure; exempt contracts are enforced by common-law contract remedies. (A seller who instead took a note + deed of trust would use Virginia’s standard non-judicial trustee’s sale, but that is the deed-of-trust path, not the CFD path.)
• Acceleration: Chapter 30 does not separately authorize or bar acceleration of the unpaid balance on a covered contract; the VRLTA framework focuses on possession, not a money judgment for the accelerated balance. (Enforceability of an acceleration clause in a Virginia CFD flagged in needs_verification.)
• Restitution / forfeited payments: The option payment may not be forfeited (§ 55.1-3002). Beyond that, Chapter 30 does not prescribe a restitution-offset formula on termination; general equity (which disfavors penalties) and the contract’s liquidated- damages clause govern. § 55.1-3002, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter30/section55.1-3002/.
• Seller’s other remedies: suit for the price/specific performance (exempt contracts), damages, lease termination + unlawful detainer (covered contracts), quiet title to clear a recorded buyer interest.

▸ For Sellers / Operators — In Virginia the first question is coverage: do you (or your affiliated entities) own more than two single-family dwelling units? If so, and the buyer occupies as a primary residence, your installment contract is a residential executory real estate contract governed by §§ 55.1-3000 to 55.1-3003 and subject to the VRLTA — you are a landlord. That means (1) on payment default you must serve the § 55.1-3002 notice and wait out the 30-day cure before terminating and evicting; (2) you cannot forfeit the buyer’s option payment; (3) you cannot charge a prepayment/early-exercise penalty; and (4) none of this is waivable by contract. If you own two or fewer units (or are a licensee or licensed lender), you are exempt — common-law forfeiture is available, but Virginia equity disfavors forfeitures and a court may relieve against one (clay-v-landreth-1948). Either way: record the contract (§ 55.1-407) to protect priority, mind the 12% usury ceiling (§ 6.2-303), and check the Board for Housing and Community Development best-practice disclosure provisions (§ 55.1-3003). Many Virginia operators sell on a note + deed of trust instead to access the clean non-judicial trustee’s-sale remedy.

▸ For Buyers — If you occupy as your primary residence and your seller owns more than two units, you have tenant protections you cannot sign away: a 30-day cure right on payment default before any termination, a bar on forfeiting your option payment, no prepayment penalty, and VRLTA eviction process (not summary self-help). You hold an equitable interest in the land (§ 2; clay-v-landreth-1948) and may record your contract to protect it.

3b. Remedies — Advanced

• Election of remedies: For covered contracts the statute channels the seller into the VRLTA termination/possession track; for exempt contracts the seller elects among common-law remedies (forfeiture, suit on the contract, specific performance, damages).
• Deficiency after forfeiture/foreclosure: Chapter 30 does not authorize a post- termination deficiency money judgment on a covered contract; the remedy is possession + retained installments (less the non-forfeitable option payment). For a deed-of-trust sale (the alternative instrument), Virginia permits a deficiency suit. (CFD-specific deficiency authority flagged in needs_verification.)
• Equitable relief from forfeiture: Virginia equity disfavors forfeitures and penalties and may relieve against them in the interest of justice — the doctrinal frame of clay-v-landreth-1948. This is the principal protection for exempt-contract buyers, who lack the Chapter 30 statutory shield. (A Virginia case squarely relieving an installment-land-contract buyer against forfeiture on substantial-equity grounds was not retrieved this run — flagged in needs_verification.)
• Ejectment vs. eviction path: This is the defining Virginia structural choice. For a covered residential contract, the statute makes the relationship a tenancy, so a defaulting buyer is removed by unlawful detainer / eviction under the VRLTA (§§ 55.1-3002, 55.1-1245) — not by foreclosure or ejectment of an owner. For an exempt contract, the buyer holds an equitable interest (clay-v-landreth-1948) and is more naturally an owner whose interest must be cut off by contract forfeiture + (if recorded) a quiet-title action, not summary eviction. (Whether an exempt-contract defaulting buyer can be removed by unlawful detainer or requires ejectment/quiet title is flagged in needs_verification.)
• Quiet title after termination: If the buyer’s interest was recorded (§ 55.1-407), the seller will likely need a quiet-title action in the circuit court to clear the record after termination/forfeiture. (Court/timeline specifics flagged in needs_verification.)
• Forfeited payments — liquidated damages vs. penalty: Virginia enforces a bona fide liquidated-damages clause but strikes a penalty; combined with equity’s disfavor of forfeitures, retention of all installments as “damages” is vulnerable where it functions as a penalty. The option payment is statutorily non-forfeitable for covered contracts (§ 55.1-3002). (Leading Virginia liquidated-damages-vs-penalty CFD case not retrieved this run — flagged in needs_verification.)
• Intervening seller-lien risk to buyer: Because the seller holds legal title during the term, liens against the seller can attach; the buyer’s protection is to record (§ 55.1-407) and, for covered contracts, the § 55.1-3003 disclosure of existing liens.

4. Federal Overlay (as applied in-state) → see dodd-frank-seller-financing, safe-act-mlo

• Dodd-Frank exposure: A Virginia residential CFD is seller financing / “credit” under TILA and the Loan-Originator Rule. The federal ≤1-property (no balloon, no ATR underwriting) and ≤3-property (with ATR) seller-financer exclusions from the loan-originator definition apply in Virginia as nationally — see dodd-frank-seller-financing for the 12 C.F.R. § 1026.36(a) thresholds. Note the interaction: the Chapter 30 small-seller exemption is “two or fewer units” (§ 55.1-3001), a different line from the Dodd-Frank ≤1/≤3 property-per-12-months tests, so a seller can be exempt from Chapter 30 yet still need to satisfy Dodd-Frank/ATR, or vice versa.
• SAFE Act / MLO licensing: Virginia licenses mortgage loan originators under Va. Code Title 6.2, Chapter 17 (§ 6.2-1700 et seq.), administered by the State Corporation Commission, Bureau of Financial Institutions. Seller-financers above the federal/state de-minimis thresholds may require an RMLO. See safe-act-mlo. Title 6.2, Ch. 17, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title6.2/chapter17/. (Exact Virginia SAFE-Act de-minimis seller-financer threshold flagged in needs_verification.)
• State consumer-protection overlay: The Residential Executory Real Estate Contracts Act + VRLTA is the overlay for covered residential deals (non-waivable cure, no option-payment forfeiture, no prepayment penalty, attorney-fee shifting). The Virginia Consumer Protection Act (Va. Code § 59.1-196 et seq.) may also reach deceptive seller-financing conduct. (VCPA applicability to CFDs flagged in needs_verification.)
• CFPB enforcement notes: The 2016+ CFPB/state-AG scrutiny of predatory CFDs (Harbour Portfolio and related) is the backdrop; Virginia’s 2018 Chapter 30 enactment is part of the post-2016 state legislative wave responding to that scrutiny.

5. Title, Recording & Wraps → see garn-st-germain-due-on-sale

• Memorandum / contract recording: Virginia permits recording of the executory contract itself (§ 55.1-3002) and, under the general recording statute, an unrecorded contract where the grantor keeps possession is void as to BFPs and lien creditors until recorded (§ 55.1-407). No mandatory memorandum form is prescribed; recording the full contract or a memorandum both protect priority. § 55.1-407, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter4/section55.1-407/.
• Garn-St. Germain due-on-sale: A CFD/wrap is a “transfer” that can trigger the underlying lender’s due-on-sale clause under 12 U.S.C. § 1701j-3. The Garn-St. Germain residential exemptions (e.g., transfer into an inter vivos trust where the borrower remains a beneficiary) generally do not cover a sale-on-terms to a third-party CFD buyer, so a wrap carries acceleration risk. See garn-st-germain-due-on-sale.
• Underlying mortgage / wraps: Virginia has no Texas-style § 5.085 ban on selling on terms over an existing lien. A wrap CFD is permitted but exposes the buyer to (a) due-on-sale acceleration and (b) seller-default-on-the-underlying-loan risk; for a covered contract, § 55.1-3003’s best-practice disclosure of liens or encumbrances is the buyer’s information shield. Wrap structures should disclose the senior lien and ideally escrow payments. (No Virginia statute mandating wrap-specific disclosure beyond § 55.1-3003 was retrieved — flagged in needs_verification.)
• Deed delivery / marketable title at payoff: Legal title is conveyed by warranty deed at payoff / option exercise; the buyer may exercise the purchase option at any time without penalty (§ 55.1-3002). Escrow of the deed is contract-governed.
• Title insurance: Available in the ordinary Virginia market on the seller’s underlying title; an owner’s policy issues to the buyer at the conveyance closing.
• Seller death / bankruptcy effect: A recorded buyer interest (§ 55.1-407) binds the seller’s estate and a bankruptcy trustee, who take subject to the recorded contract; equitable conversion treats the seller as trustee of legal title for the buyer (clay-v-landreth-1948).

6. Tax Treatment

• IRC § 453 installment reporting: A Virginia CFD is an installment sale; the seller reports gain ratably as principal is received, subject to the dealer exception (§ 453(b)(2), (l)). See irc-453-installment-sale.
• Property tax: Buyer pays in practice (contract-governed); § 55.1-3003’s best-practice provisions require disclosure of property tax assessment information. Virginia ad valorem real property tax is assessed and collected at the county/city level.
• Homestead exemption for equitable owner: Virginia has no broad ad valorem homestead exemption comparable to Texas; it offers targeted real-estate tax relief for the elderly and disabled (Va. Code § 58.1-3210 et seq.), which localities administer and which can extend to equitable/beneficial owners. (Whether a CFD purchaser qualifies as “owner” for a specific locality’s elderly/disabled relief flagged in needs_verification — primary § 58.1-3210 text not retrieved this run.)
• Transfer / recordation tax: Virginia imposes a state recordation (grantor/grantee) tax on deeds and on deeds of trust at recording (Va. Code Title 58.1, Ch. 8). A recorded CFD itself and the eventual deed each carry recording/recordation-tax consequences. (Exact § 58.1-801/§ 58.1-802 rates and whether recordation tax attaches to the CFD at recording vs. only to the deed at payoff flagged in needs_verification — primary text not retrieved this run.)

7. Bankruptcy & Death / Divorce

• Buyer bankruptcy: National treatment splits between treating an installment land contract as an executory contract (11 U.S.C. § 365) and as a secured debt the debtor can cure/pay through a plan. A Virginia bankruptcy decision, In re Wilson, 86 B.R. 871 (W.D. Va. 1988), addresses a real-estate-purchase vendee’s interest in bankruptcy and applies Virginia equitable conversion to determine whether that interest is real or personal property (holding a creditor’s security interest did not attach), https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/BR/86/871/1551427/. It is a real, in-circuit decision but is not an executory-contract-vs-secured-debt (11 U.S.C. § 365) holding; the national § 365 characterization split is covered on forfeiture-vs-foreclosure and the federal pages. (Whether a Virginia installment land contract is treated as an executory contract under § 365 or as secured debt curable through a plan — no controlling Virginia opinion retrieved squarely resolving it this run; flagged in needs_verification.)
• Seller bankruptcy: A recorded buyer interest (§ 55.1-407) generally survives; the trustee takes subject to it, and equitable conversion casts the seller as trustee of legal title (clay-v-landreth-1948).
• Assignability by buyer: Generally permitted subject to the contract’s anti-assignment terms; for a covered contract the VRLTA’s sublease/assignment rules also bear on the analysis. (Enforceability of a CFD anti-assignment clause under Virginia law flagged in needs_verification.)
• Survivorship / divorce: The buyer’s equitable interest is marital/separate property characterized like other realty under Virginia equitable-distribution law (Va. Code § 20-107.3) and passes by the buyer’s estate plan or intestacy. (Section cited from general knowledge; not retrieved this run — flagged in needs_verification.)

8. Case Law (real, verified)

Case	Year	Topic	Holding (plain English)	Source
clay-v-landreth-1948	1948	equitable conversion / specific performance	The land-sale buyer becomes equitable owner at contracting (seller is trustee of legal title), but equitable conversion is discretionary — equity will deny enforcement and not throw the loss on the buyer where a supervening change (zoning) makes enforcement inequitable.	https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/6925688/clay-v-landreth/

• Clay v. Landreth, 187 Va. 169, 45 S.E.2d 875 (1948). Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia. Good law; the leading Virginia equitable-conversion statement and the doctrinal basis for equity’s disfavor of inequitable forfeitures. Citation and holding corroborated this run across CourtListener (187 Va. 169; 45 S.E.2d 875; 175 A.L.R. 1047; Record No. 3270; decided Jan. 12, 1948) and multiple case-reporter databases.

Additional Virginia CFD-specific decisions (forfeiture relief, liquidated-damages-vs- penalty, VRLTA reclassification disputes) are flagged in needs_verification — none was verified against a primary opinion this run.

9. Edge Cases (state-specific notes)

• garn-st-germain-due-on-sale — A Virginia wrap/CFD over an existing mortgage risks due-on-sale acceleration; unlike Texas, Virginia has no statute barring the wrap, so the risk is purely the federal due-on-sale clause plus seller-default exposure.
• The “two-unit” coverage cliff (§ 55.1-3001) — the single most consequential Virginia rule: owning a third single-family unit flips a seller from common-law forfeiture into the VRLTA / non-waivable-cure / no-option-payment-forfeiture regime. Affiliate/parent/ subsidiary ownership counts.
• Lease-options and rent-to-own are pulled in — § 55.1-3000 expressly covers lease- option and rent-to-own contracts, not just classic installment land contracts, so the common “lease-option to dodge land-contract protections” play does not work for a covered residential seller.
• Eviction, not foreclosure — for covered contracts the defaulting buyer is removed by VRLTA unlawful detainer (§§ 55.1-3002, 55.1-1245), a faster and cheaper path than judicial foreclosure but one that carries the full tenant-protection overlay.
• Manufactured / mobile homes — if titled as personalty, a separate analysis applies; if affixed and taxed as realty, the CFD framework governs. (Flagged in needs_verification.)

10. Operations

• Where records live: Circuit Court Clerk land records in each county/independent city (§ 55.1-3002; § 55.1-407). Virginia is a circuit-court-clerk recording state.
• Public access: Many clerks use the Secure Remote Access / Officer of the Court Remote Access systems and county land-record portals; statutes at law.lis.virginia.gov; the Board for Housing and Community Development (DHCD) publishes the § 55.1-3003 best-practice provisions.
• Who may draft (UPL): Virginia restricts non-lawyer drafting of conveyancing instruments; deeds and tailored installment contracts are typically attorney- or title-company-prepared. Filling blanks in a standardized form is generally permitted; drafting bespoke terms risks UPL.
• Costs / timelines: County/city recording fees + state recordation tax on recorded instruments (Title 58.1, Ch. 8); the controlling default clock for covered contracts is the § 55.1-3002 30-day cure (plus VRLTA’s 5-day pay-or-quit and 14-day unlawful-detainer hearing window, § 55.1-1245).
• Key agencies: Circuit Court Clerks; Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) / Board for Housing and Community Development; State Corporation Commission, Bureau of Financial Institutions (MLO/lender licensing); the Office of the Attorney General (consumer protection / VCPA).

11. Meta

• sources:
  • {type: statute, url: “https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter30/section55.1-3000/”, retrieved: 2026-06-08}
  • {type: statute, url: “https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter30/section55.1-3001/”, retrieved: 2026-06-08}
  • {type: statute, url: “https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter30/section55.1-3002/”, retrieved: 2026-06-08}
  • {type: statute, url: “https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter30/section55.1-3003/”, retrieved: 2026-06-08}
  • {type: statute, url: “https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodepopularnames/residential-executory-real-estate-contracts-act1/”, retrieved: 2026-06-08}
  • {type: statute, url: “https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter4/section55.1-407/”, retrieved: 2026-06-08}
  • {type: statute, url: “https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter12/section55.1-1245/”, retrieved: 2026-06-08}
  • {type: statute, url: “https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title6.2/chapter3/section6.2-301/”, retrieved: 2026-06-08}
  • {type: statute, url: “https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title6.2/chapter3/section6.2-303/”, retrieved: 2026-06-08}
  • {type: statute, url: “https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title6.2/chapter17/”, retrieved: 2026-06-08}
  • {type: statute, url: “https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title11/chapter1/section11-2/”, retrieved: 2026-06-08}
  • {type: case, url: “https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/6925688/clay-v-landreth/”, retrieved: 2026-06-08}
  • {type: case, url: “https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/BR/86/871/1551427/”, retrieved: 2026-06-08}
• needs_verification:
  • Whether a § 55.1-3003 disclosure omission independently supports rescission, or only the § 55.1-3002 vendor-default remedies apply (no Virginia case retrieved resolving this).
  • Applicability of the § 6.2-303 12% usury cap to a CFD’s financed balance (loan vs. bona fide credit-sale characterization under Virginia law).
  • Whether Virginia recognizes any Skendzel-style substantial-equity bar on forfeiture for exempt/non-residential CFDs.
  • Enforceability of an acceleration clause in a Virginia CFD.
  • Whether an exempt-contract defaulting buyer is removed by unlawful detainer or requires ejectment/quiet-title (owner vs. tenant for non-covered contracts).
  • Court/timeline specifics for a quiet-title action to clear a recorded buyer interest after termination/forfeiture.
  • Leading Virginia liquidated-damages-vs-penalty authority applied to forfeited CFD installments.
  • Exact Virginia SAFE-Act (Title 6.2, Ch. 17) de-minimis seller-financer RMLO threshold.
  • Whether the Virginia Consumer Protection Act (§ 59.1-196 et seq.) reaches deceptive CFD seller-financing.
  • Whether a Virginia installment land contract is treated in bankruptcy as an executory contract under 11 U.S.C. § 365 or as secured debt curable through a plan — no controlling Virginia opinion retrieved squarely resolving it (In re Wilson, 86 B.R. 871 (W.D. Va. 1988), verified as a real equitable-conversion/security-interest decision, but not a § 365 holding).
  • Virginia recordation-tax treatment of a recorded CFD (Title 58.1, Ch. 8; §§ 58.1-801/802) — at recording vs. only on the payoff deed; primary text not retrieved this run.
  • Homestead/elderly-and-disabled real-estate-tax relief (§ 58.1-3210 et seq.) eligibility for a CFD equitable owner; primary text not retrieved.
  • VRLTA maintenance/repair allocation section applicable to a covered contract’s improvements/waste.
  • Enforceability of CFD anti-assignment clauses; § 20-107.3 equitable-distribution treatment (cited from general knowledge, not retrieved).
• open_questions:
  • For a covered residential contract, can the vendor obtain a money judgment for the accelerated balance, or is the VRLTA remedy limited to possession + retained (non-option) installments?
  • Does recording a covered CFD (making it of record) alter the eviction-vs-foreclosure analysis, or does § 55.1-3002’s VRLTA-subjection control regardless of recording?
  • How do Virginia courts treat the interaction between the § 55.1-3002 30-day executory-contract cure and the VRLTA § 55.1-1245 5-day pay-or-quit notice — sequential or the longer-controls?
• cross_links: forfeiture-vs-foreclosure, equitable-conversion, dodd-frank-seller-financing, safe-act-mlo, garn-st-germain-due-on-sale, irc-453-installment-sale, skendzel-v-marshall-1973, sebastian-v-floyd-1979, clay-v-landreth-1948
• changelog:
  • 2026-06-08 — Adversarial citation-verification pass. Re-retrieved and confirmed verbatim every Chapter 30 section (§§ 55.1-3000/3001/3002/3003), § 55.1-407, § 55.1-1245, §§ 6.2-301/303, Title 6.2 Ch. 17, and the Act popular-names page — all claims supported. Corrected statute-of-frauds treatment: § 11-2(6) is current/in-effect (not moved to Title 8.01), removed its needs_verification flag and added the official § 11-2 source. Replaced the Clay v. Landreth source URL (403ing W&M scholarship PDF) with the retrievable CourtListener primary opinion; case independently re-verified (187 Va. 169, 45 S.E.2d 875, 175 A.L.R. 1047, Record No. 3270). Verified In re Wilson, 86 B.R. 871 (W.D. Va. 1988) is a real decision (Justia) but corrected its characterization — it is an equitable-conversion / security-interest-attachment holding, not a § 365 executory-vs-secured holding. Removed the unretrievable W&L secondary PDF from the retrieved-sources list. No fabrications found.
  • 2026-06-08 — Initial authoring. Populated all modules from the Residential Executory Real Estate Contracts Act (§§ 55.1-3000 to 55.1-3003 via official law.lis.virginia.gov), recording statute § 55.1-407, VRLTA § 55.1-1245, usury §§ 6.2-301/303, and verified Clay v. Landreth (187 Va. 169, 45 S.E.2d 875 (1948)). Remedy regime classified hybrid (VRLTA lease-reclassification for covered residential contracts; common-law forfeiture subject to equitable relief for exempt/non-residential).

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Disclaimer. This page is legal information, not legal advice, and may be out of date. Contract-for-deed statutes are frequently amended and remedies turn on facts. Consult a licensed attorney in this jurisdiction before drafting, enforcing, or signing an installment land contract.