Virginia House and Senate passes bill to end bond requirements for eviction cases

Katrina Lee, News Editor

The Virginia House and Senate passed Senate Bill 474 and its identical companion House Bill 614, which will remove the requirement for indigent Virginians to pay appeal bonds in order to have their eviction cases heard. The bill is awaiting Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s signature. 

State Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, introduced the bill and stated in an email she is pleased with the bi-partisan support for the legislation. 

“Every Virginian deserves equal access to our court system, regardless of their income,” McClellan stated. “But under current Virginia law, indigent people effectively cannot appeal their evictions due to the expensive appeal bond requirement. This bill will remove an obstacle to justice, and allow Virginians to stay in their homes during their eviction appeals.”

The law definition of indigent is individuals who are unable to pay for the necessities of life, according to Cornell Law School. 

McClellan’s bill also clearly defines “indigent” in the context of civil cases, bringing it in line with the definition for criminal cases, according to a statement made by McClellan. The bill states “no indigent person shall be required to post an appeal bond.” 

Richmond has the second-highest eviction rate in the country at approximately 11%, which has remained steady over the past 16 years, according to VCU’s RVA Eviction Lab. 

The RVA Eviction Lab is a division of the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs that presents and analyzes a series of data on eviction and housing instability in Virginia, according to their website.

VCU political science professor David Kerr said he specializes in Virginia politics and “absolutely” agrees with this bill. 

“Let’s say you haven’t paid your bills in four months and rent is $1,000 a month. You have to acquire a bond for $4,000. Now a lot of people who can’t pay their rent or aren’t paying their rent are usually not that prosperous to find a bonding agent to give them a bond,” Kerr said. “It’s a built-in trap, in my opinion. The whole idea is to keep poor people from appealing their cases.”

High eviction rates are disproportionately found in minority communities, with more than 60% of all majority African American regions facing eviction rates greater than 10%, according to VCU’S RVA Eviction Lab. 

Kerr said he believes the requirement for indigent Virginians to pay appeal bonds was “very much aimed at people of color, African Americans primarily.”

Students with housing at VCU in local neighborhoods could be one reason rent is increasing in parts of Richmond, Kerr said.

“Students are a more prosperous group. You’ve got a steady income to pay your rent. Also, you can put more students into a house than you put a single family or a couple of families,” Kerr said. “I guess in a sense you’re sort of you’re part of that bidding price up.”

Kerr said he has noticed newly renovated rentals around the city as well and believes they are also driving up prices.

“The rents are being built up so fast, that the average person, the average working person, is going to have a tough time coming up with the money,” Kerr said.

Kerr said he believes the bill is very important for Virginia tenants and that McClellan “gets a feather in her cap” for the introduction of the bill.

“I’m surprised by it. That was it. It pleasantly surprised me. Unexpected in this environment, in a state that is not necessarily tenant friendly,” Kerr said. “In a Republican-dominated House and with a Republican governor, for a bill like this to make it, at least what it looks like, it’ll make it all the way to the finish line.”

Laura Dobbs, a housing advocate at the Virginia Poverty Law Center, said she thinks this bill has a specific importance for Richmonders. 

“We are hoping to get rid of that barrier for tenants. That when the courts do get it wrong or a tenant is unable to attend court for some reason, that they will be able to get into circuit court and get a second look into that case,” Dobbs said. 

Dobbs said because of the support from both the Senate and House, she believes Youngkin will sign the bill. 

“This bill is about an access to justice issue. I have every expectation that the governor will sign it. He has until April 11 to act on the bill so we hope that his administration is in full support of this legislation,” Dobbs said. 

Dobbs said she thinks socio-economic status should not play a role in whether an individual’s eviction case is heard in court or not.

“I think we should be treating all indigent litigates the same regardless of the type of case they have and we should not be defining individuals’ access to circuit court simply because they are too poor to pay this appeal bond,” Dobbs said. “And I think that just goes to our fundamental understanding of justice.”