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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>78240</law_id><section_number>36-96.6</section_number><catch_line>Certain restrictive covenants void; instruments containing such covenants</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>36-96.1:1</reference><reference>36-96.2</reference><reference>55.1-300</reference><reference>55.1-300.1</reference></referred_to_by><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="36">Housing</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="5.1">Virginia Fair Housing Law</unit></structure><text>
						<section id="A"><p><span class="prefix-number">A.</span> Any <span class="dictionary">restrictive covenant</span> and any related reversionary interest, purporting to restrict occupancy or ownership of property on the basis of race, color, <span class="dictionary">religion</span>, national origin, sex, <span class="dictionary">elderliness</span>, <span class="dictionary">familial status</span>, sexual orientation, gender identity, <span class="dictionary">military status</span>, or disability, whether heretofore or hereafter included in an instrument affecting the title to real or leasehold property, are declared to be void and contrary to the public policy of the Commonwealth. <a id="paragraph-280439" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/36-96.6/#A"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="B"><p><span class="prefix-number">B.</span> Any <span class="dictionary">person</span> who is asked to accept a document affecting title to real or leasehold property may decline to accept the same if it includes such a covenant or reversionary interest until the covenant or reversionary interest has been removed from the document. Refusal to accept delivery of an instrument for this reason shall not be deemed a breach of a <span class="dictionary">contract</span> to purchase, lease, mortgage, or otherwise deal with such property. <a id="paragraph-280440" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/36-96.6/#B"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="C"><p><span class="prefix-number">C.</span> No <span class="dictionary">person</span> shall solicit or accept compensation of any kind for the release or removal of any covenant or reversionary interest described in subsection A. Any <span class="dictionary">person</span> violating this subsection shall be liable to any <span class="dictionary">person</span> injured thereby in an amount equal to the greater of three times the compensation solicited or received, or $500, plus reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred. <a id="paragraph-280441" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/36-96.6/#C"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="D"><p><span class="prefix-number">D.</span> A <span class="dictionary">family</span> care home, foster home, or group home in which individuals with physical disabilities, mental illness, intellectual disability, or developmental disability reside, with one or more resident counselors or other staff <span class="dictionary">persons</span>, shall be considered for all purposes residential occupancy by a single <span class="dictionary">family</span> when construing any <span class="dictionary">restrictive covenant</span> which purports to restrict occupancy or ownership of real or leasehold property to members of a single <span class="dictionary">family</span> or to residential use or structure. <a id="paragraph-280442" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/36-96.6/#D"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>1972, c. 591, &#xA7; 36-91; 1973, c. 358; 1986, c. 574; 1989, c. 88; 1991, c. 557; 1998, c. 873; 2012, cc. 476, 507; 2020, cc. 1137, 1140; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 477, 478.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
