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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>56069</law_id><section_number>8.01-268</section_number><catch_line>When and how docketed and indexed</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>15.2-2208</reference><reference>55.1-402</reference><reference>55.1-706.1</reference><reference>64.2-536</reference><reference>8.01-251</reference></referred_to_by><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="8.01">Civil Remedies and Procedure</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="6">Notice of Lis Pendens or Attachment</unit></structure><text>
						<section id="A"><p><span class="prefix-number">A.</span> No lis pendens or <span class="dictionary">attachment</span> shall bind or affect a subsequent bona fide purchaser of real or personal estate for valuable consideration and without actual notice of such lis pendens or <span class="dictionary">attachment</span>, until and except from the time a <span class="dictionary">memorandum</span> setting forth the title of the cause or <span class="dictionary">attachment</span>, the general <span class="dictionary">object</span> thereof, the <span class="dictionary">court</span> wherein it is pending, the amount of the claim asserted by the <span class="dictionary">plaintiff</span>, a description of the property, the name of the <span class="dictionary">person</span> whose estate is intended to be affected thereby, and in an <span class="dictionary">action</span> to enforce a zoning <span class="dictionary">ordinance</span> a description of the alleged violation, shall be admitted to record in the clerk&#x2019;s office of the <span class="dictionary">circuit</span> <span class="dictionary">court</span> of the county or the city wherein the property is located; or if it be in that part of the City of Richmond lying north of the south bank of the James River and including the islands in such river, in the clerk&#x2019;s office of the <span class="dictionary">Circuit</span> <span class="dictionary">Court</span>, Division I, of such city, or if it be in the part of the City of Richmond lying south of the south bank of the James River, in the clerk&#x2019;s office of the <span class="dictionary">Circuit</span> <span class="dictionary">Court</span>, Division II, of such city. Clerks of <span class="dictionary">circuit</span> <span class="dictionary">courts</span> are authorized and directed to admit to record memoranda of lis pendens or <span class="dictionary">attachment</span> for <span class="dictionary">actions</span> pending in any <span class="dictionary">court</span> of this Commonwealth, or in any other state, federal, or territorial <span class="dictionary">court</span>. The provisions of this section shall not be construed to mean that any such memoranda heretofore recorded are not properly of record. Such <span class="dictionary">memorandum</span> shall not be deemed to have been recorded unless and until indexed as required by <span class="dictionary">law</span>. A <span class="dictionary">memorandum</span> of lis pendens admitted to record in an <span class="dictionary">action</span> to enforce a zoning <span class="dictionary">ordinance</span> shall expire after 180 days. <a id="paragraph-205511" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/8.01-268/#A"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="B"><p><span class="prefix-number">B.</span> No <span class="dictionary">memorandum</span> of lis pendens shall be filed unless the <span class="dictionary">action</span> on which the lis pendens is based seeks (i) to establish an interest by the filing <span class="dictionary">party</span> in the real property described in the <span class="dictionary">memorandum</span>, (ii) to sell the real property to enforce a <span class="dictionary">lien</span> for delinquent taxes pursuant to the provisions of Article 4 (&#xA7; <a class="law" title="When land may be sold for delinquent taxes; notice of sale; owner's right of redemption" href="/58.1-3965/">58.1-3965</a> et seq.) of Chapter 39 of Title 58.1 or a docketed <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> <span class="dictionary">lien</span>, (iii) the <span class="dictionary">partition</span> of real property pursuant to Article 9 (&#xA7; <a class="law" title="Who may compel partition of land; jurisdiction; validation of certain partitions of mineral rights; when shares of two or more laid off together" href="/8.01-81/">8.01-81</a> et seq.) of Chapter 3 of Title 8.01, or (iv) to enforce a zoning <span class="dictionary">ordinance</span>. <a id="paragraph-205512" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/8.01-268/#B"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7; 8-142; 1973, c. 544; 1976, c. 178; 1977, c. 617; 1988, c. 503; 2008, cc. 60, 204; 2025, c. 267.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
