Free Virginia Commercial Lease Agreement Template

A Virginia commercial lease agreement rents non-residential property — a storefront, an office, a warehouse, a workshop — to a tenant who will run a business there. Chapter 14 of Title 55.1 is headed Nonresidential Tenancies and was written for exactly this.

Section 55.1-1400(A) defines a nonresidential tenancy as the rental of any real estate for purposes other than residential use, including business, industrial, or agricultural purposes. Subsection (B) applies the chapter to all nonresidential tenancies.

The chapter’s opening rule shapes everything that follows.

The Lease Controls

Section 55.1-1400 states that the lease or rental agreement controls the landlord-tenant relationship unless the lease is silent, in which case the provisions of the chapter apply.

That ordering is unusually explicit for a commercial statute. In Virginia the statutory provisions are gap-fillers rather than a floor, which puts more weight on drafting than in states where notice periods are minimums the parties cannot go below.

Notice to Terminate

Section 55.1-1410(A) supplies the default periods for a Virginia commercial lease agreement. A year-to-year tenancy in nonresidential rental property may be terminated by either party giving three months’ notice in writing prior to the end of any year of the tenancy. A month-to-month tenancy may be terminated by either party giving 30 days’ notice in writing prior to the next rent due date — unless the rental agreement provides for a different notice period.

Written notice of termination is to be given in accordance with the chapter or the lease agreement.

Out-of-State Owners

Section 55.1-1401 requires a nonresident property owner to appoint a resident agent for service of process. The section defines a nonresident property owner as a nonresident individual or group of individuals who owns and leases commercial real property within a county or city in the Commonwealth.

In a nonresidential tenancy, yes — within limits. Section 55.1-1400 provides that the right to evict a tenant whose right of possession has been terminated in any commercial or other nonresidential tenancy under the chapter may be effectuated by self-help eviction without further legal process, so long as the eviction does not incite a breach of the peace.

Very few states allow this. It sits alongside the judicial route rather than replacing it: the same section says nothing in the chapter precludes terminating a commercial or nonresidential tenancy by filing an unlawful detainer action, obtaining an order of possession, and evicting under § 55.1-1416.

For a commercial tenant, that combination is the reason to negotiate the default and termination provisions carefully. Because the lease controls where it speaks, a clause requiring judicial process displaces the self-help route.

1. Agree the rent, the review mechanism, the term, and where insurance, tax, and repair obligations sit.
2. Address self-help eviction expressly, since § 55.1-1400 permits it unless the lease says otherwise.
3. Set your own notice periods if the three-month and 30-day defaults do not suit the arrangement.
4. Confirm whether the owner is a nonresident, and whether a resident agent has been appointed.
5. Execute the lease and keep the termination and notice provisions where both sides can find them.

Because the chapter applies only where a Virginia commercial lease agreement is silent, silence is the risk:

• Legal names of landlord and tenant, and the entity behind each signature.
• A description of the demised space, plus any parking or loading rights taken with it.
• Rent, the rent due date, and the basis and timing of increases.
• The term, stated as fixed, year-to-year, or month-to-month, with renewal rights.
• The notice period for termination, if different from the statutory default.
• Whether the landlord may use self-help or must proceed by unlawful detainer.
• The split of taxes, insurance, and utilities, plus assignment and subletting consent.