CODE OF VIRGINIA

CERTAIN RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS VOID; INSTRUMENTS CONTAINING SUCH COVENANTS (§
36-96.6)

A. Any restrictive covenant and any related reversionary interest, purporting to
restrict occupancy or ownership of property on the basis of race, color,
religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status, or handicap,
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.

B. Any person 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 contract to purchase, lease, mortgage,
or otherwise deal with such property.

C. No person shall solicit or accept compensation of any kind for the release or
removal of any covenant or reversionary interest described in subsection A. Any
person violating this subsection shall be liable to any person injured thereby
in an amount equal to the greater of three times the compensation solicited or
received, or $ 500, plus reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred.

D. A family care home, foster home, or group home in which individuals with
physical handicaps, mental illness, intellectual disability, or developmental
disability reside, with one or more resident counselors or other staff persons,
shall be considered for all purposes residential occupancy by a single family
when construing any restrictive covenant which purports to restrict occupancy or
ownership of real or leasehold property to members of a single family or to
residential use or structure.

HISTORY: 1972, c. 591, § 36-91; 1973, c. 358; 1986, c. 574; 1989, c. 88; 1991,
c. 557; 1998, c. 873; 2012, cc. 476, 507.