Skip to content
ClosingCodeClosingCode
ENES

Virginia · Va. Code §55.1-713Virginia stigmatized property: no action for not disclosing a homicide, felony or suicide

Notwithstanding any other provision of the Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act or any other statute or regulation, no cause of action arises against an owner or a real estate licensee for failing to disclose that the property was the site of an act or occurrence that had no effect on the physical structure, its physical environment or the improvements, or of a homicide, felony or suicide (Va. Code §55.1-713(A)). The same section keeps the buyer's remedies for a missing disclosure or a misrepresentation of the information the Act requires – termination under §55.1-709(B) or actual damages, with a one-year deadline – and leaves the buyer's other remedies for an owner's intentional or willful misrepresentation of the property's condition (§55.1-713(B)–(C)).

What the statute says

  1. No action (§55.1-713(A)(2))

    A homicide, felony or suicide on the property.

  2. No physical effect (§55.1-713(A)(1))

    Any act or occurrence that didn't affect the structure, environment or improvements.

  3. Who is covered

    The owner and real estate licensees.

  4. Condition remedies (§55.1-713(B)–(C))

    Remedies for missing or misrepresented required disclosures stay; one-year deadline.

Still not allowed

  • Misrepresenting the property's condition – §55.1-713(C) preserves remedies for intentional or willful misrepresentation.
  • Leaving a physical condition off the required disclosure – the buyer's remedies under §55.1-713(B) remain.
  • Answering a buyer's direct question falsely.

How agents and TCs handle the question

  • A buyer's direct question gets a truthful answer or a referral to the seller – never a made-up one.
  • Physical consequences – damage, cleanup, meth contamination – go on the condition disclosure.
  • Write down the question and the answer in the deal notes.

Questions buyers and sellers ask

Do you have to disclose a murder in a house in Virginia?

No cause of action arises against the owner or a licensee for not disclosing that the property was the site of a homicide, felony or suicide (Va. Code §55.1-713(A)(2)).

Whom does Virginia's stigmatized property rule protect?

The owner and real estate licensees – no cause of action arises against them for the failure to disclose (Va. Code §55.1-713(A)).

Related guides

Log buyer questions and the answers given as deal notes in ClosingCode, so the file shows what was asked and said.

Start free trial

Source: Code of Virginia §55.1-713 (law.lis.virginia.gov, read October 26, 2026).

General information, not legal advice. ClosingCode is software; it is not a law firm or brokerage. This guide is not a substitute for the advice or services of an attorney.