Chap. 311.—An ACT to provide for the supervision, regulation and control of
rents and rental agreements in certain areas of the State affected by the war
and defense program; to authorize the Governor, under certain conditions, to
appoint local emergency rent boards for Certain areas, and to prescribe the
powers, duties, and functions of such boards, and of the Governor in connection
therewith; to prohibit recovery of possession by landlords in certain instances ;
and to prescribe penalties for violations of the provisions of this act.

[HB 517]
Approved March 30, 1942

I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, as follows:
Section 1. Findings and Declaration.—The military and industrial
mobilization and expansion necessitated by the national war program
are causing and will continue to cause in increasing degree the influx and
shifting of military and industrial personnel and their families to military
camps and bases and their environs, to industrial centers and communities
wherein war plants or industries are established or expanded, and to
other areas of the State affected thereby, and have resulted or threatened
to result in an acute shortage of safe, sanitary and habitable dwellings in
certain areas or classes of dwellings in this State.

Such a shortage results in the exacting of unfair, unreasonable and
oppressive rents and rental agreements, in overcrowding, and in the oc-
cupation of uninhabitable dwellings. Such a shortage endangers the
health, welfare, safety, morals and morale of the people of this State,
and causes an unnecessary turnover of labor, impaired efficiency, a
hampering of production, and the impeding of the effective prosecution
of the national war program.

Such a shortage and the exacting of oppressive rents and rental
agreements constitute an emergency, and, in order to avoid the conse-
quences arising therefrom, it is essential to provide for the regulation of
rents and rental agreements in areas or classes of dwellings with respect
to which an emergency is found to exist pursuant to the provisions of this
act, and to provide for the gradual relaxation and termination of such
regulation as changing conditions may require.

Section 2. Short Title—This act may be cited as the Emergency
Fair Rent Act.

Section 3. Definitions—Whenever used in this act, unless a differ-
ent meaning clearly appears from the context:

(a) “Governor” means the Governor of the State.

(b) “Board” means any Local Emergency Rent Board established
pursuant to this act.

(c) “Dwelling”? means any rooms, room, or part of a room, occu-
pied or intended to be occupied by one or more individuals as a residence,
home, sleeping place, boarding house, lodging house or hotel, together
with the land and buildings appurtenant thereto, and all services, priv-
ileges, furnishings, furniture, and facilities usually supplied in connection
with the occupation thereof, but does not include a hospital, convent,
monastery, asylum, public institute, college or school dormitory.

(d) “Rent” means the consideration for the use of a dwelling.

(e) “Class of dwellings’ means any classification of dwellings
made pursuant to this act.

f) “Area” means any territory designated by the Governor em-
braced within the boundaries of a county, city, town, district, or other
political subdivision.

(g) “Tenant” means any person or persons paying or obligated
to pay rent for a dwelling.

(h) “Landlord” means any person or persons receiving or entitled
to receive rent for a dwelling. ,

(i) ‘Normal rent date” means the normal rent date determinec
pursuant to this act.

(j) “Normal rent” means the normal rent determined pursuant
to this act. :

(k) “Fair and reasonable rent” means the fair and reasonable
rent determined pursuant to this act.
(1) “Person” means any individual, firm, co-partnership, corpora-
tion, company, association, or joint stock association, and includes any
trustee, receiver, assignee or other similar representative thereof.

(m) “Review” means any reconsideration of any matter by any
court.

Section 4. Declaration of Existence of an Emergency.—The Gov-
ernor shall have the power:

(1) to declare that an emergency exists in any area with respect
to which he finds that there is an acute housing shortage and that unfair,
unreasonable, oppressive rents or rental agreements are being exacted;

(2) to amend, supplement or revoke such declaration, as circum-
stances may require, in order to effect a gradual relaxation of rent regu-
lations adopted pursuant to this act ;

(3) to utilize the services of any existing State agency or the
voluntary and uncompensated services of any other person or agency in
determining whether an emergency exists in any area;

(4) to require any board to file written reports setting forth all
matters which may be deemed relevant to his duties ; and

(5) to do any and all things necessary for the exercise of his
powers, duties, and functions under this act.

Section 5. Creation and Organization of Local Emergency Rent
Boards.—(a) Upon declaration of the existence of an emergency in
any area the Governor shall forthwith appoint a Local Emergency Rent
Board for such area.

(b) The Board shall consist of five members. The chairman shall
be designated annually by the Governor from the members of the Board.
Members of the Board shall receive such compensation as may be fixed
by the Governor within the limits of any funds which may be available
for the purpose. In the event that any member of the Board becomes
temporarily unable to perform his duties, the Governor may appoint an
alternate to serve in his place during such inability, and, in the event of a
vacancy on the Board, the Governor shall fill such vacancy by appoint-
ment.

Three members shall constitute a quorum. Members shall be resi-

dents of the area over which the Board shall have jurisdiction. Not less
than two members of the Board shall be owners of and taxpayers on
real property in the area, or shall be experienced in or familiar with
the problems of real property ownership, management and maintenance.
The Board shall not sit as a board of arbitration between conflicting in-
terests, nor shall its members represent or be deemed to represent any
special management and maintenance interests. The Board shall en-
deavor to act so far as possible as a unit to reach a conclusion in the
public interest consistent with the respective rights of the parties con-
cerned.
No member shall sit in any case in which he, or any member of his
immediate family, has a direct or indirect financial interest. Members
shall serve for the duration of the emergency but may be removed from
office by the appointing power for inefficiency, neglect of duty, mal-
feasance in office or inability to serve, upon notice and hearing.
(c) Upon a finding by the Governor that a board of five members
is not adequate and that additional members are necessary, he shall ap-
point such additional members of the Board as may be required to en-
able it to form the number of divisions prescribed by him. Irrespective
of the number of divisions, the Board shall have but one chairman. Each
division shall consist of three members of the Board, all of whom shall
be necessary to a quorum, but shall otherwise be governed by the same
rules and regulations and shall have the same powers and duties and
same status as the Board as a whole. The chairman of the Board shall
prepare and keep a calendar and shall allocate cases and assign Board
members to divisions.

(d) The Board shall conduct its proceedings in accordance with
rules and regulations promulgated by the Board. Rules of evidence pre-
vailing in courts of law shall not be binding. Written findings of fact
and conclusions of law shall be made by the Board in each case.

Section 6. General Powers and Duties of Boards.—(a) Each
local Board shall have the power to:

(1) Use the services of Federal, State or local agencies and of
the voluntary and uncompensated services of private persons or groups.

(2) Make, appoint, or rescind rules and regulations not incon-
sistent with law, necessary or incidental to its powers, duties and func-
tions.

(3) Compel by subpoena the attendance and testimony of wit-
nesses and the production of pertinent evidence relating to any matter
under investigation or in question before the Board.

(4) Sue and be sued with respect to matters coming within the
scope of its activities.

(b) Each Board shall submit to the Governor such reports as he
may from time to time request.

Section 7. Determination of Normal Rent Date, Normal Rent,
and Classification of Dwellings—(a) As soon as the Board is ap-
pointed it shall determine whether or not the emergency which has been
declared by the Governor exists within the entire area or only with
respect to a class of dwellings to be determined by the Board. For the
purposes of this section the Board shall have the power to classify dwell-
ings on the basis of area, location in the area, size, rentals, or any combi-
nation thereof. No such determination shall be made unless and until
the Board shall have held a hearing after giving reasonable notice by
publication or otherwise, in such manner as the Board may see fit.

(b) The Board shall determine the latest date at which rental
conditions within the area or class of dwellings to be regulated had not
yet been affected by the national defense program. Such date shall be
known and designated as the normal rent date. The Board shall incor-
porate such determination in a declaration filed in its office.

(c) The rent paid on the normal rent date for a dwelling within
the area or class of dwellings to be regulated, plus any additional amount
which shall be allowed by the Board by reason of a general rise in taxes
maintenance or operating costs, shall constitute the normal rent fot
such dwelling. Such additional amount, if any, shall be stated in the
cH. 311] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 437

declaration of the Board or in any subsequent declaration of the Board
and may be expressed in terms of a sum of money or a percentage of
rent paid on the normal rent date or on any other calculated or calculable
terms.

(d) The Board shall, whenever circumstances so require, amend,
supplement, or revoke its declaration with respect to the existence of an
emergency in any class of dwellings or with respect to the normal rent,
in order to effect the gradual relaxation of rent regulation because of
changing conditions.

Section 8. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Rent——(a) In
the event that either a landlord or a tenant of a dwelling in an area or
class of dwellings as to which an emergency has been declared to exist
shall be of the opinion that the agreed rent, or the rent charged or asked
by the landlord, is not fair and reasonable, then upon petition by either
the landlord or the tenant, and after notice to the other party, and after
a hearing thereon, the Board shall determine the fair and reasonable
rent for the dwelling. _ ,

(b) The normal rent shall be prima facie the fair and reasonable
rent, and the burden of proof shall be upon the party seeking to establish
a different rent as fair and reasonable.

(c) The fair and reasonable rent shall in no event be less than is
required to give the landlord a reasonable return on the fair market value
of the dwelling.

(d) No landlord, tenant, lessor, sublessee,.assignor, assignee or
transferee of an interest in a dwelling shall be entitled to a determination
of the fair and reasonable rent for a dwelling if the lease, sublease, assign-
ment or voluntary transfer was made on or before the normal rent date.

The Board may determine the fair and reasonable rent for any such
dwelling upon the expiration of the term fixed in any such lease, sub-
lease, assignment or transfer agreement.

Nothing herein shall restrict the power of the Board to determine
the fair and reasonable rent for a dwelling payable by a sublessee.

Section 9. Payments of Rent Pending Determination of Fair and
Reasonable Rent.—(a) After an emergency has been declared to exist
with respect to an area or class of dwellings and during the time the
declaration thereof is in effect, no landlord of any dwelling within such
area or class which was rented to a tenant at the time of the declaration
shall receive rent for such dwelling in excess of the rent charged therefor
at the time of the declaration of the emergency, unless and until the fair
and reasonable rent therefor has been determined.

(b) After the determination of a fair and reasonable rent for a
dwelling and during the time the declaration of the existence of an
emergency is applicable thereto, no landlord shall receive rents for such
dwelling in excess of such fair and reasonable rent.

__(c) Pending a review of such a determination, the tenant shall pay
to the landlord the fair and reasonable rent determined by the Board.

(d) The fair and reasonable rent determined by the Board or
upon review, as the case may be, shall take effect as of the date of the
filing of the petition for such determination, except that if such petition
shall have been filed within thirty days after the appointment and quali-
fication of the Board such determination of fair and reasonable rent shall
take effect as of the date of the declaration of the emergency with respect
to the area or the dwelling involved.

(e) In the event that the amount of the fair and reasonable rent
as determined by the Board or upon review, as the case may be, is less
than the amount paid to the landlord by the tenant pending such deter-
mination, then the landlord shall repay to the tenant the amount of any
difference paid since the date at which the determination is effective as
provided in this section. In the event that the landlord fails to pay such
difference to the tenant the tenant shall have a credit against any rent
subsequently payable irrespective of any change in ownership of the
dwelling.

({) In the event that the amount of the fair and reasonable rent
as determined by the Board or upon review, as the case may be, is in
excess of the amount paid by the tenant to the landlord pending such
determination, then the tenant shall pay to the landlord the amount of
any difference accruing from the date at which such determination be-
comes effective as provided in this section.

Section 10. Review by Courts.—(a) Within ten days after the
determination by the Board of the normal rent date, the classification of
dwellings and the normal rent, or any one or more thereof, and within
ten days after the entry of an order by the Board determining the fair
and reasonable rent, a landlord or a tenant having an interest in such
determination or order may file a petition for review of any questions in-
volved in or decided by such determination or order with the circuit or
corporation court having jurisdiction in the area. The said court shall
grant any such petition which makes a showing of clear and substantial
error. Upon receiving notice of the granting of any such petition the
Board shall file with the court the Board’s findings of fact and conclu-
sions of law in the particular case. In all instances where the court re-
quests the entire record in a case the Board shall file with the court the
original record of any hearing or hearings before the Board.

(b) In any review by the court of an order or determination of
the Board, the findings of fact made by the Board shall not be set aside
unless it appear from the evidence that such findings are plainly wrong
or without evidence to support them.

(c) The court may affirm, revoke or modify the determination or
order of the Board, subject to review by the Supreme Court of Appeals
as in chancery causes.

Section 11. Recovery of Possession by a Landlord—(a) No ac-
tion or proceeding to recover possession of a dwelling within an area or
class of dwellings with respect to which an emergency has been declared,
shall be maintainable by a landlord, or by a lessee who has sublet a dwell-
ing or assigned a lease thereon, notwithstanding that the tenant is in
possession without a lease or as a holdover after the expiration date of
his lease, or otherwise, so long as the tenant pays the agreed rent, or the
fair and reasonable rent, as circumstances may require, unless such land-
cH. 311] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 439

lord, lessor or assignor shall allege and it shall be proven to the satisfac-
tion of the court that:

1. The tenant is violating an obligation of his tenancy.

2. The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of the
dwelling for the immediate and personal occupancy by himself and his
family as a dwelling. ,

3. The landlord has in good faith contracted in writing to sell the
dwelling for the personal occupancy of the vendee and that the contract
contains a representation by the vendee that the dwelling is being pur-
chased by him for the personal occupancy of the vendee and his family
during the term of the emergency.

4. The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of the
dwelling which is to be demolished and replaced by a new dwelling, by
the landlord or by others, and that the plans for such new dwelling have
been approved by the proper authorities.

5. The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of the
dwelling which is to be demolished and replaced by a new non-dwelling
building, by the landlord or by others, and that the Board has approved
such demolition and construction and has found that it is consistent with
the public interest, and that the plans for such new building have been
approved by the proper authorities.

(b) Except as otherwise provided by this act a tenant or a sub-
tenant of a dwelling, or an assignee of a lease thereon, during the period
of the emergency applicable to a dwelling, shall be entitled to remain in
such dwelling so long as he pays the fair and reasonable rent determined
by the Board and performs all the other obligations of his tenancy.

Section 12. Violations, Waivers and Penalties—(a) Any pro-
vision in any lease or other agreement, written or oral, for the payment
of rent for a dwelling, in an amount exceeding the fair and reasonable
rent previously determined, shall be contrary to public policy and such
lease or agreement shall be void.

(b) After the fair and reasonable rent for a dwelling has been
determined, any provision in any lease or other agreement, written or
oral, made prior thereto and subsequent to the normal rent date, for
the payment of rent in an amount exceeding such fair and reasonable
rent, shall be unenforceable, and the amount of rent payable by the ten-
ant to the landlord under said lease shall be the fair and reasonable rent
as determined from time to time.

(c) No lease or other agreement shall contain any provision, which
in words or substance provides for a waiver by any person of the bene-
fits or provisions of this act. Any such provision shall be void. The in-
sertion by any person of any such provision shall be unlawful and pun-
ishable as a misrepresentation as provided in this act.

(d) If any landlord shall violate any of the provisions of this act
with respect to the receipt of rent, he shall be liable for, and the Board
may recover by civil action, double the amount of the excess in rent re-
ceived by him, with costs. Out of any sums received on account of such
recovery, the Board shall pay over to the tenant the amount of the ex-
cess paid by him, and the balance shall be paid into the general fund of
the State treasury.

(e) Any person who with intent to avoid the provisions of this
act receives any sum of money, payment, gratuity, or other thing of value
in connection with any lease or other contracts for the use or occupancy
of any dwelling, shall be liable for, and the Board may recover by civil
action, double the amount so received, with costs. Out of any sums re-
ceived on account of such recovery, the Board shall pay over to the
tenant the amount of the excess paid by him, and the balance shall be
paid into the general fund of the State treasury.

({) In the event that the vendee of a dwelling has represented in
the contract to purchase the dwelling that it is being purchased by him
for the personal occupancy of the vendee and his family during the term
of the emergency, and thereafter the vendee fails, except for circum-
stances not reasonably to be anticipated at the time of executing such
contract, so to use such dwelling, the vendee shall be guilty of misrepre-
sentation.

(g) Any person guilty of any misrepresentation specified in this
act shall be subject to a fine not exceeding the sum of one thousand dol-
lars.

(h) The enumeration in this act of violations thereof, and the
punishment therefor, shall not be construed to be a bar to prosecution of
any other violation of law not specifically enumerated herein.

(i) Any proceeding to enforce any liability, civil or criminal, ac-
cruing or arising under this section, must be commenced within one year
after such liability accrued or arose. Every such liability not previously
barred, and every proceeding then pending to enforce any such liability,
shall survive the termination date of this act.

Section 13. Notices, Service, Oaths, Witnesses, When the Board,
the State, County or City, or the Public Represented.—(a) Any notice,
order, or process required to be served under this act may be served by
registered mail, return receipt requested, or in any other manner pre-
scribed by law or by regulation of the Board having jurisdiction.

(b) The Governor, or any member of a Board or any agent desig-
nated by the Governor or by a Board for such purposes, may administer
oaths and affirmations for the purposes of this act.

(c) In case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpoena issued
pursuant to this act to any person, the circuit or corporation court having
jurisdiction in the area, upon application by the Governor or the Board
issuing such subpoena, after notice and hearing, may order such person
to comply with the terms of such subpoena. Any failure to obey such
order may be punished by the court as a contempt thereof.

(d) No person shall be excused from attending and testifying,
or producing any books, papers or other documents, before any court,
or Board, upon any investigation, proceeding or trial, for or relating to
or concerned with the administration or enforcement of any provision
of this act, upon the ground that the testimony or evidence, documentary
or otherwise, required of him may tend to convict him of a crime or to
subject him to a penalty or forfeiture; but no person shall be prosecuted
or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any trans-
action, matter or thing concerning which he may so testify or produce
evidence, documentary or otherwise, in obedience to a subpoena issued
by or on behalf of the Commonwealth and under oath, and no testimony
so given or produced shall be received against him, upon any criminal
investigation, proceeding or trial, except upon a prosecution for perjury
or contempt of court based upon the giving or producing of such testi-
mony. .
(e) Upon request of the Board directed to the board of supervisors
or of the governing body of the county or city in which the area is lo-
cated such governing body may direct the Attorney for the Common-
wealth of such county or city to appear in any hearing before the Board,
or in any court upon a review of any determination or order of the
Board, and represent the Board, or the interest of such county or city,
or the public, as the case may be; and, upon the request of the Governor,
the Attorney General shall appear in any such hearing or proceeding
and represent the Board, the Commonwealth, or the public, or any one
or more of them.

Section 14. Applicability——This act shall not apply to any area
in this State except, unless and until said area has been declared or pro-
claimed by the Price Control Administration or other Federal authority
having jurisdiction over the regulation and control of rents as an emer-
gency area or as such an area by whatever terms described as will bring
the control and regulation of rents and rental agreements within the juris-
diction of said Administrator or other agency of the United States; nor
shall this act apply to

(a) to public housing projects owned or operated by a govern-
mental agency and restricted by law for occupancy by persons or families
of low income or ,

(b) to any habitable building, no part of which has been used for
dwelling purposes prior to the convening of the legislative session at
which this act is adopted.

The words “habitable building” as herein used mean and include
any structure built and maintained in compliance with any building, sani-
tary, health, fire or zoning laws, codes, and ordinances applicable thereto.
In the event that there are no such laws, codes or ordinances applicable
to the construction, and maintenance of such structures, then the words
“habitable building” mean and include any structure built and maintained
in compliance with such building, sanitary, health or fire laws, codes
and ordinances of any municipality within the State designated by the
Board as the standard and declared by it to be applicable to dwellings
in the area in which such dwelling is situated.

Section 15. Severability—lIf any provision of this act or the ap-
plication thereof to any persons or circumstances is held invalid, such
invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this act
which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application,
and to this end the provisions of this act are declared to be severable.

Section 16. Exclusive Jurisdiction—Subject to the provisions of
this act with respect to review by the courts, the Board shall have ex-
clusive jurisdiction to determine the fair and reasonable rent for a dwell-
ing unit in any area or class of dwelling units with respect to which an
emergency has been declared to exist.

Section 16-a. This act shall expire by its own limitation on March
fifteenth, nineteen hundred and forty-four.

2. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.