A landlord’s lien is a legal right or security interest that a landlord can hold as a creditor, providing the right to seize personal property belonging to a current or former tenant. The lien allows the sale of the property to cover unpaid debts owed under the lease, usually from overdue rent or damage to the property.
The concept of a landlord’s lien originated from common law, based on the doctrine of distress which allowed seizure of a debtor’s property. In modern times, the common law right of a landlord’s lien has often been replaced by statutes with similar effects.
For example, Virginia Code §8.01-130.6 defines the contours of a landlord’s lien as follows:
“The distress may be levied on any goods of the lessee, his assignee, or any sublessee that are found on the premises or that may have been removed from the premises not more than 30 days prior to the levy. A levy within such 30 days shall have like effect as if the goods levied on had not been removed from the leased premises. If the goods of such lessee, assignee, or sublessee, when carried on the premises, are subject to a lien that is valid against his creditors, his interest only in such goods shall be liable to such distress. If any lien is created on such goods while they are upon the leased premises, or within 30 days after such lien is created, they are liable to distress, but for not more than six months' rent if the premises are used for residential purposes, and not for farming or agriculture, and for not more than 12 months' rent if the lands or premises are used for farming or agriculture, whether such rent has accrued before or after the creation of the lien. No other goods shall be liable to distress than such as are declared to be so liable in this section, nor shall the goods of the sublessee be liable to a greater amount than such sublessee owed the tenant at the time the distress was levied.”
[Last updated in June of 2023 by the Wex Definitions Team]