A lease creates a leasehold estate: the tenant gets possession while the landlord keeps ownership. Property management is a tested national topic and connects to Virginia's landlord-tenant law.
Leasehold estates
- Estate for years
- A lease with a fixed start and end date; ends automatically with no notice required.
- Periodic estate
- Renews automatically period to period (month-to-month) until proper notice is given.
- Estate at will
- Continues until either party terminates; indefinite.
- Estate at sufferance
- A holdover tenant remaining after the lease ends without permission.
Lease types by rent structure
- Gross lease — tenant pays fixed rent; landlord pays operating expenses (typical residential).
- Net lease — tenant pays rent plus some property expenses (taxes, insurance, maintenance).
- Percentage lease — rent is a base amount plus a percentage of the tenant's sales (retail).
- Ground lease — tenant leases land and may build on it, often long-term.
Management & tenant concepts
- Property manager
- An agent who operates property for an owner; owes fiduciary duties and usually needs a license or a written management agreement.
- Implied warranty of habitability
- Residential rentals must be fit to live in.
- Quiet enjoyment
- The tenant's right to use the premises without interference from the landlord.
- Constructive eviction
- When a landlord's failure to maintain makes the unit uninhabitable, allowing the tenant to leave.
Broker-only property management (national broker exam)
- A written property-management agreement should state the owner's duties, the manager's authority, fees, and how funds are handled.
- Landlord and tenant funds (rent, security deposits) belong in trust/escrow — same commingling and conversion rules as purchase earnest money.
- The manager is responsible for maintenance, reporting, and risk management consistent with the agreement and fair-housing/ADA rules.
- Setting rents starts with a rental market analysis — comparable units, vacancy, and expenses — not a formal appraisal.
Most Virginia residential rentals fall under the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (VRLTA), which standardizes security deposits, notice periods, and maintenance duties — covered in the Virginia Specific Acts lesson. Broker candidates: expect extra national items on PM contracts, trust accounts, and risk management.