Virginia Law for:
I moved out of my apartment before the end of the lease, but I am still paying rent. My room is empty except for a bookshelf, and I have the keys to my room. Some time ago, the landlord had my room refurbished and the door was left open by the workmen.
My roommate moved into my room, while using her old room for storage. She did so without informing me. Since I am still paying rent for my room, and she is occupying TWO rooms (and I don't even know when she moved in since I haven't been back to the apartment at all), can I take her to court for compensation? The landlord agrees that it is unfair for me to pay rent since she is occupying my space as well.
A while ago, my roommates changed the padlock code to the apartment in order to deny me access. They claimed that since I wasn't physically living there, I shouldn't have access to the apartment. However, I was still supposed to pay rent!
Can I also get compensation for this illegal lock-out? Yes, none of my belongings were in the apartment, but I still had the keys to my room, and had paid the rent for that month. I was locked out for about two and a half weeks until they had to tell me the code since I had grounds for terminating the lease (and not pay my share of the rent).

