28.2-613 - Duration of lease. - Virginia Statutes

§ 28.2-613. Duration of lease.

Each assignment of general oyster-planting ground shall continue in force forten years from the date of assignment, unless the assignment is terminated;however, assignments issued between July 1, 1976, and July 1, 1980, shallcontinue in force for twenty years from the date of assignment. The interestin such ground is chattel real.

Upon the death of the renter, testate as to the lease, it shall vest in thenamed beneficiary subject to the rights of creditors, if he is a resident ofthis Commonwealth, provided that he files an application for transfer withthe Commission within eighteen months after the date of death. If the namedbeneficiary is not a resident he shall have eighteen months after the date ofdeath to transfer the lease to a qualified holder.

Upon the death of the renter, intestate as to the lease, the lease shall vestin the personal representative, who shall transfer the lease to a qualifiedholder within eighteen months.

If there is no qualification on the renter's estate within one year of hisdeath, the Commission may within six months thereafter transfer the lease toa qualified holder upon receipt of a transfer duly executed by all of thelawful heirs of the renter.

If there is no transfer under any of the above, the ground shall becomevacant and open to assignment.

Upon expiration of the initial or any subsequent term of the assignment, theCommission shall, on application of the holder, renew the assignment for anadditional ten-year term. The Commission shall not renew or extend anassignment where there has been no significant production of oysters orclams, no reasonable plantings of oysters, clams or cultch or no significantoyster or clam aquaculture operation, during any portion of the ten-yearperiod immediately prior to the application for renewal, unless theCommission finds that there was good cause for the failure to produce orplant oysters, clams or cultch or finds that the assignment is directlyrelated to and beneficial to the production of oyster-planting groundsimmediately adjacent to the assignment. In determining whether there was goodcause for the failure to produce or plant oysters, clams, or cultch, inaddition to other factors, the Commission shall consider the prevalence ofthe diseases MSX and Dermo, and whether the oyster-planting ground hastraditionally produced commercial quantities of oysters or clams.

(Code 1950, § 28-124; 1954, c. 352; 1958, c. 183; 1960, c. 517; 1962, c. 406,§ 28.1-109(12); 1964, c. 393; 1966, c. 684; 1970, c. 726; 1972, c. 644; 1973,c. 14; 1978, cc. 546, 548; 1980, cc. 34, 609; 1984, c. 259; 1992, c. 836;1996, c. 985; 1997, c. 259.)