What do you call a lease for more than one year in Virginia?

A lease for more than one year in Virginia is termed a leasehold estate. This designation is important because leases that exceed one year generally must be in writing to be enforceable under the Statute of Frauds, which stipulates certain contracts must be documented in order to be legally binding.

Leasehold estates encompass various types of leases where a tenant is granted the right to occupy a property for a specified period in exchange for rent, thereby establishing a legal relationship between the landlord and tenant.

The other options do not accurately represent leases of this duration. For instance, short-term leases typically refer to agreements that last for less than a year and can often be verbal. A standard rental agreement usually signifies a common type of lease but does not specify the duration. Periodic tenancy refers to a lease arrangement that automatically renews at set intervals, which can apply to both short and long-term agreements but does not specifically denote a lease that extends more than one year.