How much can a landlord charge for a rental application fee in Virginia?

$50, plus the landlord's actual out-of-pocket cost for third-party background, credit, or other pre-occupancy checks; the ceiling is $32 where the unit is a public housing unit or is otherwise regulated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Does an application fee have to be refunded in Virginia?

Yes — in Virginia at least one circumstance requires application-stage money to be returned. If the applicant does not rent the unit, the landlord must return everything in the application deposit above actual expenses and damages, together with an itemized list of those expenses and damages, within 20 days of the applicant's failure to rent or of the landlord's rejection. The deadline shortens to 10 days where the deposit was paid by cash, certified check, cashier's check, or postal money order and the applicant did not rent because the landlord rejected the application.

Does a landlord have to give a receipt for an application fee in Virginia?

No statutory receipt duty for application money.

Does Virginia have a reusable tenant screening report law?

No statute on reusable screening reports.

Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in Virginia?

A landlord may require a refundable application deposit in addition to the nonrefundable application fee. An application deposit is any refundable money or property paid so the payer will be considered as a tenant, including money intended to become the security deposit. If the applicant does not rent the unit, everything above the landlord's actual expenses and damages must be returned with an itemized list within 20 days, or within 10 days where the money came as cash or certified funds and the landlord rejected the application.

What can a landlord charge for a rental application in Virginia?

Verified August 25, 2026 All Virginia topics →

Legislative changes ahead — not yet in force. The rules on this page reflect the law in force today. The following measures would change it:

HB 678 (2026), c. 1066 — Already CHAPTERED but not yet effective: on July 1, 2027, § 55.1-1204(K)'s rent-increase notice for landlords with more than four units extends from 60 to 90 days before the end of the rental agreement term, and the notice must give the tenant a renewal-decision deadline no sooner than 30 days after delivery. The current 60-day rule (the figure shown on this page) governs until then.Status: Enacted 2026; effective 2027-07-01 per the official code site's version label (one Realtor-association summary says January 1, 2027 — the official 'Effective July 1, 2027' code version controls). Not incorporated until effective. (checked 2026-07-09).
HB 278 / SB 355 (2026) — local rent regulation ('anti-rent gouging') enabling act — Would let localities adopt rent-increase regulation. Failed in 2026: Senate committee voted 11-4 to continue the bill to the 2027 session, and the Virginia Housing Commission opened a study of local rent regulation in June 2026 — expect a 2027 return. Predecessor HB 2175 (2025, 3% local cap enabling) also died.Status: Continued to the 2027 session; not enacted. § 55.1-1201's supersession clause and the Dillon Rule continue to bar local rent control. (checked 2026-07-09).
HB 329 (2026), c. 1111 — Effective January 1, 2027, § 55.1-1258's retaliation rules expand: the lists of prohibited retaliatory acts and protected tenant conduct both grow, a tenant may recover actual damages and assert retaliation as a defense in any action brought for possession, and failing to renew the tenancy of a Housing Choice Voucher holder without good cause becomes a protected ground. The parallel § 55.1-1314 (Manufactured Home Lot Rental Act) changes with it.Status: Enacted 2026 (c. 1111); effective 2027-01-01 per the chapter. Not incorporated until effective. (checked 2026-08-12).
HB 95 (2026) — Effective July 1, 2027, landlords with 4+ units must offer payment plans for unpaid rent, with no additional late fees accruing while the tenant complies — a conditional overlay on the § 55.1-1204(E) late-fee rules.Status: Enacted 2026 (c. 1105); effective 2027-07-01 per the chapter's own enactment clause. Not incorporated until effective. (checked 2026-08-12).
HB 379 (2026) — Chapter 1050 — Adds a pre-collection notice duty to the application statute: before requesting or collecting any payment or information about a prospective tenant, a landlord must notify the applicant in writing or by posting of the fees and application deposit that may be charged and whether each is refundable, the tenant selection criteria, the criteria that result in automatic denial, additional criteria that may result in denial, the name and address of any consumer reporting agency used, and the applicant's right to a free copy of the consumer report on denial and to dispute its accuracy. The fee ceilings are unchanged.Status: Signed by the Governor on April 22, 2026 as Chapter 1050 of the 2026 Acts of Assembly, with a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027. (checked 2026-08-25).
SB 349 (2026) — Would limit landlords to a defined set of pre-tenancy fees and bar any other fee, restrict collection to before or upon signing of the rental agreement, require written or posted notice of pre-tenancy fees before requesting any payment or information from a prospective tenant and before showing the unit, and bar charging any fee before the unit is shown unless the prospective tenant waives that requirement. It would also apply the amended rental-application rules to manufactured home lot rentals.Status: Continued to 2027 in the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology by a 15-0 vote on February 11, 2026. (checked 2026-08-25).

Virginia caps a residential rental application fee at $50, or $32 where the unit is public housing or otherwise regulated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and lets a landlord add on top of that only the actual out-of-pocket cost of third-party background, credit, or other pre-occupancy checks.

Cited to Va. Code § 55.1-1203 C and 14 more Virginia statutes · Verified August 25, 2026

A landlord may also take a refundable application deposit; if the applicant does not rent the unit, everything above the landlord's actual expenses and damages must be returned with an itemized list within 20 days, or within 10 days where the money came as cash or certified funds and the landlord rejected the application. Virginia requires no receipt for application money, says nothing about portable or reusable screening reports, and does not require an all-in advertised rent, although the first page of a rental agreement must itemize the deposit, the rent, and any one-time charges due up front. There is no duty today to disclose fees or selection criteria before taking an applicant's money; from July 1, 2027 a written or posted notice must state the fees and whether they are refundable, the selection criteria, the automatic and other denial grounds, the consumer reporting agency used, and the applicant's report rights. A temporary rule bars landlords with more than four rental units from denying an applicant solely on pandemic-era payment history or a nonpayment eviction and requires a written denial notice, a seven-day window for the applicant to respond, and contact with whoever generated a screening report.

Virginia application fees at a glance

Application fee cap	$50, plus the landlord's actual out-of-pocket cost for third-party background, credit, or other pre-occupancy checks; the ceiling is $32 where the unit is a public housing unit or is otherwise regulated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The ceiling applies to the nonrefundable application fee itself. What a landlord actually pays a third party to run background, credit, or other pre-occupancy checks sits outside the ceiling and may be charged on top of it, at cost. A refundable application deposit is also permitted and is governed by its own return rules. The figure is flat and is not indexed. The same cap moves from subsection C to subsection D on July 1, 2027 without changing amount.
Fee limited to actual screening cost	Yes
Screening charge rules	Third-party background, credit, and other pre-occupancy check costs may be charged in addition to the $50 application fee, but only at the landlord's actual out-of-pocket cost. A criminal record check may be required as a condition of accepting a rental application only with the applicant's written consent, and reimbursement is limited to the exact amount the owner or managing agent paid. The application section also lets a landlord ask a prospective tenant for the information needed to decide the application, photocopy a driver's license or similar photo identification carrying a Social Security number or Department of Motor Vehicles control number, and require a Social Security number or an individual taxpayer identification number. Photocopying a federally issued identification is off limits where federal law forbids it. Virginia sets no one-charge-per-applicant rule, no requirement that a landlord actually order a report after taking the money, and no vacancy prerequisite.
Receipt required	No statutory receipt duty for application money
Refund required in some circumstances	Yes
Refund rules	If the applicant does not rent the unit, the landlord must return everything in the application deposit above actual expenses and damages, together with an itemized list of those expenses and damages, within 20 days of the applicant's failure to rent or of the landlord's rejection. The deadline shortens to 10 days where the deposit was paid by cash, certified check, cashier's check, or postal money order and the applicant did not rent because the landlord rejected the application. The application fee itself is outside this duty. A separate route to a full refund runs through the family abuse provision: a landlord who does not consider evidence of an applicant's status as a victim of family abuse to mitigate the effect of a low credit score is liable for actual damages, which the statute says include every amount paid as an application fee, as an application deposit, or as reimbursement of the landlord's out-of-pocket costs.
Disclosure before collecting	From July 1, 2027, before requesting or collecting any payment or any information about a prospective tenant, a landlord must tell the applicant in writing, or by posting the notice where applicants can reach it, the amount of any fees or application deposit and whether each is refundable, the tenant selection criteria for the unit, any criteria that automatically deny an application, any additional criteria that may deny it, the name and address of the consumer reporting agency where the landlord uses a consumer report, and the applicant's right to a free copy of that report after a denial or other adverse action and to dispute what it contains. Virginia sets no pre-collection disclosure duty at the application stage today. The rule stated here was added in the 2026 session and takes effect July 1, 2027. A different duty is already in force, but it attaches at lease signing rather than at application: the first page of the rental agreement must carry an itemized list of the security deposit, the rent due per payment period, and any one-time charges due before the start date or included in the first rent payment.
Denial-notice duties (state law)	A landlord who owns more than four rental dwelling units, or more than a 10 percent interest in more than four, may not take adverse action against an applicant based solely on payment history or an eviction for nonpayment of rent occurring in the pandemic period that began March 12, 2020. On a denial the landlord must give written notice of the denial and of the applicant's right to assert that the failure to qualify rested on that history, must tell the applicant to raise it within seven days of the postmark date, and, where a consumer or tenant screening report was relied on, must make a good faith effort to contact whoever generated the report. This is a temporary provision tied to the pandemic period, which runs to 30 days after the expiration or revocation of the Governor's pandemic state of emergency. It remains in the section until the later of July 1, 2028 or seven years after that emergency expires, and the version of the section written to take over at that point drops it. It sits alongside the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, which supplies the general duties owed on an adverse action; the federal duties are not the state rule. From July 1, 2027 the application section adds a pre-collection notice that must tell applicants of their right to a free copy of a consumer report after a denial.
Reusable screening reports	No statute on reusable screening reports
Holding deposits	A landlord may require a refundable application deposit in addition to the nonrefundable application fee. An application deposit is any refundable money or property paid so the payer will be considered as a tenant, including money intended to become the security deposit. If the applicant does not rent the unit, everything above the landlord's actual expenses and damages must be returned with an itemized list within 20 days, or within 10 days where the money came as cash or certified funds and the landlord rejected the application. Virginia has no separate holding fee instrument and sets no dollar limit on the application deposit itself. Where the deposit is meant to roll into the security deposit, the act's separate limit of two months' rent on the security deposit applies once the tenancy begins. A landlord who keeps part of an application deposit wrongly is liable to the applicant for the amount withheld and for reasonable attorney fees.
Rental fee-transparency rules	The first page of a residential rental agreement must carry an itemized list of the security deposit, the rent due per payment period, and any one-time charges due before the start date or included in the first rent payment, printed above a statement that no additional security deposits or rent may be charged unless they are listed there or added afterward by a separate addendum. This duty reaches the rental agreement, not advertising and not the application stage, and Virginia does not require an all-in advertised rent. Virginia's general consumer statute added a duty in 2025 to disclose the total cost of a good or a continuous service, including mandatory fees, before an agreement is made, but that statute exempts any aspect of a transaction subject to the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act unless the landlord's act is a misrepresentation or a fraudulent practice, so it does not supply a rental fee-transparency rule for tenancies the act covers. An application-stage fee notice arrives July 1, 2027.
Penalty for violation	An applicant whose application deposit is withheld wrongly may recover the portion withheld and reasonable attorney fees. An applicant whose evidence of family abuse is not considered may recover actual damages, which the statute says include every amount paid as an application fee, as an application deposit, or as reimbursement of the landlord's out-of-pocket costs, plus attorney fees. A denial that breaks the pandemic payment-history rule carries statutory damages of $1,000 plus attorney fees. The act also gives any person adversely affected by an act or omission it prohibits a general right to sue for an injunction and, at the court's discretion, damages. The first-page fee itemization duty in the rental agreement carries no penalty of its own and is enforced through those general remedies.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Virginia Application & Screening Fee Laws (verified August 25, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/application-fees/virginia/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Every figure above is cited to the Virginia statute in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

Two ceilings, not one — The $50 figure and the $32 figure limit only the application fee. Actual out-of-pocket amounts a landlord pays a third party for background, credit, or other pre-occupancy checks are charged on top of the ceiling, so the total an applicant pays can exceed it. Neither figure is indexed to inflation.
Fee and deposit are different instruments — The application fee is nonrefundable by definition. The application deposit is refundable and covers any money or property paid to be considered as a tenant, including money intended to become the security deposit. Only the deposit carries the 20-day and 10-day return duties.
No local variation — The Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act applies statewide, may not be waived or modified by a locality, and supersedes other local ordinances on landlord and tenant relations, so Virginia localities do not set their own application fee rules.
Tenancies outside the act — The act does not reach occupancy incidental to detention or to medical, educational, or similar service; fraternal or social organization members housed by the organization; a condominium or cooperative owner in their own unit; campground occupancy; rent-free occupancy; occupancy tied to employment; a purchaser in possession under a contract of sale; recovery residences; or transient lodging used for fewer than 90 consecutive days as a primary residence.
Change coming July 1, 2027 — The 2026 session rewrote the application section to add a pre-collection notice covering fees and refundability, tenant selection criteria, automatic and other denial grounds, the consumer reporting agency used, and the applicant's right to a free copy of the report and to dispute it. The fee ceilings are unchanged; they simply move to a different subsection.
The pandemic denial rule is temporary — The rule barring larger landlords from denying an applicant solely on payment history or a nonpayment eviction from the pandemic period ends at the later of July 1, 2028 or seven years after the Governor's pandemic state of emergency expires, and the successor version of that section leaves it out.
The general consumer statute does not fill the gap — Virginia's consumer protection statute exempts any aspect of a transaction subject to the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, apart from misrepresentation and fraudulent practices, so its 2025 total-cost disclosure duty does not act as a rental fee-transparency rule for covered tenancies.
Lot tenancies are elsewhere — Rentals of manufactured home lots are governed by a separate chapter of Title 55.1 and are not covered by the figures above.
How the cost limit works — The $50 ceiling is a flat figure rather than a cost-based one, but every dollar charged above it must be the landlord's actual out-of-pocket payment to a third party for a background, credit, or other pre-occupancy check. Reimbursement for a criminal record check run as a condition of accepting a rental application is separately limited to the exact amount of the out-of-pocket cost.
What the receipt duty covers — The application section carries Virginia's rules on application fees and application deposits and contains no receipt duty. The only receipt duty in the act arrives after a tenancy exists, for rent paid in cash or by money order. What an applicant is owed instead is an itemized list of the landlord's expenses and damages whenever part of an application deposit is kept.
When money must come back — The application fee is nonrefundable by definition and stays with the landlord. The refundable application deposit is treated differently: when the applicant does not end up renting the unit, whatever exceeds the landlord's actual expenses and damages must be returned on a statutory deadline.
Reusable screening reports — The application section is where such a rule would sit, and it says nothing about a report an applicant brings with them: there is no duty to accept one, no bar on charging a fee where one is supplied, and no validity window. Whether to accept an applicant-supplied report is left to the landlord and the parties.

Common questions: Virginia application fees

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

How much can a landlord charge for a rental application fee in Virginia?: $50, plus the landlord's actual out-of-pocket cost for third-party background, credit, or other pre-occupancy checks; the ceiling is $32 where the unit is a public housing unit or is otherwise regulated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Does an application fee have to be refunded in Virginia?: Yes — in Virginia at least one circumstance requires application-stage money to be returned. If the applicant does not rent the unit, the landlord must return everything in the application deposit above actual expenses and damages, together with an itemized list of those expenses and damages, within 20 days of the applicant's failure to rent or of the landlord's rejection. The deadline shortens to 10 days where the deposit was paid by cash, certified check, cashier's check, or postal money order and the applicant did not rent because the landlord rejected the application.
Does a landlord have to give a receipt for an application fee in Virginia?: No statutory receipt duty for application money.
Does Virginia have a reusable tenant screening report law?: No statute on reusable screening reports.
Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in Virginia?: A landlord may require a refundable application deposit in addition to the nonrefundable application fee. An application deposit is any refundable money or property paid so the payer will be considered as a tenant, including money intended to become the security deposit. If the applicant does not rent the unit, everything above the landlord's actual expenses and damages must be returned with an itemized list within 20 days, or within 10 days where the money came as cash or certified funds and the landlord rejected the application.

Statute citations

Va. Code § 55.1-1203 C (verified 2026) Official source
Va. Code § 36-96.2 F (verified 2026) Official source
Va. Code § 55.1-1203 B, C (verified 2026) Official source
Va. Code § 55.1-1203 A (verified 2026) Official source
Va. Code § 55.1-1204 (verified 2026) Official source
Va. Code § 55.1-1200 (verified 2026) Official source
Va. Code § 55.1-1203 A, D (verified 2026) Official source
Va. Code § 55.1-1203 A (version effective July 1, 2027) (verified 2026) Official source
Va. Code § 55.1-1204.1 (verified 2026) Official source
Va. Code § 55.1-1245 J (verified 2026) Official source
Va. Code § 55.1-1203 A through D (verified 2026) Official source
Va. Code § 59.1-199 5 (verified 2026) Official source
Va. Code § 59.1-200 A 79 (verified 2026) Official source
Va. Code § 55.1-1259 A (verified 2026) Official source
Va. Code § 55.1-1203 (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of Va. Code §§ 55.1-1200, 55.1-1201, 55.1-1203 (both the version in force today and the version effective July 1, 2027), 55.1-1204, 55.1-1204.1, 55.1-1208, 55.1-1245, 55.1-1258 and 55.1-1259 on law.lis.virginia.gov; § 36-96.2 of the Virginia Fair Housing Law; and §§ 59.1-198, 59.1-199 and 59.1-200 of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. The 2025 and 2026 session changes were traced through the chapter histories printed at the foot of each section and the Virginia Law site's 2026 update list for Title 55.1.