How much notice is required to raise the rent in Virginia?

Verified July 9, 2026 All Virginia topics →

Pending legislation — not yet law. The rules on this page reflect current law only. The following bills would change it if enacted:

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 (encoded in this record) 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 95 (2026) — Effective January 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; effective 2027-01-01. Not incorporated until effective. (checked 2026-07-09).

Virginia rent increases on month-to-month tenancies take effect only through a written notice, and the new rent cannot start until the next rent due date coming at least 30 days after the notice — a mechanism § 55.1-1253 codifies directly, alongside the 30-day termination notice either party can give.

Since July 1, 2024, larger landlords face a second, stricter rule: anyone owning more than four rental units in the Commonwealth must give tenants with a renewal option or auto-renewing lease at least 60 days' written notice of any renewal-term rent increase (and of nonrenewal) — a period already enacted to grow to 90 days with a guaranteed 30-day tenant decision window on July 1, 2027. There is no limit on how much or how often rent can rise: Virginia has no rent control, and as a Dillon Rule state whose landlord-tenant act supersedes local ordinances, its localities cannot adopt any — though enabling bills were carried over to the 2027 session, so that debate is live. A quirk worth knowing: a multifamily owner who mass-nonrenews 20 or more month-to-month tenancies (or half of them) in 30 days owes each tenant 60 days' notice.

Virginia rent increase notice at a glance

Notice — month-to-month	30 days
Varies by increase size	Not addressed by statute
Fixed-term leases	For fixed-term leases with a renewal option or automatic-renewal provision, a landlord who owns more than four rental units (or >10% interest in more than four, individually or through an entity) must give written notice of any rent increase for the renewal term — and of nonrenewal — at least 60 days before the end of the term (§ 55.1-1204(K), added by 2024 c. 831, nonrenewal notice added 2025). This rises to 90 days with a mandatory 30-day tenant decision window on 2027-07-01 (c. 1066 — flagged, not incorporated). Small landlords (four or fewer units) have no renewal-increase notice statute. Mid-term increases require lease authorization.
Statewide rent control / stabilization	No
Rent control details	No statewide rent control and no cap on increase size. Local rent control is barred structurally: Virginia is a Dillon Rule state and § 55.1-1201 declares the VRLTA supersedes all local ordinances concerning landlord-tenant relations, leaving localities no enabling authority. Enabling bills keep failing — HB 2175 (2025) died; HB 278/SB 355 (2026) were continued to the 2027 session with a Housing Commission study underway (flagged above).
Local rent control preempted	Yes
Frequency limits	Not addressed by statute

Notes and caveats

notice_days_month_to_month is 30 rather than null on the MA-style rationale: § 55.1-1253(A) expressly codifies rent-change-by-notice ('the amount set forth in a written notice to the tenant... shall not take effect until the next rent due date coming 30 days after the notice'), so this is statutory mechanism, not mere derivation — but page copy must explain the next-rent-due-date timing means practical notice can approach 60 days. The (K) 60-day rule is the modern trap in reverse: pre-2024 sources say Virginia has no rent-increase notice statute, while some 2025 coverage misattributes the 60-day rule to the DEAD rent-control bill HB 2175 — it came from 2024 c. 831. The 2027 effective-date discrepancy (NVAR says Jan 1; official code version label says July 1) is resolved in favor of the official site and documented in the pending flag. rent_control 'preemption' here is structural (Dillon Rule + § 55.1-1201 supersession) rather than an express anti-rent-control statute like IL/OH — encode true, explain the mechanism on-page.

Statute citations

Va. Code § 55.1-1253 (A), (C) Official source
Va. Code § 55.1-1204 (K) Official source
Va. Code § 55.1-1201 Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official Virginia Code site (law.lis.virginia.gov): §§ 55.1-1226, 55.1-1204 (both the current version and the 'Effective July 1, 2027' version), 55.1-1253, and 55.1-1229 each read in full twice (independent fetches matched verbatim); §§ 55.1-1200 (definitions), 55.1-1201 (applicability/supersession), 55.1-1203, 55.1-1206, 55.1-1208, and 55.1-1210 read in full once. 2026 session laws (cc. 722/723, 1050, 1066, and the HB 15/SB 48 and HB 95 changes) identified via official code version labels and section history lines, cross-checked against practitioner summaries; 2026 HB 278/SB 355 status (continued to 2027) checked 2026-07-09.