What are the security deposit rules 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 caps security deposits at two months' periodic rent — and the cap is really a combined ceiling, because the deposit plus any damage-insurance and renter's-insurance premiums demanded up front may not together exceed two months' rent, and pet deposits count inside it by definition.

Within 45 days after the tenancy ends or the tenant vacates, whichever is later, the landlord must deliver a written itemization of every deduction along with any refund; deductions discovered mid-tenancy need their own written notice within 30 days. No interest is owed and no separate account is required — Virginia repealed its old interest rule years ago, though outdated guides still cite it. Tenants get written notice of the right to attend a move-out inspection held within 72 hours of turnover, may substitute damage insurance for a cash deposit, and a tenant who forgets to leave a forwarding address doesn't forfeit anything — the money eventually goes to the State Treasurer as unclaimed property. The penalty side is unusually mild: willful noncompliance costs the landlord the deposit plus actual damages and attorney fees, with no doubling or trebling.

Virginia security deposits at a glance

Maximum deposit	2 months' rent — § 55.1-1226(A): no landlord may demand or receive a security deposit, however denominated, exceeding two months' periodic rent. The cap is effectively COMBINED: under §§ 55.1-1206 and 55.1-1208, the total of the security deposit plus damage-insurance premiums plus renter's-insurance premiums demanded before commencement may not exceed two months' rent. Pet deposits count inside the cap because § 55.1-1200 defines 'security deposit' to include pet deposits. Tenants may provide damage insurance in lieu of a deposit (§ 55.1-1226(I)), and a tenant who opts out of the landlord's damage-insurance program must be allowed to substitute their own policy or pay the full deposit (§ 55.1-1206).
Return deadline	45 days
Deadline conditions	Itemized written notice of all deductions, damages, and charges, together with any amount due to the tenant, within 45 days after the termination date of the tenancy or the date the tenant vacates, WHICHEVER OCCURS LAST (§ 55.1-1226(A)). Deductions determined during the tenancy must be noticed in writing within 30 days of the determination (§ 55.1-1226(E)).
Itemization required	Yes
Itemization rules	Written itemization of the deposit and all deductions, damages, and charges within the 45-day window; deductions arising during the tenancy require interim written notice within 30 days of determination. The deposit may be applied ONLY to accrued rent (including lease-specified reasonable late charges), damages from tenant noncompliance, and unpaid utilities with prior written notice (§ 55.1-1226(A)). Move-out inspection rights: upon requesting the tenant vacate, or within 5 days of receiving the tenant's intent-to-vacate notice, the landlord must give written notice of the tenant's right to be present at the inspection, which must occur within 72 hours of delivery of possession, followed by a written disposition statement (§ 55.1-1226(G)).
Separate account required	No
Interest owed to tenant	No
Account & interest rules	No interest is owed and no separate account is required — the full text of § 55.1-1226 contains no interest or escrow language. Virginia REPEALED its deposit-interest requirement (former § 55-248.15:1's accrual rules) in the mid-2010s; older sources still describing interest owed on deposits held over 13 months are stale.
Pet deposits	Pet deposits are folded into the statutory definition of 'security deposit' (§ 55.1-1200) and therefore count toward the two-month cap; there is no separate pet-deposit statute.
Non-refundable fees allowed	Yes
Penalty for violation	If the landlord WILLFULLY fails to comply, the court orders return of the security deposit plus actual damages and reasonable attorney fees (§ 55.1-1226(E)) — no statutory multiplier. Virginia is one of the few large states with no double or treble deposit penalty.
Tenant forwarding-address duty	Failure to provide a forwarding address does NOT forfeit the deposit — it just strands it: one year after the 45-day period expires, the landlord may remit the sum to the State Treasurer as unclaimed property (§ 55.1-1226(B)).

Notes and caveats

Encoding decisions: the two-month figure carries the §§ 55.1-1206/-1208 combined-cap nuance because a landlord stacking deposit + insurance premiums to 2 months + more is the realistic violation path. The no-multiplier penalty is the answer-box contrast with MD/MA/NJ. The repealed-interest rule is VA's chief stale-source trap. VRLTA applies to ALL residential rentals — the old small-landlord opt-out was eliminated in 2021, and § 55.1-1201 expressly supersedes local landlord-tenant ordinances. Application fees are separately capped at $50 (exclusive of actual third-party screening costs; $32 for HUD-regulated units) with 20-day refund rules for application deposits (§ 55.1-1203); a new pre-application disclosure duty arrives 2027-07-01 (2026 c. 1050). 2026 cc. 722/723 (HB 1005/SB 313) require landlords to accept deposit and rent payment by check or money order and restrict payment-processing fees. § 55.1-1226's most recent amendments are 2023 cc. 433/434; the 2-month cap and 45-day deadline long predate them.

Statute citations

Va. Code § 55.1-1226 (A), (B), (E), (G), (I) Official source
Va. Code § 55.1-1206 Official source
Va. Code § 55.1-1200 ('security deposit' and 'application fee' definitions) 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.