Virginia Landlord-Tenant Laws

Verified October 1, 2026

Enacted but not yet in force. This page reflects the law in force today. The following measures have been signed and take effect on the dates shown:

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 governs until then. Status: Enacted 2026 (c. 1066, approved April 22, 2026); effective 2027-07-01 under the chapter's own enactment clause. Not incorporated until effective. (checked July 9, 2026).
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, the sentence placing the burden of proving retaliatory intent on the tenant is removed (actual damages and the defense in any action for possession, already in today's text, carry over), 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 August 12, 2026).
HB 95 (2026) — Effective July 1, 2027, a landlord who owns more than four rental units (or more than a 10 percent interest in more than four) must offer a payment plan in equal monthly installments over the lesser of six months or the rest of the lease when no more than one month’s rent plus contracted late charges is unpaid, with no additional late fees on that balance while the tenant keeps to the plan — a new subsection G of § 55.1-1245 that sits beside the § 55.1-1204(E) late-fee cap. Status: Enacted 2026 (c. 1105); effective 2027-07-01 per the chapter's own enactment clause. Not incorporated until effective. (checked September 27, 2026).

Legislative changes ahead — not yet in force. This page reflects the law in force today. The following measure would change Virginia's landlord-tenant law:

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 July 9, 2026).

Virginia at a glance

Rule	Virginia	Cited to
Max security deposit	2 months' rent	Va. Code § 55.1-1226 +2 more
Deposit return deadline	45 days	Va. Code § 55.1-1226 +2 more
Rent-increase notice (month-to-month)	30 days	Va. Code § 55.1-1253 +2 more
Statewide rent control / rent cap	No	Va. Code § 55.1-1253 +2 more
Late-fee cap	The lesser of 10% of the periodic rent or 10% of the remaining balance due and owed by the tenant (§ 55.1-1204(E))	Va. Code § 55.1-1204 +1 more
Entry notice	No fixed statutory period	Va. Code § 55.1-1229 +1 more
Eviction notice (nonpayment)	14 days	Va. Code § 55.1-1245 +11 more
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.	Va. Code § 55.1-1203 +14 more
Interest owed on deposits	No longer — a past duty was repealed	2014 Acts of Assembly c. 651 (HB 273) — enactment clause 4, the uncodified no-interest rule, and the strikethrough text of former §§ 55-248.15:1 and 55-248.15:2 +3 more
Repair deadline after tenant notice	21 days	Va. Code § 55.1-1220 (landlord to maintain fit premises) +12 more
Repair and deduct	Yes — authorized by statute	Va. Code § 55.1-1220 (landlord to maintain fit premises) +12 more
Landlord notice to end a month-to-month tenancy	30 days, to the next rent-due date	Va. Code § 55.1-1253 +20 more
Owner and agent identity disclosure	Required — in the lease or in a separate writing	Va. Code § 11-2 (statute of frauds) +28 more
In-force state hazard disclosures beyond the federal lead-paint rule	4	Va. Code § 11-2 (statute of frauds) +28 more
Pet deposit	Counts inside the general deposit cap	Va. Code § 55.1-1200 +27 more
Assistance animals: the state instrument	Documentation statute or rule	Va. Code § 55.1-1200 +27 more

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Virginia Landlord-Tenant Laws (verified October 1, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/virginia/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Every figure above is cited to the Virginia statute it comes from on the linked topic page.

Local rent regulation in Virginia

Virginia law does not bar rent control by name, but the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act supersedes all local ordinances concerning landlord-tenant relations and residential leasing, and no statute grants localities general authority to regulate rent, so cities and counties cannot enact rent control. The one narrow local power over rents is an affordable dwelling unit program adopted by zoning ordinance, under which a locality may set and control the rents of the affordable units a developer provides in exchange for added density (§ 15.2-2305, subsection E).

Cited to Va. Code § 55.1-1201 · Verified October 1, 2026 · Full Virginia rent-increase rules →

Virginia landlord-tenant laws by topic

Virginia security deposits

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.

Virginia rent increase notice

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.

Virginia late fees

Virginia caps residential late fees at the LESSER of 10% of the periodic rent or 10% of the remaining balance the tenant actually owes — so a tenant who has paid most of the month's rent can only be charged 10% of the small unpaid remainder, not 10% of the full rent, a distinction many summaries flatten into '10% of rent.'

Virginia entry notice

Virginia requires 72 hours' notice before a landlord enters for routine maintenance the tenant didn't ask for — the specific number in the statute — while other entries (inspections, repairs, showings) require notice and entry at reasonable times, with no fixed period, and maintenance the tenant has requested needs no notice.

Virginia eviction process

Virginia evictions start with a 14-day pay-or-quit notice for nonpayment — lengthened from 5 days effective July 1, 2026, a change many guides haven't caught up with (a payment-plan duty for landlords with more than four units follows on July 1, 2027).

Virginia application & screening fees

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.

Virginia deposit interest

Virginia required interest on security deposits for nearly forty years and then abolished it: since January 1, 2015 no interest is due or payable on a deposit held under the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.

Virginia habitability & repairs

Virginia requires a landlord to make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition, to comply with applicable building and housing codes materially affecting health and safety, and to keep the electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems and appliances it supplies in good and safe working order — with the code requirement governing wherever it is the greater duty.

Virginia lease termination

In Virginia either side may end a month-to-month tenancy with 30 days' written notice given before the next rent due date, and a week-to-week tenancy with seven days' notice, unless the lease sets a different period.

Virginia lease disclosures

A Virginia landlord must offer a written lease, hand over the state's Statement of Tenant Rights and Responsibilities with it, get the parties to sign the state acknowledgment form, and deliver a copy of the signed lease and the statement within 10 business days — and until the statement is provided the landlord cannot file or maintain any action for a lease violation, including an eviction.

Virginia pets & assistance animals

In Virginia a pet deposit is a security deposit by name, so it counts inside the two-month deposit cap and must be refundable.

Virginia mobile home park laws

Virginia's Manufactured Home Lot Rental Act, Va. Code §§ 55.1-1300 through 55.1-1320, governs the tenancy of a resident who owns the home and rents the lot beneath it in a park of five or more manufactured homes, and it works through the lease renewal rather than through a rent cap: a landlord must offer every year-round resident an agreement of at least one year, the agreement renews automatically on the same terms unless the landlord gives 60 days' written notice of a change before it expires, and it must be renewed except for reasons that would justify termination or eviction, on 90 days' notice stating the reason.

Virginia Fair Market Rents (FY 2027) — HUD's benchmark rents for every Virginia metro area and county.

Editable Virginia deposit kit · Editable Virginia disclosure packet — editable documents built on the verified Virginia rules on this page, in Word, fillable PDF and Excel.

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 reads 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; 2026 HB 278/SB 355 status (continued to 2027) checked 2026-07-09. 2024 Acts of Assembly c. 46 (HB 701) read in full on legacylis.virginia.gov 2026-07-09 and its added language confirmed against the current § 55.1-1229 text, confirming the earlier reading. October 1, 2026: every section the security deposit, rent increase, late fee and entry answers rest on was read again on the Code of Virginia site (law.lis.virginia.gov), which prints the 2026 session's amendments and a separately dated version of each section a 2026 act changes in 2027: §§ 55.1-1200, 55.1-1201, 55.1-1203, 55.1-1204, 55.1-1206, 55.1-1208, 55.1-1210, 55.1-1223, 55.1-1226, 55.1-1229, 55.1-1253, 55.1-1302 and 55.1-1320, with §§ 54.1-2108.1 and 15.2-2305. Each 2025 and 2026 act amending them was read in its chaptered text on the Legislative Information System (lis.virginia.gov), and its effective date taken from the act's own enactment clause: 2025 chapters 554, 562 and 655 and 2026 chapters 353, 354, 598, 722, 723, 1050, 1066, 1105 and 1111. The acts that first enacted the renewal-notice and rent-change provisions (2023 chapters 679 and 706, 2024 chapter 831) were read on the Legislature's archive site.