Free Virginia Rent Increase Notice

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Virginia has no rent control and no cap on how much you can raise the rent, and the Residential Landlord & Tenant Act sets no rent-increase notice statute of its own for ordinary periodic tenancies – a rent increase is a change of terms. For a month-to-month tenancy, change the rent the way you change the tenancy: with at least 30 days’ written notice before the next rent due date (Va. Code 55.1-1253). A separate rule gives large landlords (more than four units) 60 days’ notice for a fixed-term renewal increase (55.1-1204(K)) – rising to 90 days’ notice effective July 1, 2027 under a 2025 amendment to 55.1-1204 – and an increase may never be retaliatory (55.1-1258). Generate a clean notice below.

30-day (month-to-month) Va. Code 55.1-1253 / 55.1-1258 Virginia Free PDF

This Virginia Rent Increase Notice raises the rent on a residential tenancy. Virginia sets no rent control and no cap on the amount, and its Residential Landlord & Tenant Act (VRLTA, Va. Code 55.1-1200 et seq.) fixes no rent-increase notice period as such for an ordinary periodic tenancy – an increase is a change of terms. For a month-to-month tenancy the practical floor is the 30-day written notice before the next rent due date under Va. Code 55.1-1253 (7 days week-to-week). A narrower rule, 55.1-1204(K), makes a landlord of more than four units give 60 days’ notice of a renewal increase on a fixed-term lease, and 55.1-1258 bars a retaliatory increase. Our how to raise rent guide covers the timing, and the tenant screening laws by state hub helps you place reliable tenants in the first place.

Complete the fields below to generate a Virginia rent increase notice. The new rent and effective date must give the tenant the full statutory notice period. Service should comply with applicable Virginia law; retain proof of service.

A Virginia rent increase notice is the written notice a landlord gives to raise the rent on a residential tenancy. Virginia is a market-rate state: there is no statewide rent control and no statutory cap on how much the rent can go up. There is also no local rent control. Virginia follows the Dillon Rule, under which a city or county has only the powers the General Assembly has expressly granted it – and the General Assembly has granted no authority to impose local rent control, so no Virginia locality can cap rent. What the law regulates is not the amount of an increase but when it can take effect and why it is being made.

The Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (VRLTA, Va. Code 55.1-1200 and following) now governs essentially all residential tenancies in the Commonwealth. The old exemption for landlords who rented only a couple of single-family homes was removed effective July 1, 2019, so apart from a short list of carve-outs – institutional housing, owner-occupied condominiums and cooperatives, campgrounds, occupancy tied to employment, and the like – the Act covers single-family and multifamily units alike. The VRLTA does not contain a general rent-increase notice section for an ordinary periodic tenancy. In Virginia a rent increase is treated as a change of the terms of the tenancy, and the lease controls how and when that change can happen. On a fixed-term lease the rent is locked for the term: it cannot be raised mid-lease unless the lease itself contains an escalation clause, and any increase takes effect at renewal. On a month-to-month tenancy, the landlord changes the rent the same way the tenancy itself is changed or ended – under Va. Code 55.1-1253, by serving a written notice at least 30 days before the next rent due date (a week-to-week tenancy needs at least seven days), unless the rental agreement provides for a different notice period. The practical rule, then, is at least 30 days’ written notice before the next rent due date before the new rent starts.

Virginia does add one specific rent-increase notice rule, but it is narrow. Under Va. Code 55.1-1204(K), a landlord who owns more than four rental dwelling units in the Commonwealth – or more than a 10 percent interest in more than four – must give written notice of any rent increase during the next rental agreement term to a tenant who has the option to renew or whose lease renews automatically, and that notice must be provided no less than 60 days before the end of the current term. By its own terms this rule applies only to fixed-term renewals and does not apply to a month-to-month tenancy created under subsection C of 55.1-1253, and it does not reach a landlord with four or fewer units. So the 60-day figure is a renewal-notice rule for larger landlords, not a general statewide rent-increase deadline. It is worth being clear about what Virginia law currently does not say: as of 2026 there is no 90-day rent-increase rule in force anywhere in the Commonwealth. The only in-force day-figures today are the 30-day month-to-month notice and the 7-day week-to-week notice under 55.1-1253 and the 60-day large-landlord renewal notice under 55.1-1204(K).

There is one dated change worth marking on the calendar. A 2025-enacted amendment to Va. Code 55.1-1204 takes effect July 1, 2027 and raises the large-landlord renewal notice from 60 to 90 days: on and after that date a landlord of more than four rental units must give written notice of a renewal rent increase at least 90 days before the end of the current term, and that notice must set a deadline – no sooner than 30 days after delivery – by which the tenant says whether they will renew. This 90-day change is narrow in exactly the same way the 60-day rule is: it reaches only larger landlords (more than four units) at a fixed-term renewal. It does not apply to a month-to-month tenancy, which continues to run on the 30-day notice of Va. Code 55.1-1253, and it does not apply to a landlord with four or fewer units. Until July 1, 2027 the operative large-landlord figure remains 60 days.

Even with proper timing, an increase can still be unlawful because of its motive. Va. Code 55.1-1258 prohibits a landlord from retaliating against a tenant – including by increasing the rent, decreasing services, or bringing or threatening an action for possession – after the landlord has knowledge that the tenant complained to a governmental agency responsible for enforcing a building or housing code, complained to or filed an action against the landlord for a violation of the VRLTA, organized or joined a tenant’s organization, or testified in a court proceeding against the landlord. The same statute preserves the landlord’s right to raise rent to the level charged for similar market rentals, and it places the burden of proving retaliatory intent on the tenant. Federal and Virginia fair housing law independently bar an increase aimed at a tenant because of a protected characteristic.

Because Va. Code 55.1-1202 does not prescribe a single required method to serve a rent-increase notice, the practical standard is provable written delivery within the notice period – and the change-of-terms notice must be in writing, so a verbal increase does not count. Personal delivery to the tenant, delivery at the tenant’s last known place of residence (which may be the dwelling unit), certified mail with a return receipt, or first-class mail all work; the Act also allows electronic notice if you retain proof of delivery, though a tenant who requests it may elect to receive notices on paper. Whatever the method, the notice should state the current rent, the new rent, and the effective date, and the landlord should keep a signed, dated copy with proof of delivery. Our how to raise rent guide walks through the timing, and screening applicants with verified reports keeps tenancies stable so the increases you serve actually stick. Put together, a clean Virginia increase is simple but exact: confirm the tenancy is month-to-month or at renewal, treat the increase as a change of terms, give at least 30 days’ written notice before the next rent due date (60 days for a large-landlord renewal, or any different period the lease sets), keep the timing and motive outside the 55.1-1258 retaliation bar, deliver the notice in writing with proof, and never let the increase track a tenant’s protected complaint. None of this replaces the screening you do at move-in – a tenant chosen for steady income and a clean payment history is the one most likely to absorb a lawful increase without a dispute.

Virginia sets no limit on how often rent may be raised, just as it sets no limit on the amount. On a month-to-month or other periodic tenancy a landlord may raise the rent as frequently as the market allows — what governs is the notice for each increase, not a cooldown period. The controlling text is Va. Code 55.1-1253. Subsection A lets either party change or end a month-to-month tenancy on at least 30 days’ written notice before the next rent due date (7 days week-to-week), and subsection D supplies the exact rent-increase mechanism: where a tenant holds over or continues month-to-month, the new rent amount set in a written notice “shall not take effect until the next rent due date coming 30 days after the notice.” That is the statutory hook a Virginia rent increase actually rides on.

Two limits follow from that. First, each increase needs its own 30-day notice, so a landlord cannot stack back-to-back increases without giving the full period before each new rent starts. Second, on a fixed-term lease the rent is locked for the term unless the lease contains an escalation clause — the rent cannot be raised again until renewal, so there is no such thing as a mid-term second increase. And however often you raise the rent, each increase must fall outside the retaliation bar of Va. Code 55.1-1258: an increase timed to a tenant’s code complaint, VRLTA complaint, or tenant-organization activity is unlawful even if the 30-day notice is perfect, unless the new figure simply matches similar market rentals.

A higher rent can tempt a landlord to raise the security deposit to match, but Virginia caps the deposit even though it does not cap rent. Under Va. Code 55.1-1226, a landlord may not demand or receive a security deposit greater than two months’ periodic rent. The same two-month ceiling is the default when there is no written agreement (Va. Code 55.1-1204(C)(6)).

A rent increase does not lift that ceiling. After a lawful increase the deposit still cannot exceed two months of the new rent, so a landlord cannot use the higher rent as a reason to demand a bigger deposit beyond the Section 55.1-1226 cap. A landlord who wants to true up an existing deposit to the new rent should first confirm the new total still fits within two months’ rent — and remember that the deposit remains the tenant’s money, refundable under the statute’s timeline, not extra rent.

Raising the rent is a good moment to check that the late-fee terms still comply, because Virginia caps them and ties them to the rent figure. By the default terms in Va. Code 55.1-1204, rent is due on the first of the month and is not late until the fifth — the tenant has through the fifth day to pay. A landlord may charge a late fee only if the written rental agreement provides for one (Va. Code 55.1-1204(E)); a verbal or unwritten late charge is not enforceable.

When a late fee is allowed, it may not exceed the lesser of 10 percent of the periodic rent or 10 percent of the remaining balance due and owed by the tenant (Va. Code 55.1-1204(E)). Because that cap is measured against the rent, a rent increase quietly raises the late-fee ceiling as well — so after you raise the rent, confirm the lease’s late-fee language still tracks the new amount and does not overstate the 10 percent figure. Keep the late fee and the rent increase separate on paper: the increase is a change of terms, the late fee is a contract charge, and blurring them invites a dispute.

Virginia has one lesser-known rent protection that most guides miss, aimed at large-scale non-renewals used to reset rents across a building. Under Va. Code 55.1-1253(B), an owner of a multifamily premises that fails to renew the greater of either 20 or more month-to-month tenancies, or 50 percent of its month-to-month tenancies, within a consecutive 30-day period in the same premises must serve each affected tenant written notice at least 60 days before allowing that tenancy to expire — double the usual 30-day periodic notice.

The rule has one carve-out: the 60-day notice is not required where the tenant has failed to pay rent under the rental agreement. This mass non-renewal rule is distinct from the large-landlord renewal-increase notice in Va. Code 55.1-1204(K): the 55.1-1204(K) rule governs a single renewal rent increase for a landlord of more than four units, while 55.1-1253(B) governs a wave of month-to-month non-renewals in one multifamily building. A landlord planning to non-renew a block of month-to-month tenants — whether to renovate, reprice, or reposition the property — should count 60 days, not 30, before those tenancies end.

When the tenant holds a Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) or another subsidized tenancy, a rent increase runs through the public housing authority as well as through Virginia law. The owner must give the housing authority advance notice of the proposed new rent, the authority checks it for rent reasonableness against comparable unassisted units, and the tenant’s share is recalculated. The increase is not effective until it clears that review — the federal program rules apply on top of the Va. Code 55.1-1253 notice, not instead of it, so a voucher increase that skips the authority’s approval is not collectible.

Virginia layers on one more safeguard for these tenants. Va. Code 55.1-1202(D) provides that a notice of termination of tenancy served on a tenant receiving tenant-based rental assistance — through the Housing Choice Voucher Program or any other federal, state, or local program — is not effective unless its first page displays the statewide legal-aid telephone number and website. The increase itself is not a termination notice, but if a subsidized tenant declines the new rent and the tenancy is being ended, that legal-aid disclosure is mandatory. The unit-coverage selector in the generator above includes a subsidized / housing-voucher option so the notice records that program rules may apply.

• No statewide cap on the amount of a rent increase, and no rent control – Virginia is a Dillon Rule state and the General Assembly has granted localities no authority to impose local rent control.
• No separate notice statute for increases on a periodic tenancy — an increase is a change of terms; for a month-to-month tenancy give at least 30 days’ written notice before the next rent due date (Va. Code 55.1-1253), 7 days week-to-week, unless the lease sets a different period.
• Large-landlord renewal notice — a landlord of more than four rental units must give a tenant with a renewal or automatic-renewal option at least 60 days’ notice of a rent increase for the next fixed term (Va. Code 55.1-1204(K)); effective July 1, 2027 a 2025 amendment raises this to 90 days, with a tenant-response deadline no sooner than 30 days after delivery. Either way it does not reach month-to-month tenancies.
• Written notice required — a verbal rent increase does not satisfy the change-of-terms notice; state the new rent and the effective date.
• No mid-term increase on a fixed-term lease unless the lease expressly allows it; the increase applies at renewal.
• No retaliatory increase after a protected tenant action (Va. Code 55.1-1258), subject to the exception that allows raising rent to the level charged for similar market rentals.
• No discriminatory increase based on a protected class (federal Fair Housing Act and the Virginia Fair Housing Law).

• Virginia prescribes no single required method to serve a rent-increase notice (Va. Code 55.1-1202), but the change-of-terms notice must be written — verbal notice does not satisfy it.
• Personal delivery to the tenant, or delivery at the tenant’s last known place of residence, which may be the dwelling unit.
• Certified mail with a return receipt, or U.S. first-class mail, gives a dated paper trail; allow added days for receipt when you mail.
• Electronic notice is allowed under Va. Code 55.1-1202 if you keep proof of delivery (an electronic receipt, a fax confirmation, or a certificate of service), but a tenant who requests it may elect to receive notices on paper.

• Giving less than 30 days’ written notice on a month-to-month tenancy, or setting the effective date before the next rent due date (Va. Code 55.1-1253).
• Raising the rent mid-term on a fixed-term lease that does not allow it.
• Applying the 90-day large-landlord renewal rule (effective July 1, 2027 under a 2025 amendment to 55.1-1204) to an ordinary month-to-month increase – it does not reach month-to-month tenancies, which stay at 30 days under 55.1-1253. As of 2026 the in-force figures are the 30-day/7-day periodic notice (55.1-1253) and the 60-day large-landlord renewal notice (55.1-1204(K)).
• Forgetting the 60-day renewal notice if you own more than four rental units and are raising rent at a fixed-term renewal (55.1-1204(K)).
• Raising the rent right after a tenant’s code complaint, VRLTA complaint, or tenant-organization activity without a market-rate basis — Va. Code 55.1-1258 treats that as retaliation.
• Relying on a verbal notice with no written record or proof of delivery.

• Read the lease first — a notice period or escalation clause there controls, and may require more than 30 days.
• Give written notice at least 30 days before the next rent due date for a month-to-month tenancy (60 days for a large-landlord renewal increase).
• State the current rent, the new rent, and the effective date plainly on the notice.
• Deliver by a method you can prove, and if the increase follows a tenant complaint, document that it only matches similar market rentals.

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