Virginia Landlord-Tenant Laws: The Complete 2026 Overview

Virginia Code section 55.1-1226 sets two hard rules for deposits. First, the total of all deposits – including any pet or cleaning deposit – may not exceed two months’ periodic rent. Second, the landlord must return the deposit within forty-five days after the tenancy ends and the tenant vacates, along with a written itemized statement of any deductions. Lawful deductions cover unpaid rent and damage beyond ordinary wear and tear, but never normal wear. Virginia’s old statutory-interest requirement has been repealed, so no interest is owed on current tenancies. A landlord who fails to itemize and return within forty-five days forfeits the right to keep the disputed amount and can owe the tenant the sum due plus reasonable attorney fees. The tenant may also request a move-out inspection, and the landlord must provide an itemized list of the damages found.

Read the full Virginia security deposit laws guide for permitted deductions, the inspection right, and the move-out timeline.

Virginia is not a just-cause state – a landlord may decline to renew a lease for almost any lawful reason. To evict for nonpayment, the landlord must first serve a written five-day pay-or-quit notice, and for a lease violation a notice citing the specific breach, unless the lease specifies a different period. If the tenant does not comply, the landlord files an unlawful detainer action in the General District Court for the locality where the property sits. The tenant has a statutory response window, and the court typically sets a hearing within a few weeks. Self-help evictions – changing locks, removing doors, or shutting off utilities – are illegal, and only a sheriff acting on a writ of possession may physically remove a tenant. A losing party generally has a ten-day window to note an appeal to the Circuit Court.

Read the full Virginia eviction notice laws guide for the filing steps, the hearing timeline, and the appeal window.

Virginia Code section 55.1-1229 governs a landlord’s right of access. For routine maintenance the tenant did not request, the landlord must generally give at least seventy-two hours’ notice; for other non-emergency entry – inspections, agreed repairs, or showing the unit – twenty-four hours’ written notice is the accepted norm. Entry must be for a legitimate purpose, at reasonable times, and typically during normal business hours of roughly eight in the morning to six in the evening. Genuine emergencies such as fire, flooding, or a gas leak permit immediate entry without notice. A landlord who abuses the right of access, uses it to harass, or repeatedly enters unlawfully can face damages, an injunction, and in a serious case a constructive-eviction claim. Because the details are left largely to the lease, spelling out the entry procedure in writing is the best way to avoid a dispute.

Read the full Virginia landlord entry laws guide for the permitted-entry reasons and how to write a compliant notice.

Virginia has no rent control. Section 55.1-1203 provides the procedural framework, but there is no statutory cap on how much a landlord may raise the rent – the state operates on a free-market model, subject to the lease itself and to anti-retaliation rules. During a fixed-term lease the rent is locked at the agreed figure unless the lease expressly allows an increase; a raise takes effect only at renewal or on a month-to-month tenancy. For month-to-month tenancies, landlords customarily give at least thirty days’ written notice, the same period used to change the tenancy. The limits that do apply are anti-retaliation and anti-discrimination: a landlord may not raise rent to punish a tenant for a good-faith code complaint or exercising a legal right, and may not raise it on a discriminatory basis. Delivering the notice by certified mail or a signed acknowledgment preserves proof.

Read the full Virginia rent increase laws guide for the notice mechanics and the retaliation window.

Virginia Code section 55.1-1204 governs residential late fees, and unlike many states it sets a real cap: a late fee may not exceed ten percent of the periodic rent or ten percent of the remaining balance due, whichever is less. The fee must also be stated in a written lease – a fee that appears nowhere in the lease is unenforceable – and it must be a reasonable estimate of the landlord’s damages rather than a penalty. The customary grace period is five days, though any grace window is contractual because the statute does not mandate one. A late fee cannot be imposed until rent is actually past due and any lease grace period has expired, and it should be applied consistently to every tenant to avoid a discrimination claim. Returned-check fees are likewise enforceable only when the lease sets them.

Read the full Virginia late fee laws guide for the ten-percent cap, grace periods, and NSF fees.

Under section 55.1-1220 of the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, a landlord must keep the dwelling fit and habitable throughout the tenancy – maintaining essential systems, keeping the structure sound, and complying with building and housing codes. The tenant triggers the duty with written notice, best sent by certified mail with return receipt, and the landlord must act within a reasonable time, presumed to be about seven days for non-emergency conditions. Virginia gives tenants strong remedies when a landlord fails: rent escrow through the court, termination for an unremedied material breach, and a repair-and-deduct right. Under section 55.1-1244.1, after written notice of a serious condition such as a lack of heat, running water, or electricity, the landlord has fourteen days to make reasonable repairs; if it does not, the tenant may hire a licensed contractor and recover the actual cost, capped at the greater of one month’s rent or fifteen hundred dollars. Retaliation against a tenant who asserts these rights is barred.

Read the full Virginia habitability laws guide for the repair-request procedure and the escrow and repair-and-deduct steps.

Virginia codifies several protected reasons a tenant may end a fixed-term lease early without owing the balance. A victim of family abuse, sexual abuse, other criminal sexual assault, stalking, or trafficking may terminate under section 55.1-1236 by written notice effective twenty-eight days later, with a copy of a protective or conviction order and no liquidated-damages charge. Military servicemembers may terminate under section 55.1-1235 after qualifying orders, effective at least thirty days after the next rent due date, mirrored by the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. A tenant may also terminate for a material habitability breach that is not fixed after proper notice. For a tenant who simply leaves without a statutory ground, section 55.1-1251 preserves the landlord’s duty to mitigate and bars a judgment for accelerated rent – so the departing tenant owes only the rent lost until a reasonable re-rental would have filled the unit, plus actual re-rental costs, not the entire remaining term.

Read the full Virginia breaking lease laws guide for each statutory ground and the mitigation rule.

Ending a Virginia tenancy depends on its type. A month-to-month tenancy is terminated by written notice of at least thirty days under section 55.1-1253, from either party. A fixed-term lease generally runs to its end date and cannot be cut short without a statutory ground or mutual written agreement. Virginia does not require just cause to decline to renew a lease, and an automatic-renewal clause is enforceable when the landlord gives the notice required under section 55.1-1204 before the renewal takes effect. A tenant who stays past the lease end date becomes a holdover, and the landlord must pursue possession through an unlawful detainer action in the General District Court rather than self-help. When any tenancy ends, the deposit rules of section 55.1-1226 – the two-month cap and the forty-five-day itemized return – still apply to the move-out.

Read the full Virginia lease termination laws guide for notice by tenancy type and holdover liability.

For an actual pet, Virginia folds any pet deposit into the overall two-month deposit cap under section 55.1-1226, and a private landlord may set reasonable pet rent or a pet fee and may impose breed or weight policies if the lease provides for them. Assistance animals are treated completely differently. Under the federal Fair Housing Act and the Virginia Fair Housing Law, Va. Code section 36-96.1 and following, a service animal or emotional support animal is not a pet – a landlord may not charge any pet deposit, fee, or rent, and may not apply a breed or weight restriction or a no-pet policy to it. When the disability or the animal’s role is not obvious, the landlord may request reliable documentation from a licensed professional, but may not demand certification or registration. The tenant remains liable for any actual damage the animal causes.

Read the full Virginia pet and ESA laws guide for accommodation requests and documentation limits.

Virginia adds a few state-specific rules on top of the federal screening baseline. The Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act caps a rental application fee at fifty dollars, excluding the actual out-of-pocket cost of a background or credit check, and unused amounts must be refunded. With the applicant’s written authorization, a landlord may pull a consumer report covering credit, rental history, income, and criminal convictions – the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires a permissible purpose and consent first. If a denial, a higher deposit, or a co-signer requirement rests in any part on a consumer report, the FCRA requires an adverse action notice naming the reporting agency. Virginia also protects source of income statewide, so a landlord may not reject an applicant simply for using a Housing Choice Voucher or other lawful income source. Blanket criminal-record bans carry disparate-impact risk under fair-housing guidance, so an individualized assessment is safer.

Read the full Virginia tenant screening laws guide for the fee cap, source-of-income rule, and adverse-action steps.