How to become a landlord in Virginia

You must offer a prospective tenant a written lease and give with it the Statement of Tenant Rights and Responsibilities published by the Department of Housing and Community Development, and you and the tenant sign the Department's form acknowledging it was received; if the tenant does not sign, record the dates you provided the form and that the tenant did not sign. You may not sue the tenant for a lease violation until you have provided the Statement. The first page of the lease must itemize the security deposit, the rent per payment period and any one-time charges due before or with the first payment, under a sentence the law prescribes (Va. Code § 55.1-1204(B), (H); Va. Code § 55.1-1204.1).

• Give the tenant a copy of the signed lease and the Statement within 10 business days of the lease's effective date (Va. Code § 55.1-1204(H)).
• Before a lease is signed, tell a prospective tenant in writing if the property is in a noise zone or accident potential zone near a military air installation; without it, the tenant may end the lease in the first 30 days (Va. Code § 55.1-1217).
• Disclose in writing before signing any defective drywall you know has not been remediated, or that you know the unit was used to make methamphetamine and was not cleaned up; otherwise the tenant may end the lease within 60 days of finding out (Va. Code § 55.1-1218; Va. Code § 55.1-1219).
• For a multifamily unit, tell prospective tenants in writing of a filed condominium or cooperative registration or a plan within six months to demolish, substantially rehabilitate or convert the property (Va. Code § 55.1-1216(C)).
• Disclose visible mold in the move-in report (Va. Code § 55.1-1215).See Move-in inspection report on the Virginia page
• If the lease does not require renter's insurance, give a written notice about personal property and flood coverage before signing (Va. Code § 55.1-1206(D)).See Flood and renter's insurance notice on the Virginia page

At or before the start of the tenancy, give the tenant in writing the name and address of the person authorized to manage the property and of an owner or someone authorized to act for the owner, and keep it current. Anyone who fails to do so becomes the landlord's agent for service of process and notices (Va. Code § 55.1-1216(A), (D)).

• If you sell the property, tell the tenant and give the buyer's name, address and telephone number (Va. Code § 55.1-1216(B)).
• An owner who lives outside Virginia must appoint a Virginia agent with an office in the state, file it with the State Corporation Commission, and name the agent and office address in every lease. Until the designation is filed, the owner may not bring a court action about the property (Va. Code § 55.1-1211(B), (D), (E)).

Chapter 12 has no separate flood zone disclosure. But if your lease does not require renter's insurance, before the lease is signed give the tenant a written notice that you are not responsible for the tenant's belongings, your insurance does not cover them, and the tenant should get renter's insurance; it must also say renter's insurance does not cover flood damage and point the tenant to FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program or the state Flood Risk Information System to check for a special flood hazard area (Va. Code § 55.1-1206(D)).

• Failing to give the notice does not affect the lease's validity. If the tenant asks for a translation, you may help or refer the tenant to a translation service, at no charge (Va. Code § 55.1-1206(D)).

No more than once every 12 months, give the tenant a certificate that all smoke alarms are present, have been inspected and are in good working order. The tenant may not remove or disable a working smoke alarm, including by removing batteries, and must maintain it as the fire code requires (Va. Code § 55.1-1220(A)(8); Va. Code § 55.1-1227(A)).

• On the tenant's written request, install a carbon monoxide alarm within 90 days; you may charge a reasonable fee for the equipment and labor (Va. Code § 55.1-1229(E)).
• On request, provide a smoke alarm suited to a person who is deaf or hard of hearing (Va. Code § 36-99.5).See Fair housing on the Virginia page
• Where smoke alarms must be installed is set by the Uniform Statewide Building Code and the Statewide Fire Prevention Code, which were not read for this page (Va. Code § 36-99.5).

The landlord and tenant law does not itself list required locks, though you must meet the applicable building and housing codes (not read for this page). A locality may also require landlords with five or more units in one multifamily building to install dead bolts and peepholes on entry doors, locks and bars on sliding glass doors, and locks on exterior windows that meet the building code (Va. Code § 55.1-1221; Va. Code § 55.1-1220(A)(1)).

• The tenant may install new security systems, including chain latches you approve and fire detection devices, if they cause no permanent damage, you get keys and instructions, and the tenant pays to remove them and repair damage at move-out (Va. Code § 55.1-1229(D)).
• A tenant holding a court order, other than an ex parte order, that grants exclusive possession may ask you to install a new lock at your actual cost to the tenant, or to let the tenant install one; once you have a copy of the order, you may not give keys to anyone it excludes (Va. Code § 55.1-1230(A), (C), (D)).
• A landlord with more than 200 units on one property must adopt key-access policies for employees (Va. Code § 55.1-1209.1).

You may not demand or receive a security deposit, however it is labeled, of more than two months' periodic rent. A refundable pet deposit is a security deposit and counts toward the cap (Va. Code § 55.1-1226(A); Va. Code § 55.1-1200).

• A lease may not make the tenant pay a security deposit, damage insurance premiums and renter's insurance premiums before the tenancy starts that together exceed two months' periodic rent (Va. Code § 55.1-1208(A)(7)).
• You may require damage insurance or renter's insurance and charge the premiums; they count as rent, not as a deposit, and you must tell the tenant in writing of the right to buy a separate policy (Va. Code § 55.1-1206(A), (B)).
• Money paid toward a security deposit is treated as an application deposit until the lease's commencement date (Va. Code § 55.1-1200).
• You may let a tenant buy damage insurance instead of paying a deposit. The insurer must be licensed or approved by the State Corporation Commission, the coverage must last the whole term and be at least the deposit you require per claim, and the insurer must tell you within 10 days if the policy lapses (Va. Code § 55.1-1226(I)).
• A tenant who chose damage insurance may switch to paying the full deposit at any time without your consent, and you may not change the lease terms because of it (Va. Code § 55.1-1226(J)).
• If the tenant has an assignee or sublessee, you may hold a security deposit from only one party (Va. Code § 55.1-1226(H)).

Chapter 12 does not require you to pay interest on a security deposit or to keep it in a separate account. Prepaid rent is different: put it in an escrow account at a federally insured depository by the end of the fifth business day after you receive it, and leave it there until it comes due (Va. Code §§ 55.1-1200 to 55.1-1262; Va. Code § 55.1-1205).

• Prepaid rent may leave the escrow account without the tenant's written consent only when you have become entitled to it (Va. Code § 55.1-1205).
• If you or your managing agent is a real estate licensee, following the multiple-tenant and forwarding-address rules for the deposit counts as compliance with the licensee escrow statute and the Real Estate Board's matching regulations, which sit outside the landlord and tenant law and were not read for this page (Va. Code § 55.1-1226(B)).

Within five days after the tenant moves in, give the tenant a written report itemizing damage that exists at move-in. The report is treated as correct unless the tenant objects in writing within five days after receiving it. This applies to every tenancy, whether or not you take a deposit (Va. Code § 55.1-1214(A)).

• You may adopt a written policy letting the tenant prepare the report (it is then correct unless you object in writing within five days) or letting you and the tenant prepare it together, signed by both (Va. Code § 55.1-1214(B)).
• The report must say whether there is any visible evidence of mold in readily accessible interior areas. If it says there is, the tenant may end the tenancy; if the tenant chooses to stay, remediate within five business days of that decision, reinspect, and give a new report (Va. Code § 55.1-1215).
• Damage listed on the report does not by itself require repair, unless the mold rule or your duty to keep the home fit requires it (Va. Code § 55.1-1214(C)).

A nonrefundable application fee may not exceed $50, plus the actual out-of-pocket cost you pay a third party for background, credit or other checks. For public housing or other HUD-regulated units the limit is $32 plus those costs. You may also take a refundable application deposit (Va. Code § 55.1-1203(A), (C)).

• If the applicant does not rent, refund the application deposit, less your actual expenses and damages, with an itemized list within 20 days. If you rejected the applicant and the deposit was paid by cash, certified check, cashier's check or postal money order, the refund is due within 10 days (Va. Code § 55.1-1203(A)).
• You may ask for a social security number or individual taxpayer identification number and may photocopy a driver's license or similar photo identification, but not a U.S. government identification where federal law forbids copying it (Va. Code § 55.1-1203(B)).
• You must consider evidence that an applicant is a victim of family abuse to offset a low credit score of an otherwise qualified applicant, shown by a letter from a domestic violence program, HUD-certified counselor or attorney, a police report or a court order (Va. Code § 55.1-1203(D)).
• A landlord owning more than four Virginia rental units, or more than a 10 percent interest in more than four, individually or through a business entity, may not deny an applicant based solely on payment history or an eviction for nonpayment between March 12, 2020 and 30 days after the Governor's COVID-19 state of emergency expired or was revoked, and must follow the written denial notice process; the penalty is $1,000 plus attorney fees (Va. Code § 55.1-1245(J)).
• Information you receive with an application stays a confidential tenant record and may be released only in response to a subpoena (Va. Code § 55.1-1209(B)).
• From July 1, 2027, before you request or collect any payment or information, you must tell applicants in writing, or post where they can see it, your fees and deposits and whether they are refundable, your selection criteria, automatic denial criteria, other criteria that may lead to denial, the name and address of any consumer reporting agency you use, and the applicant's right to a free copy of the report and to dispute it (Va. Code § 55.1-1203(A) (effective July 1, 2027)).
• For landlords covered by the pandemic-period screening rule, a denial notice must explain the applicant's right to challenge reliance on the protected payment history or nonpayment eviction, include statewide legal-aid contact information, and state the seven-day deadline from the postmark. Additional electronic or telephone notice can permit proceeding after the next business day without an assertion, subject to the statute's notice and timing-validation conditions (Va. Code 55.1-1245(J)(2), current version).
• If the applicant asserts that right and you relied on a screening report, make a good-faith effort to ask its producer whether the determination rested solely on protected pandemic-period history. The statute permits proceeding with the report information if its producer does not respond within three business days of the request (Va. Code 55.1-1245(J)(2), current version).