Laws & Regulations

Virginia Rent Escrow and Habitability Claims: What Landlords Need to Know

Virginia habitability disputes can reach court in two related ways. A tenant may raise qualifying landlord noncompliance as a defense after a landlord files a nonpayment case, or the tenant may file a separate tenant assertion asking the court for relief. Rental owners dealing wi...

Can Virginia Landlords Charge Tenants for Maintenance and Repairs?

Short answer: Virginia's July 1, 2026 law restricts when a landlord can require a tenant to pay a fee for maintenance or repair. It does not make every task that can be described as “maintenance” a landlord responsibility. The same Virginia Residential Landlord an...

Military Lease Termination in Virginia: What Rental Owners Need to Know

A Virginia rental owner who receives a military lease termination notice should not process it as an ordinary request to break a lease. Current Virginia law gives qualifying military tenants a statutory termination right, and the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, or SCRA, ...

Virginia Rental Fire or Casualty Damage: Landlord and Tenant Rights

A fire or other casualty can turn an ordinary rental into several urgent problems at once: emergency access, property stabilization, resident displacement, insurance claims, repair decisions, and the question of whether the lease continues. For Virginia rental owners, PMI James R...

Air Conditioning as an Essential Service in Virginia Rentals

Virginia changed the legal treatment of central air conditioning under the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act on July 1, 2026. Qualifying landlord-supplied central air conditioning is now included in the statutory definition of an "essential service." The chan...

Virginia Eviction Diversion Program: What Landlords Need to Know

Virginia's Eviction Diversion Program can change what happens after a nonpayment unlawful detainer reaches General District Court. For rental owners who want a consistent process from delinquency through court, PMI James River's eviction protection process is built around...

Virginia Rent Payment Plan Before Eviction: When Landlords Must Offer One

Starting July 1, 2027, Virginia will require a specific group of landlords to offer a written rent payment plan before terminating a rental agreement for certain nonpayment balances. The rule does not apply to every landlord or every delinquency. It turns on the landlord's ow...

Virginia Rental Application Disclosure Requirements for Landlords

Beginning July 1, 2027, Virginia landlords subject to the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act will have a new disclosure step at the very front of the rental application process. Before requesting or collecting any payment or information about a prospective tenant, the l...

Virginia Rent Payment Methods and Processing Fee Rules

Virginia rental owners can offer online portals, ACH, cards, and other convenient ways to pay, but current law now sets a clear floor for covered residential tenancies. A compliant rent collection system has to account for the payment methods a landlord must accept, the receipts ...

Virginia Landlord-Tenant Law Changes Coming in 2027

Virginia rental owners do not need to wait for the 2027 General Assembly session to start preparing for next year's landlord-tenant law changes. Several of the 2026 Virginia landlord-tenant law changes are already scheduled to take effect in two waves, on January 1 and July 1...