Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements in Virginia

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Current application fee and third-party check costs

Virginia Code § 55.1-1203(A) permits a nonrefundable application fee. Under current subsection (C), the application fee itself may not exceed $50. For a public housing unit or another housing unit regulated by HUD, the lower ceiling is $32.

Those numbers do not include actual out-of-pocket expenses the landlord pays to a third party for background, credit, or other pre-occupancy checks. The statute permits those actual third-party costs in addition to the application fee. It does not create an indexed adjustment or a higher actual-cost exception for the application fee itself.

Coverage and the separate application deposit

Section 55.1-1201 applies the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act to single-family and multifamily dwelling units across the Commonwealth, including public housing unless a conflicting HUD regulation controls. It excludes the listed institutional, fraternal, condominium/cooperative-owner, campground, no-rent, employment-conditioned, contract-sale, recovery-residence, and transient-lodging arrangements.

An application deposit is separate from the fee surveyed here. Section 55.1-1203(A) permits a refundable application deposit in addition to the nonrefundable application fee. If the applicant does not rent, the landlord generally has 20 days to return the balance above actual expenses and damages with an itemized list. The deadline becomes 10 days after landlord rejection when the deposit was paid by cash, certified check, cashier's check, or postal money order.

Current screening process and remedy

Current § 55.1-1203 has no general screening-criteria disclosure, application- order rule, report-copy duty, or adverse-action form. It does contain one specific screening rule: the landlord must consider permitted evidence that an otherwise qualified applicant is a victim of family abuse to mitigate the adverse effect of a low credit score.

Failure to follow that rule permits actual damages, including all application fees, deposits, and reimbursed out-of-pocket costs paid to the landlord, plus attorney fees. That remedy is tied to the family-abuse screening provision; the section does not state the same damages formula merely for exceeding the application-fee ceiling.

Disclosure duties beginning July 1, 2027

The enacted future version of § 55.1-1203 adds a notice step before the landlord requests or collects any payment or information about an applicant. The notice must be written or posted accessibly and state the fees and deposit, whether each is refundable, the unit's selection criteria, automatic-denial criteria, other criteria that may cause denial, the reporting agency's name and address if a consumer report is used, and the applicant's report-copy and dispute rights.

The future law keeps the $50 and $32 application-fee ceilings and the actual third-party-cost rule unchanged. It does not create a first-in-order process or a reusable-report requirement.

What trips people up

The $50 figure is not the total possible screening charge. Actual out-of-pocket expenses paid to a third party for background, credit, or other pre-occupancy checks are expressly outside the application-fee ceiling.

HUD-regulated housing uses a lower fee ceiling. The application fee is capped at $32, while actual third-party check expenses remain additional.

The refundable application deposit is not the application fee. Its 20-day or 10-day balance-return rule does not turn the nonrefundable fee into a refundable charge.

The new disclosure list is enacted but not current. It begins July 1, 2027. Until then, the present version of § 55.1-1203 controls.

SB 349 is still alive for the next session. The Senate committee continued the broader pre-tenancy-fee proposal by a 15-0 vote rather than defeating it.

Common questions

Can the landlord charge $50 plus a credit-check bill? Yes, but the added amount must be the landlord's actual out-of-pocket expense paid to a third party performing the check.

Must I receive the screening report under current Virginia law? Section 55.1-1203 does not create a current landlord report-copy duty. Beginning in 2027, the landlord must disclose the applicant's right to obtain a free copy after denial or other adverse action.

Can a locality create a different application-fee rule? Section 55.1-1201(E) says the Act supersedes local ordinances or regulations concerning landlord-tenant relations and residential leasing.

Statutes and sources

• Va. Code § 55.1-1201(A)-(C), (E) — coverage, exclusions, and local preemption.

  This chapter shall apply to occupancy in all single-family and multifamily dwelling units ... This chapter shall supersede all other local ordinances or regulations concerning landlord and tenant relations and the leasing of residential property.

Official source: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter12/section55.1-1201/ (accessed 2026-07-20) - Va. Code § 55.1-1203(A), (C) (effective until July 1, 2027) — application fee, third-party costs, and separate deposit.

An application fee shall not exceed $50, exclusive of any actual out-of-pocket expenses paid by the landlord to a third party performing background, credit, or other pre-occupancy checks on the applicant.

Official source: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter12/section55.1-1203/ (accessed 2026-07-20) - Va. Code § 55.1-1203(D) (effective until July 1, 2027) — family-abuse evidence and remedy.

A landlord shall consider evidence of an applicant's status as a victim of family abuse ... to mitigate any adverse effect of an otherwise qualified applicant's low credit score.

Official source: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter12/section55.1-1203/ (accessed 2026-07-20) - Va. Code § 55.1-1203(A), (D) (effective July 1, 2027) — future preapplication notice and unchanged fee ceilings.

Prior to requesting or collecting any payment or information about a prospective tenant, a landlord shall first notify the applicant in writing or by posting in a manner accessible to a prospective tenant ...

Official source: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter12/section55.1-1203/ (accessed 2026-07-20)