Virginia: Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements
The short answer
Virginia permits a nonrefundable application fee up to $50, or $32 for public housing and other HUD-regulated units, plus the landlord's actual out-of-pocket third-party costs for background, credit, or other pre-occupancy checks. Current law does not require a general precharge screening disclosure, receipt, report copy, reusable report, or application-order process, although it requires family-abuse evidence to mitigate an otherwise qualified applicant's low credit score. Beginning July 1, 2027, the landlord must disclose fees, refundability, screening and automatic-denial criteria, the reporting agency, and consumer-report rights before requesting or collecting any payment or applicant information.
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This is the general rule in Virginia. Ezel applies current Virginia law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and coverage | Va. Code §§ 55.1-1201 and 55.1-1203; most single- and multifamily residential units, including public housing, subject to listed institutional, owner, no-rent, employment, contract-sale, recovery-residence, and transient-lodging exclusions |
|---|---|
| Fees allowed or prohibited | Nonrefundable application fee allowed; refundable application deposit is separate and outside this survey (§ 55.1-1203(A), (C)) |
| Maximum charge and adjustment | $50 application-fee cap; $32 for public housing or other HUD-regulated unit. Actual landlord-paid third-party check costs are additional; no indexing (§ 55.1-1203(C)) |
| Permitted costs and charge timing | Actual out-of-pocket third-party background, credit, or other pre-occupancy checks may be added. No special fee timing now; pre-payment/information notice starts July 1, 2027 (§ 55.1-1203(C); future subsection A) |
| Before-screening disclosures | None generally now. From July 1, 2027: written/accessible notice of fees, refundability, screening and denial criteria, reporting agency, and report-copy/dispute rights before any payment or information request |
| Receipt, report copy, and refund | No application-fee receipt, report-copy, or rejection-refund rule. Separate application-deposit balance and itemization due in 20 days, or 10 days for specified payment methods after landlord rejection (§ 55.1-1203(A)) |
| Applicant-supplied or reusable reports | No applicant-supplied or reusable-report rule in §§ 55.1-1201 or 55.1-1203 |
| Application order and adverse action | No general order or denial notice now; landlord must consider family-abuse evidence to mitigate low credit. Future notice discloses denial criteria and report rights, not a first-in-order process (§ 55.1-1203(D); future subsection A) |
| Remedies and stronger local rules | Wrongfully withheld application-deposit amount + attorney fees; family-abuse-screening violation allows actual damages including paid fees + attorney fees. No fee-cap-specific formula; VRLTA supersedes local landlord-tenant ordinances (§§ 55.1-1203(A), (D), 55.1-1201(E)) |
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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)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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