Virginia Real Estate Laws: Disclosures, Leases & Foreclosure

Virginia real estate laws are anchored in Title 55.1 of the Code of Virginia, which covers property conveyances, disclosures, landlord-tenant relationships, common interest communities, and foreclosure, with federal rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the EPA, and the IRS layered on top.1Justia Law. Code of Virginia Title 55.1, Chapter 19 – Virginia Condominium Act The Virginia Real Estate Board, part of the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, licenses agents and brokers and handles discrimination complaints tied to licensees.2Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. Real Estate Board What follows is what a buyer, seller, landlord, or tenant in the Commonwealth actually needs to know to avoid trouble.

What Sellers Must Disclose

Virginia is a “buyer beware” state. The standard Residential Property Disclosure Statement does not warrant the home’s condition. It formally tells the buyer the seller is making no representations about the property and to conduct independent inspections and due diligence before closing.3Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act – Section: 55.1-703 Required Disclosures Out-of-state buyers often expect a filled-in checklist about the roof, the basement, or the HVAC. Virginia sellers don’t have to volunteer any of that. The burden of finding problems falls on the buyer.

A short list of situations does force specific written disclosures:

  • Known, unremediated methamphetamine manufacture on the property.4Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act – Section: 55.1-708
  • Pending building code enforcement actions or zoning violations, on a separate form.
  • Repetitive flood losses, meaning two or more flood insurance claims over $1,000 within any rolling ten-year period since 1978.

One boundary worth naming: the standard form does not require the seller to say whether the property sits in a special flood hazard area. The form expressly disclaims any representation about flood zone status and points the buyer to FEMA maps and the Virginia Flood Risk Information website.3Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act – Section: 55.1-703 Required Disclosures

Lead-Based Paint (Pre-1978 Homes)

Federal law applies here regardless of state rules. Sellers and landlords of homes built before 1978 must give buyers or tenants the EPA pamphlet “Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home,” disclose any known lead hazards, share available test reports, and include a lead warning statement in the contract or lease.5U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Rule Fact Sheet Buyers get at least ten days to arrange a lead inspection. Sellers keep the signed disclosure for three years. Nothing in the rule requires the seller to test for or remove lead paint.

HOA and Condo Resale Certificates

If the property is in a homeowners’ association, condominium, or other common interest community, the seller has to obtain and deliver a resale certificate to the buyer. It lists current assessments, unpaid balances on the unit, pending association litigation, and other financial information.6Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia – Subtitle IV Common Interest Communities – Section: 55.1-2310 Read it carefully. A pending special assessment or an association carrying debt shows up here, and it changes what the property really costs to own.

Contracts and Leases Must Be in Writing

Virginia’s Statute of Frauds requires every contract for the sale of real estate, and every lease longer than one year, to be in writing and signed by the party being held to it.7Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 11-2 – When Written Evidence Required to Maintain Action A handshake deal on a house is not enforceable. A valid purchase contract has to identify the property, state the price, set a closing date, and spell out any contingencies such as financing or a satisfactory inspection. Courts can refuse to enforce agreements with vague or missing terms.

Virginia has adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, so electronic signatures generally satisfy the writing and signature requirements. A contract cannot be denied legal effect just because it was signed electronically.8Virginia Code Commission. Uniform Electronic Transactions Act – Section: 59.1-485 Most Virginia purchase agreements are signed electronically now. Deeds, deeds of trust, and other notarized documents that get recorded at the circuit court clerk’s office often still require wet-ink signatures because of recording office practice.

Oral leases can be valid for terms of a year or less. If a landlord fails to offer any written lease, the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (VRLTA) fills the gap by creating a statutory 12-month tenancy that does not renew automatically.9Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act – Section: 55.1-1204

Deeds, Recording, and Transfer Taxes

Virginia recognizes three main deed types, and the choice matters. A general warranty deed gives the strongest protection: the seller warrants clear title against all defects, including any that predate the seller’s ownership. A special warranty deed only covers defects that arose while the current seller owned the property. A quitclaim deed offers no title guarantees at all and is typically used for transfers between family members or to clean up a title issue.

Every deed should be recorded in the circuit court clerk’s office for the jurisdiction where the property sits. An unrecorded deed may be valid between the two parties, but recording is what protects the buyer against competing claims. Virginia follows a race-notice recording system: a later buyer who records first and had no notice of an earlier unrecorded transfer takes priority over the earlier buyer who never recorded.

On the tax side, Virginia charges a grantor’s tax on transfers at 50 cents per $500 of consideration (or fraction) above $100, which works out to roughly $1 per $1,000 of sale price, split evenly between the state and the locality.10Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-802 – Additional Tax Paid by Grantor; Collection A separate state recordation tax applies to deeds and deeds of trust when they are recorded, and some localities add their own surcharge. On a typical home sale, the combined transfer and recording taxes can total several thousand dollars.

Title Insurance

Title insurance covers ownership defects that already existed at the time of purchase but weren’t caught in the title search: forged signatures in the chain of title, undisclosed liens, recording errors, unknown heirs. Virginia does not require buyers to purchase it, but virtually every mortgage lender will require a lender’s policy as a loan condition. A separate owner’s policy is optional and protects the buyer’s own equity. The Virginia Bureau of Insurance, under the State Corporation Commission, regulates title insurance rates and companies, and rates cannot be unfairly discriminatory between similar risks.11Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia – Chapter 46 Title Insurance – Section: 38.2-4608

Landlord and Tenant Rules

The VRLTA governs nearly all residential leases in the Commonwealth, from single-family rentals to apartment complexes. Landlords have to maintain rental property to health and safety code standards, and tenants facing serious maintenance failures have legal remedies, including in some circumstances the ability to withhold rent.

Security Deposits and the Move-In Report

A security deposit cannot exceed two months’ rent. After the tenancy ends, the landlord has 45 days to return the deposit with an itemized written statement of any deductions, which are limited to unpaid rent, damage beyond normal wear and tear, and other charges the lease specifically identifies.12Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act – Section: 55.1-1226

Within five days of move-in, the landlord has to provide a written report of any existing damage. The tenant then has five days to object to what’s in it. That document sets the baseline for the move-out inspection. When a landlord skips it, disputing deductions gets much harder for the landlord.13Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act – Section: 55.1-1214

Eviction Notice Periods

Before filing for eviction, Virginia landlords have to serve the right written notice for the type of problem:

Even after a court enters a judgment of possession, tenants in nonpayment cases keep a right to “pay and stay” by paying the full balance owed up to 48 hours before the sheriff carries out the eviction. Landlords with five or more rental units cannot cap how often a tenant uses that right during a single lease term.16Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. Virginia Statement of Tenant Rights and Responsibilities Under the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act

Tenant Screening

Landlords pulling credit or background reports on applicants are covered by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. If a report drives an adverse decision, whether a denial, a required co-signer, or a higher rent, the landlord has to send a written adverse action notice that names the reporting agency, states the agency did not make the rental decision, and tells the applicant they can dispute inaccurate information and get a free copy of the report within 60 days.17Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports: What Landlords Need to Know

Fair Housing in Virginia

Virginia’s Fair Housing Law tracks the federal Fair Housing Act and adds five more protected classes on top of it. Federal law prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, and disability. Virginia adds elderliness, source of funds, sexual orientation, gender identity, and military status.18Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Fair Housing Law – Section: 36-96.1 So a Virginia landlord cannot turn away an applicant because they plan to pay with a housing voucher, and cannot refuse to rent to a veteran on that basis.

The law reaches rentals, sales, mortgage lending, homeowner’s insurance, and advertising. Refusing to deal, imposing different terms, or steering buyers to particular neighborhoods based on a protected characteristic all fall within its scope, and reasonable accommodations must be provided for people with disabilities. Penalties for violations can reach $50,000 for a first violation and $100,000 for subsequent violations, plus compensatory and punitive damages with no statutory cap.19Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Fair Housing Law – Section: 36-96.17 The Fair Housing Board investigates complaints, and cases with reasonable cause get referred to the Attorney General’s office for civil action.20Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. Virginia Fair Housing Office

Zoning and Land Use

Zoning is a local matter in Virginia, delegated by the state to counties, cities, and towns. Local ordinances classify parcels as residential, commercial, industrial, or otherwise, and dictate what can be built, how tall, how much lot coverage, and how far from property lines. Owners are bound by the classification unless they secure a change.

Three procedural paths exist for owners who want to use land in a way the current zoning doesn’t allow. A rezoning application asks the local governing body to change the parcel’s classification. A special use permit allows a specific activity the ordinance permits only with board approval. A variance is a narrower remedy for cases where strict application of the rules would cause unnecessary hardship on a particular property, such as an oddly shaped lot that can’t meet setback requirements. Rezoning and special use permit applications go through the local planning or zoning office and involve public hearings. Courts will uphold zoning restrictions as long as they serve a legitimate public purpose and are applied reasonably.

Foreclosure in Virginia

Most residential loans in Virginia are secured by a deed of trust rather than a mortgage. A deed of trust involves three parties: the borrower, the lender, and a trustee (usually an attorney) who holds a power of sale. Because that power is written into the deed of trust, the trustee can foreclose without a lawsuit, which makes Virginia primarily a nonjudicial foreclosure state.

Notice and Advertising

Before a trustee’s sale, written notice has to go to the property owner by certified or registered mail. For owner-occupied residential property, that notice must be mailed at least 60 days before the sale.21Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 55.1-321 – Notices Required Before Sale by Trustee Subordinate lienholders and certain associations with recorded liens have to receive notice as well.

The trustee also has to advertise the sale in a newspaper of general circulation in the jurisdiction. If the deed of trust specifies how many advertisements are required, that controls, but weekly ads have to run at least once a week for two weeks and daily ads at least once a day for three days. If the deed of trust is silent, the ad runs once a week for four consecutive weeks. Either way, the sale cannot occur earlier than eight days after the first ad or more than 30 days after the last one.22Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 55.1-322 – Advertisement Required Before Sale by Trustee

The Federal 120-Day Rule

Under CFPB Regulation X, a loan servicer cannot make the first foreclosure filing until the mortgage is more than 120 days delinquent.23Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Regulation 1024.41 – Loss Mitigation Procedures That window is meant for loss mitigation: loan modification, forbearance, or another workout. Servicers have to evaluate a complete loss mitigation application before moving ahead with foreclosure, so a borrower who gets paperwork in promptly can gain more time.

No Post-Sale Redemption

Virginia does not have a general statutory right of redemption after a foreclosure sale. Once the trustee’s sale is complete, the former owner cannot reclaim the property by paying off the debt. The process is faster and more final than in states with six-month post-sale redemption windows. A borrower who believes the trustee ignored notice or advertising requirements, or that the lender behaved improperly, can challenge the sale in court, but the window to do so is narrow.

Closing the Sale

Virginia does not require an attorney to conduct a real estate closing. Both attorneys and non-attorney settlement agents may provide escrow, closing, and settlement services, though non-attorney agents have to register with the Virginia State Bar, and attorney settlement agents handling residential transactions with four or fewer dwelling units must register as well. Non-attorney settlement agents cannot draft legal documents or give legal advice about the transaction.

Federal law requires the lender to deliver a Closing Disclosure at least three business days before the closing date. The Closing Disclosure spells out final loan terms, monthly payment, and every closing cost. If the lender changes certain key terms after sending it, the three-day clock resets.24Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Should I Do if I Do Not Get a Closing Disclosure Three Days Before My Mortgage Closing? Compare it against the earlier Loan Estimate and question any fees that jumped.

Virginia notary fees are capped at $10 per notarial act for paper documents and $25 per act for electronic notarizations.25Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 47.1-19 – Fees Notary charges are minor compared with the transfer taxes, title insurance premium, and lender fees that make up most of the closing bill.

Taxes When You Sell

Selling a primary residence, an individual can exclude up to $250,000 in capital gains from federal income tax, or $500,000 for married couples filing jointly, if the seller owned and lived in the home for at least two of the five years before the sale. Virginia does not impose a separate state-level capital gains tax beyond its regular income tax, so the federal exclusion effectively shelters most primary home sales at both levels.

Investors selling rental or commercial property can defer capital gains through a Section 1031 like-kind exchange. The IRS deadlines are strict: identify the replacement property within 45 days of the sale, and close on it within 180 days. Miss either one and the exchange is disqualified.

Foreign sellers face an extra step. Under the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act, buyers purchasing U.S. real property from a foreign person generally have to withhold 15% of the sale price and remit it to the IRS.26Internal Revenue Service. FIRPTA Withholding That applies to Virginia deals like anywhere else, and both sides can face penalties if withholding is mishandled. A foreign seller who qualifies for a reduced rate or an exemption can apply for a withholding certificate before closing.