The State of Virginia Adopts New Laws Addressing Rental Fees While Also Requiring Written Notice for Lease Nonrenewal

During the 2025 legislative session, the State of Virginia adopted three new tenant protection policies that not only address the imposition of rental fees against tenants but would also require landlords to provide tenants with written notice stating nonrenewal of a lease agreement. Under the new rental fees law, which was passed through “House Bill 2430,” landlords are required to disclose on the first page of a lease all applicable rental fees, while under “House Bill 2218”/”Senate Bill 1356,” landlords are prohibited from charging tenants processing fees for rent or security deposit fees for certain payment methods while also being required to provide a written receipt to a tenant for paying rent or a security deposit with cash or a money order. Additionally, under “House Bill 1867”/”Senate Bill 1043,” landlords who own more than four rental units must provide written notice indicating a decision to not renew a lease to tenants 60 days before the end of a lease term. 

With the passage of Virginia’s new rental fees laws, the state joins 21 additional states and 8 localities to have enacted legislation addressing excessive rental fees for tenants, commonly known as “junk” fees. Across the country today, a greater number of tenant households have been subjected to paying fees in addition to the common charges paid by renter households during their lease terms, including for rent or application fees that arise when securing new housing opportunities. According to the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), a 2023 report titled “Too Damn High: How Junk Fees Add to Skyrocketing Rents,” the organization found that tenants are often charged a multitude of fees related to the rental and occupancy of a unit – more than 25 in total. Through qualitative analysis that involved surveying legal aid service providers and nonprofit attorneys, NCLC found that tenants are charged fees that can include pet fees, trash fees, pest control fees, roommate fees, and other arbitrary fees that are often undisclosed to tenants when signing a lease agreement.  

As evidenced by NLIHC’s “State and Local Tenant Protection Series: A Primer on Renters’ Rights: Junk Fees Toolkit” released in August 2024, the presence of non-optional and often surprise fees levied against tenants during their lease terms can have significant impacts for tenants. Such impacts can lead renters with the lowest incomes to become cost-burdened, while prospective renters who are attempting to establish housing are left with no guarantee that the money they put towards applying for a unit will result in securing a lease. In all, when rental housing costs are unpredictable to tenants, the resulting charge to tenants can often mean that tenants are paying more than hundreds of dollars on top of rent alone. 

To offer respite to tenants against some of the fees encountered during their lease periods, Virginia’s two new rental fees laws offer transparency to tenants in knowing how much – and when – any applicable fees will be charged. First, under “House Bill 2430” landlords are required to provide – on the first page of the lease – an itemized list of applicable fees being charged to tenants for all leases entered into, extended, or renewed after July 1, 2025.  

“House Bill 2218” addresses processing fees that can be charged to tenants related to rent, security deposits, or any other fees – in so long as the landlord or property offers to the tenant an alternative method of payment that does not levy any additional fees against a tenant. The law also stipulates that landlords who have four or fewer rental properties – or up to a 10% stake in four or fewer rental properties – are not required to only accept rental payments or any security deposit payment from a tenant through a debit or credit card. Meaning, tenants will be able to submit payment using cash or money order, which a landlord or property owner is then required to provide a tenant with a written receipt upon acceptance of payment. 

As noted, the state also enacted “House Bill 1867” to require landlords and property owners to provide tenants with written notice 60 days prior to the end of the rental agreement that a lease will not be automatically renewed. Similar to “House Bill 2218,” the law also has an exemption for the number of units owned or controlled by a landlord or property owner, as the law only applies to landlords who own more than four rental units or have at least a 10% stake in more than four units. 

Passing rental fees laws was a top priority for Allies for Housing Action (AHA), a statewide coalition of housing justice advocates and organizations which includes the Virginia Poverty Law Center, the Virginia Housing Alliance, New Virginia Majority, and the Legal Aid Justice Center among others – signaling the critical importance of enacting such protections for renter households throughout the state. 

 More information on Virginia’s legislative session can be found in the Virginia Housing Alliance’s legislative wrap-up, found here.