No. 1 · Tuesday, December 15, 2026 · Virginia · 10 minutes | Four Virginia laws start on Jan 1, and the Act they amend names no small-owner exemption: an owner of one unit is a landlord under it. The one that reaches the most owners of a unit or two is retaliation: after a tenant’s complaint, a rent or fee increase, a rule change, a nonrenewal or a possession suit joins the list of acts the section bars, and the sentence that put the burden of proof on the tenant is gone, with nothing in its place. | 17 days to Jan 1: 4 Virginia laws. Jul 1: a second wave. |
| Virginia · 2026 Acts ch. 1111 (HB 329) Retaliation: both lists grow, and one sentence leavesStarts Jan 1, 2027 What changed Va. Code 55.1-1258 names what a landlord may not do after a tenant’s protected act, and from Jan 1 both sides of it grow. The tenant’s acts go from four to five; new or wider: a complaint “to any member of a news or media outlet regarding noncompliance with the rental agreement or the provisions of this chapter”, a written complaint or suit over the lease, the Act or state or federal fair housing law, tenants’ organization activity, and testimony in a court or administrative proceeding (A). The landlord’s barred acts now read “(i) increasing the tenant’s rental amount or amount of fees; (ii) selectively decreasing services, selectively enforcing a rule or imposing a different rule on the tenant”, or otherwise materially altering the agreement without consent; then threats, harassment or coercion; a possession suit or the threat of one; a termination under 55.1-1253; and a nonrenewal where the tenant has a Housing Choice Voucher or other tenant-based rental assistance (B).
One sentence leaves. Until Jan 1 the section says the burden of proving retaliatory intent is on the tenant; the new version has no burden sentence at all. It is deleted, and the text puts the burden nowhere. The landlord’s safe list grows from four items to nine: among them a termination notice given before the tenant’s act, a rent or fee increase under the agreement’s own terms, a service or rule change applied to every tenant alike, and a default in rent, now counted at the time a possession action is filed (C). Kept: a rent increase to what similar market rentals charge is never retaliation (B). Who it reaches Any landlord under the Act: it names no unit count and no owner type, and its exempt list is living arrangements (institutions, campgrounds, employee housing in a multifamily building, a tenant who pays no rent, among others), never size (55.1-1201). Outside it: the nine safe-list items, and the market-rate increase. Manufactured home lots have their own rewritten rule (55.1-1314), outside this letter. The trigger A landlord with actual knowledge of the tenant’s act (A), then one of the acts on the barred list (B). The price tag Not new: the tenant is entitled to the chapter’s applicable remedies, actual damages among them, and may raise retaliation as a defense in a possession suit (D). The chapter offers an action for injunction and damages in circuit court (55.1-1259) and, in its noncompliance section, attorney fees unless the landlord proves its conduct was reasonable (55.1-1234); which of those fit a retaliation claim, the section does not say. Starts Jan 1, 2027signed May 14, 2026; enactment clause 2 of the act sets January 1, 2027, with no limit to new leases. Before it starts Before Jan 1: find any written complaint, agency notice or fair housing complaint from a current tenant, and check its date against any rent or fee increase, rule change or nonrenewal planned for the new year. The signed text |  | Virginia · 2026 Acts ch. 1118 (HB 848) Rent escrow: the tenant’s assertion no longer waits on rent paid inStarts Jan 1, 2027 What changed Until Jan 1, a tenant asking the court to act on a condition must first show that the rent called for under the agreement was paid into court within five days of its due date. From Jan 1 that showing is gone as a condition of filing: “The tenant shall not be required, however, to pay the amount of any outstanding rent, late charges, attorney fees, or other charges or damages due in order to file a tenant’s assertion under this section.” Rent that comes due during the case goes into court escrow instead, and a missed escrow payment “shall not be grounds for dismissal of the underlying action, but may be considered by the court” at the order stage (55.1-1244 C). The owner keeps two routes: possession under 55.1-1245 F when an escrow payment is missed, and a money judgment for everything due under the agreement (C). The owner’s four answers (the conditions do not exist, are fixed, were caused by the tenant’s side, or entry was refused) are unchanged, now at D. Who it reaches Any landlord under the Act; the section names no unit count (55.1-1201). Outside it: an owner facing no tenant’s assertion. The tenant must still show that the owner refused or failed to fix after written or agency notice, and the section presumes more than 30 days from receipt is unreasonable (B). The trigger A tenant’s declaration in general district court over a material noncompliance, or a condition that if not promptly corrected would be a fire hazard or a serious threat to life, health or safety; the section’s own examples are heat, water, light, sewage, rodents and known lead paint (A). The price tag Not new, relettered: rent abatement, with the burden on the landlord to show cause why rent should not be abated (E.4); after six months with no fix and no reasonable attempt, all the escrow goes to the tenant (F); attorney fees in the court’s discretion (H). Starts Jan 1, 2027signed May 14, 2026; enactment clause 2 of the act sets January 1, 2027, with no limit to new leases. Before it starts Before Jan 1: find where repair requests and agency notices are kept, and check the date each was received. The signed text | | Virginia · 2026 Acts ch. 1117 (HB 834) After a fire: 21 days, and a meeting firstStarts Jan 1, 2027 What changed Two clocks move from 14 days to 21: the landlord’s termination notice after a fire or casualty, and the tenant’s notice after vacating (55.1-1240 B, C). Before the owner’s notice, one of two steps. C.1: the owner “(i) Met with or made a reasonable effort to meet with the tenant to discuss the extent of the damage to the tenant’s dwelling unit and whether any reasonable alternatives to terminating the rental agreement are available”, and worked out whether a substantially similar unit in the same complex is available within a reasonable time, offering it on the current terms if so. Or C.2: the owner determined that the damage was caused by the tenant’s violation of 55.1-1227. Then a second look: within seven days of the notice, the tenant may ask in writing for the owner to reevaluate the damage and the unit’s habitability, and the owner “shall involve the tenant in the reevaluation process” (D). It does not move the date: damage confirmed, the agreement ends when the original notice period runs out. Who it reaches Either party, any landlord under the Act; no unit count (55.1-1201). The section does not define complex. Outside it: an owner with no fire or casualty damage to a unit. The trigger A unit or premises damaged or destroyed by fire or casualty so that the tenant’s use and enjoyment is substantially impaired, or that needs repairs possible only with the tenant out (A). The price tag The section names no penalty for a skipped step. The return of deposits and prepaid rent is unchanged, now at E. Starts Jan 1, 2027signed May 14, 2026; enactment clause 2 of the act sets January 1, 2027, with no limit to new leases. Before it starts Before Jan 1: read the lease’s fire or casualty clause and check whether it still says 14 days; count the units in the same complex that are yours. The signed text | | - 2026 Acts cc. 998 (SB 250) and 1052 (HB 395), new Va. Code 55.1-1212.1, portable solar: no landlord “who owns more than four rental dwelling units or more than a 10 percent interest in more than four rental dwelling units, whether individually or through a business entity, in the Commonwealth” may bar a tenant’s plug-in solar device, up to 1,200 watts a unit, on the exterior of the tenant’s premises, after seven days’ notice with documentation (B). An owner of four or fewer units, holding no such stake, is outside the ban. One line has no unit count: no landlord is liable for a habitability claim caused solely by the device (D).
A second wave, with the one small-owner line that matters. 2026 Acts ch. 640, Va. Code 55.1-1209 F, operative Jul 1, 2027: on a tenant’s written request, a written statement of charges and payments over the tenancy or the past 12 months, whichever is shorter, within 10 business days. It does not apply to a landlord who owns “fewer than four rental dwelling units”, unless state or local rental or utility assistance is received for the tenant; an owner of exactly four is inside it. Chapters 783 and 784 put the same statement into every termination for nonpayment (55.1-1202 E), with no unit line; chapters 1066 and 1105 reach only owners of more than four units or of more than a 10 percent interest in more than four. Full Cards in June. Signed laws found as of Nov 6, 2026 We read the titles of all 1,132 bills chaptered in 2026, every chapter marked effective Jan 1, 2027 (36 of them) or see bill (67), and the 2026 update lists for Titles 55.1, 8.01, 16.1 and 36 for sections headed Jan 1, 2027. A title search is a filter: a landlord duty inside a chapter titled for something else, outside those four titles, would be missed. Not checked: the text of chapters other than the 11 landlord chapters we found, regulations, court rules and forms, local ordinances. Missed one? Write to hello@landlorddispatch.com. | | 45 days, itemized, then the deposit back with feesVa. Code 55.1-1226 gives a landlord 45 days: deductions “shall be itemized by the landlord in a written notice given to the tenant, together with any amount due to the tenant, within 45 days after the termination date of the tenancy or the date the tenant vacates the dwelling unit, whichever occurs last” (A). Where the damage exceeds the deposit and needs a third-party contractor, notice inside the 45 days buys 15 more for the itemization (E). It is the longest clock of the eight states we cover. The price tag. “If the landlord willfully fails to comply with this section, the court shall order the return of the security deposit to the tenant, together with actual damages and reasonable attorney fees” (E), unless the tenant owes rent, in which case the deposit is credited against it. No multiple. The statute stands alone this issue: our search found no appellate deposit opinion with a small owner in it. Citation: Va. Code 55.1-1226, text on the Virginia legislature’s site, read Nov 5, 2026; the Act reaches every single-family and multifamily dwelling unit in the Commonwealth (55.1-1201 B). The same rule in the other seven states, shortest clock first New York: 14 days, itemized, or the landlord forfeits any right to keep any of it. Willful violation: punitive damages up to twice the deposit. N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(e), (g). Florida: 15 days to return it; 30 for a certified-mail or agreed e-mail claim notice. No notice, no claim on it. Loser pays fees. Fla. Stat. § 83.49(3). California: 21 calendar days, itemized. In bad faith, the landlord loses any claim to it and faces up to twice the deposit, plus actual damages. Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5(h), (m). Illinois, any building size: itemized list with receipts in 30 days, or all of it back in 45. Refusal or bad faith costs twice the deposit, plus fees. 765 ILCS 710/1(a), (c). Texas: 30 days after surrender and a written forwarding address. Late is presumed bad faith: $100, three times the amount wrongfully withheld, and attorney’s fees. Tex. Prop. Code §§ 92.103, 92.107, 92.109. Washington: 30 days, documented statement, or the full deposit is owed and defenses barred. Intentional refusal: up to twice the deposit. Loser pays fees. RCW 59.18.280. Oregon: 31 days, written accounting and refund. Money withheld with no accounting, or in bad faith, costs twice the amount. Winner may get fees. ORS 90.300(12), (13), (16); 90.255. | The 1099 line is $600 $2,000For payments made after Dec 31, 2025, a 1099-MISC (rents) or 1099-NEC (services) is due for anyone paid “$2,000 or more in any calendar year”, not $600 (26 USC 6041(a), 6041A(a)(2); Pub. L. 119-21, sec. 70433), when the payment is in the course of a trade or business; whether a rental is one is not a question this letter answers. For 2026 payments: Mon, Feb 1, 2027 for the 1099-NEC and all recipient copies; the 1099-MISC to the IRS by Mar 1 on paper, Mar 31 electronically. 26 USC 6041; IRS instructions, Dec 2026. | Section 55.1-1258 calls the same federal program tenant-based rental assistance in one subsection and rent-based rental assistance in the next. Know a landlord with a Virginia rental? This is the one to send. Next dispatch: Tuesday, December 29. |  |
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