Virginia security deposit return

The security deposit and any deductions, damages, and charges 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.

The clock waits for whichever of the two dates comes last. A tenant who moves out three weeks before the lease ends has not started it (unless the tenancy itself ended that day, as it does where you and the tenant agree in writing to end it early, § 55.1-1253(A)), and a tenant who stays past the end date does not start it on the end date. The termination date is not always the lease-end date: the notice rules for periodic tenancies (§ 55.1-1253), early termination by servicemembers (§ 55.1-1235) and by victims of family abuse, sexual abuse, stalking or trafficking (§ 55.1-1236), termination for noncompliance (§§ 55.1-1234, 55.1-1245), abandonment (§ 55.1-1249) and the death of a sole tenant under a written lease (§ 55.1-1256) each fix it in their own way. The tool asks for the date; it does not compute it. The duty is a written, itemized notice "given to the tenant" together with any money due, so a cheque on its own does not meet it. Ending the tenancy early does not excuse the notice either: the landlord "shall give written notice of security deposit disposition within the 45-day period" and may retain the balance to apply against what the tenant owes the landlord under the Act or the lease. If day 45 falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, read the note on § 1-210(E) below; the tool shows day 45 as the deadline.

The landlord shall apply the security deposit in accordance with this section within the 45-day time period required by subsection A.

This is a second duty with the same deadline, not a restatement of the first: the notice says what was applied, and this sentence says the applying itself must be done by day 45. On our reading, two allowances in the section qualify it. After an early termination, or a termination without proper notice, subsection A lets the landlord retain the balance to apply against what the tenant owes the landlord under the Act or the lease; and subsection C lets a reasonable portion be withheld for a third-party utility balance until the bill is paid. Where the tenant gave no forwarding address, subsection B lets the landlord keep holding the money in escrow; it does not move the 45 days. The sentence before this one says the deposit does not entitle the tenant, when the tenancy ends, to "an immediate credit against the tenant’s delinquent rent account in the amount of the security deposit".

When an act of the General Assembly or rule of court requires that an act be performed within a prescribed amount of time after any event or judgment, the day on which the event or judgment occurred shall not be counted against the time allowed.

So a tenancy that ends on March 1, with the tenant already gone, has day 1 on March 2 and day 45 on April 15. "Business day" and "calendar" do not appear in § 55.1-1226, and the Act says "business days" where it means them (for example §§ 55.1-1204(D), 55.1-1205 and 55.1-1234.1), so the 45 are counted as calendar days.

When an act of the General Assembly or local governing body, order of the court, or administrative regulation or order requires, either by specification of a date or by a prescribed period of time, that an act be performed or an action be filed on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday or on any day or part of a day on which the state or local government office where the act to be performed or the action to be filed is closed, the act may be performed or the action may be filed on the next business day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, legal holiday, or day on which the state or local government office is closed.

This is our reading, and an open one. The words "a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday" are not tied to a government office on their face, so this subsection may reach a private notice like the deposit notice. But its cure is "the next business day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, legal holiday, or day on which the state or local government office is closed", which reads as if an office is always in the picture. We found no decision either way. So the tool shows day 45 as your deadline and mentions this subsection when day 45 falls on a Saturday or Sunday; it does not check legal holidays. Do not treat the extra day as safe, and plan to give the notice by day 45. Subsection F makes any day on which the Governor authorizes the closing of state government a legal holiday too. Subsections B and C, which also move deadlines, are limited to judicial proceedings and to the time for bringing a legal action.

The security deposit and any deductions, damages, and charges shall be itemized by the landlord in a written notice given to the tenant, together with any amount due to the tenant

The statute names what is itemized (the deposit, the deductions, the damages and the charges) and nothing else: it prescribes no headings, no receipts and no photographs for this notice. Listing every amount kept under the category it falls in, and showing the arithmetic down to the amount returned, is a practice we suggest; the text does not require it. The verb is "given": under the Act a person "gives" a notice "by taking steps reasonably calculated to inform another person, whether or not the other person actually comes to know of it" (§ 55.1-1200). After a move-out inspection, subsection G also calls for "a written security deposit disposition statement, including an itemized list of damages"; on our reading one document can serve both.

Upon termination of the tenancy or the date the tenant vacates the dwelling unit, whichever occurs last, such security deposit, whether it is property or money held by the landlord as security as provided in this section, may be applied by the landlord solely to (i) the payment of accrued rent, including the reasonable charges for late payment of rent specified in the rental agreement; (ii) the payment of the amount of damages that the landlord has suffered by reason of the tenant's noncompliance with § 55.1-1227, less reasonable wear and tear; (iii) other damages or charges as provided in the rental agreement; or (iv) actual damages for breach of the rental agreement pursuant to § 55.1-1251.

"Solely" makes this a closed list of four; the one other use the section allows is the subsection C withholding for a balance the tenant owes a third-party utility provider (subsection A’s retention of the balance after an early termination is covered under "Applying the deposit by the same day"). Item (iv) is limited by § 55.1-1251: lost rent may be claimed only until the term ends or a new tenancy begins, whichever comes first, the landlord’s duty to mitigate is preserved, and a post-possession judgment may not be for accelerated rent through the end of the term (see that rule). Item (iii) leans on the lease, within limits: a lease term that § 55.1-1208(A) forbids is unenforceable (§ 55.1-1208(B)), and "no landlord shall require a tenant to pay any fee for the maintenance or repair of any dwelling unit" unless the tenant’s violation of a requirement of the Act made it necessary (§ 55.1-1208(C)). "Reasonable wear and tear" is not defined anywhere in the Act, and we found no Virginia decision that defines it; this page does not supply a definition or a list. Late charges must be in the written lease and are capped at the lesser of 10 percent of the periodic rent or 10 percent of the remaining balance (§ 55.1-1204(E)). The tenant may not treat the deposit as an immediate credit against unpaid rent when the tenancy ends (§ 55.1-1226(C)).

(ii) the payment of the amount of damages that the landlord has suffered by reason of the tenant's noncompliance with § 55.1-1227, less reasonable wear and tear

The phrase appears twice in the Act: here, and in § 55.1-1233, which requires a tenant at the end of the tenancy to leave the premises "in good and clean order, reasonable wear and tear excepted". Neither gives a definition or examples, and this page does not supply either. Where a charge turns on whether something was wear and tear, the move-in report (§ 55.1-1214) and the record of the move-out inspection are the documents that show what changed.

A landlord shall not charge a tenant for late payment of rent unless such charge is provided for in the written rental agreement. No such late charge shall exceed the lesser of 10 percent of the periodic rent or 10 percent of the remaining balance due and owed by the tenant.

The deposit section allows "the reasonable charges for late payment of rent specified in the rental agreement"; this subsection sets the ceiling on them. Manufactured home lot rentals have the same ceiling (§ 55.1-1302(F)).

Unless necessitated by the tenant's violation of a requirement of this chapter, no landlord shall require a tenant to pay any fee for the maintenance or repair of any dwelling unit.

On our reading this limits what "other damages or charges as provided in the rental agreement" can cover: a lease charge for routine maintenance or repair is a fee this subsection bars unless the tenant’s violation made the work necessary. We found no Virginia decision reading the two provisions together.

In the event that damages to the premises exceed the amount of the security deposit and require the services of a third-party contractor, the landlord shall give written notice to the tenant advising him of that fact within the 45-day period required by subsection A. If notice is given as prescribed in this subsection, the landlord shall have an additional 15-day period to provide an itemization of the damages and the cost of repair.

All three conditions are needed: the damages exceed the deposit, they require a third-party contractor, and the written notice saying so is given within the 45 days. What is extended is "an itemization of the damages and the cost of repair", nothing else. The text does not say when the additional 15 days start; our reading is that they follow day 45, and the tool shows that date labelled as our reading. For one year the number was different: from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024 the additional period was 30 days, under a 2023 act that expired on its own terms. A guide written in that year may still say 30.

However, provided that the landlord has given prior written notice in accordance with this section, the landlord may withhold a reasonable portion of the security deposit to cover an amount of the balance due on the water, sewer, or other utility account that is an obligation of the tenant to a third-party provider under the rental agreement for the dwelling unit, and upon payment of such obligations the landlord shall provide written confirmation to the tenant within 10 days, along with payment to the tenant of any balance otherwise due to the tenant.

The prior written notice must have advised the tenant of the tenant’s rights and obligations under the section, and been given in one of three ways: (i) a termination notice under the Act, (ii) a written notice confirming the vacating date, or (iii) a separate written notice at least 15 days before the disposition of the deposit. If the tenant gives written confirmation that the final utility bill is paid, the deposit is refunded within the 45 days unless there are other authorized deductions; if that confirmation comes after day 45, any remaining balance is due within 10 days of receiving it; and if the landlord learns of the payment some other way, the refund is due within the 45 days. "Reasonable portion" is not defined, and we do not put a number on it. The rule covers only an account the tenant owes a third-party provider; utilities the landlord itself bills through submetering or ratio billing are the subject of § 55.1-1212, not this rule.

No landlord may demand or receive a security deposit, however denominated, in an amount or value in excess of two months' periodic rent.

"However denominated" means a label does not take money out of the cap: refundable money held as security counts whatever the lease calls it. A refundable pet deposit is part of the security deposit by definition (§ 55.1-1200), so it counts. "Periodic rent" is not defined. On our reading "two months’" is a length of time, so the cap is two months’ worth of rent, not two rental periods (the rule for a tenancy with no written lease says "two months of rent" outright, § 55.1-1204(C)(6)); for weekly rent, two rental periods would be about a quarter of the cap. Where rent is not paid monthly, the tool asks for the monthly equivalent, and that conversion is our reading. Insurance premiums the landlord requires can count toward the same two months (see the insurance rule). Taking more than the cap is a failure to comply with the deposit section, so a willful excess falls within the remedy described under the penalty.

"Security deposit" means any refundable deposit of money that is furnished by a tenant to a landlord to secure the performance of the terms and conditions of a rental agreement, as a security for damages to the leased premises, or as a pet deposit. However, such money shall be deemed an application deposit until the commencement date of the rental agreement.

Three things follow. A refundable pet deposit is part of the security deposit: inside the two-month cap and returned under the same rules. Money taken before the tenancy starts is an application deposit under § 55.1-1203 until the commencement date of the rental agreement (the date the tenant is entitled to occupy the unit), and that section has its own refund clock if the applicant does not rent (20 days, or 10 in the cases it names). And the definition does not include a damage insurance or renter’s insurance policy the landlord buys to cover the tenant. Premiums the landlord requires and collects for damage or renter’s insurance are rent, not a security deposit (§ 55.1-1206), though they can count toward the two-month limit (see the insurance rule).

If the landlord requires that such premiums be paid to the landlord prior to the commencement of the tenancy, the total amount of all security deposits, insurance premiums for damage insurance, and insurance premiums for renter's insurance shall not exceed the amount of two months' periodic rent.

Subsection A adds a second limit with no timing words: "the landlord shall not require a tenant to pay both a security deposit and the cost of damage insurance premiums if the total amount of any security deposit and damage insurance premiums exceeds the amount of two months’ periodic rent." A lease term by which the tenant agrees to pay more than that in deposit and premiums before the tenancy begins is a prohibited provision (§ 55.1-1208(A)(7)) and unenforceable, and a landlord who sues to enforce one is liable for the tenant’s actual damages and reasonable attorney fees (§ 55.1-1208(B)). Subsection C lets the landlord add a monthly amount as additional rent to recover further renter’s insurance costs.

"Security deposit" means any refundable deposit of money that is furnished by a tenant to a landlord to secure the performance of the terms and conditions of a rental agreement, as a security for damages to the leased premises, or as a pet deposit.

Three things go with it. The cap reaches a deposit "however denominated", so calling refundable money a "fee" does not take it outside the cap. The first page of a written lease must itemize one-time charges due before the commencement date or included in the first rental payment (§ 55.1-1204.1), and a fee for maintenance or repair may not be required unless the tenant’s violation made it necessary (§ 55.1-1208(C)). And where the Virginia Fair Housing Law applies, no pet fee or deposit, and no additional rent, may be required for an assistance animal (§ 36-96.3:1(A)); that law has exemptions (§ 36-96.2), among them one for an owner of no more than three single-family houses who rents without a broker or agent, on the conditions that section sets, and one for owner-occupied buildings with living quarters for no more than four families. Federal law is outside this page.

Such person shall not be required to pay a pet fee or deposit or any additional rent to maintain an assistance animal in a dwelling, but shall be responsible for any physical damages to the dwelling if residents who maintain pets are responsible for such damages in accordance with such documents or state law.

This is the Virginia Fair Housing Law, not the landlord-tenant Act, and the rule holds where that law applies. It has exemptions of its own (§ 36-96.2), among them one for an owner of no more than three single-family houses who rents without a broker or agent, on the conditions that section sets, and one for owner-occupied buildings with living quarters for no more than four families. "Such person" is a person with a disability, or a person associated with one, who keeps an assistance animal in a dwelling. Federal fair housing rules on assistance animals are outside what this page covers.

The landlord shall make the security deposit disposition within the 45-day time period required by subsection A, but if no forwarding address is provided to the landlord, the landlord may continue to hold such security deposit in escrow.

Nothing in the Act puts a duty on the tenant to give a forwarding address; the word appears only in this subsection. Without one, the written notice is still due by day 45: a notice to the tenant is served at the tenant’s last known place of residence, "which may be the dwelling unit" (§ 55.1-1202(B)). Only the handing over of the money may wait. The deposit section does not say what kind of account "escrow" means here. A year after day 45, a landlord still holding the money for want of an address may remit it to the State Treasurer as unclaimed property (see that rule below).

If a tenant fails to provide a forwarding address to the landlord to enable the landlord to make a refund of the security deposit, upon the expiration of one year from the date of the end of the 45-day time period, the landlord may remit such sum to the State Treasurer as unclaimed property on a form prescribed by the administrator that includes the name; social security number, if known; and last known address of each tenant on the rental agreement.

"May", not "shall": the statute permits the remittance; it does not require it at that point. The tool shows the date one year after day 45. The form must include the name, the social security number if known, and the last known address of each tenant on the lease. Virginia’s general unclaimed property law separately presumes property abandoned when it has gone unclaimed for more than five years after it became payable (§ 55.1-2501); we have not read how that law’s reporting rules apply to a deposit held under this subsection.

Where there is more than one tenant subject to a rental agreement, unless otherwise agreed to in writing by each of the tenants, disposition of the security deposit shall be made with one check being payable to all such tenants and sent to a forwarding address provided by one of the tenants.

This sentence is about how the money is paid; the itemized written notice is still due by day 45 under subsection A. A written agreement by each of the tenants can displace the single cheque. If the tenant has an assignee or sublessee, the landlord may hold a deposit from only one party (§ 55.1-1226(H)).

"Notice" means notice given in writing by either regular mail or hand delivery, with the sender retaining sufficient proof of having given such notice in the form of a certificate of service confirming such mailing prepared by the sender.

This is our reading. The deposit section requires "a written notice", and the Act defines "written notice" separately, as notice given under § 55.1-1202 in any form that can be retrieved and read, on paper or electronic. We do not say which definition a court would apply to the deposit notice. Giving it by regular mail or by hand to the tenant’s last known place of residence, and keeping a certificate of service you prepare yourself, is a course that meets the wording of both definitions. Electronic delivery, which is allowed only if the lease provides for it and the tenant has not chosen paper, meets the wording of "written notice" but not of "notice", which names regular mail or hand delivery.

If the rental agreement so provides, the landlord and tenant may send notices in electronic form; however, any tenant who so requests may elect to send and receive notices in paper form. If electronic delivery is used, the sender shall retain sufficient proof of the electronic delivery, which may be an electronic receipt of delivery, a confirmation that the notice was sent by facsimile, or a certificate of service prepared by the sender confirming the electronic delivery.

Proof can be an electronic receipt of delivery, a confirmation that a fax was sent, or a certificate of service the sender prepares confirming the electronic delivery. Without a lease clause, give the deposit notice on paper.

In the case of the tenant, notice is served at the tenant's last known place of residence, which may be the dwelling unit.

This is where the notice goes when the tenant left no forwarding address: it is still due by day 45, at the tenant’s last known place of residence.

Where such a third party has been designated by the tenant, the landlord shall mail the duplicate copy of any summons issued pursuant to § 8.01-126 or notice to the designated third party at the same time the summons or notice is mailed to or served upon the tenant.

The tenant may designate a third party "to receive duplicate copies ... of written notices from the landlord relating to the tenancy", and a deposit notice is one. The third party gets no standing to challenge the landlord’s actions, and a missed duplicate does not affect the validity of a judgment against the tenant.

Upon request by the landlord to a tenant to vacate, or within five days after receipt of notice by the landlord of the tenant's intent to vacate, the landlord shall provide written notice to the tenant of the tenant's right to be present at the landlord's inspection of the dwelling unit for the purpose of determining the amount of security deposit to be returned. If the tenant desires to be present when the landlord makes the inspection, he shall, in writing, so advise the landlord, who in turn shall notify the tenant of the date and time of the inspection, which must be made within 72 hours of delivery of possession.

The landlord volunteers the notice of the right to attend; the tenant does not have to ask for it. The 72 hours run from "delivery of possession", which is a different event from the two dates that start the 45-day clock. The sentence does not say whether the 72 hours also bind an inspection the tenant did not ask to attend. Inspecting within 72 hours either way meets it on either reading; that is a precaution we suggest, not a rule we found. After the inspection the landlord must provide "a written security deposit disposition statement, including an itemized list of damages". Damage found later can still be recovered from the tenant, but the tenant may put the move-out report in evidence to show it was not there at the inspection.

The landlord shall notify the tenant in writing of any deductions provided by this section to be made from the tenant's security deposit during the course of the tenancy. Such notification shall be made within 30 days of the date of the determination of the deduction and shall itemize the reasons in the same manner as provided in subsection F. No such notification shall be required for deductions made less than 30 days prior to the termination of the rental agreement.

The reasons are itemized "in the same manner as provided in subsection F", the records subsection. A willful failure to give these notices is a failure to comply with the deposit section, which carries the remedy described under the penalty.

4. That on or after January 1, 2015, there shall be no interest due and payable on security deposits of a tenant held under the Virginia Residential Landlord Tenant Act (§ 55-248.2 et seq.) of the Code of Virginia (the Act).

Nothing in the Act today requires interest on a deposit. The 2014 act struck the duty to accrue interest from the deposit section, repealed the interest-rate schedule from January 1, 2015, and added this clause, which never became part of the Code. It names the old Title 55 section numbers. Under § 30-152, renumbering a section in a recodification does not by itself affect an uncodified enactment, which has to be repealed expressly; we have not read the 2019 recodification act’s own enactment clauses to confirm it contains no such repeal. For a tenancy that began in 2015 or later the answer does not depend on that point: no statute in force makes interest accrue. If a real estate licensee holds the deposit in an interest-bearing account, the lease must disclose to the parties how the interest is paid out (18VAC135-20-181(B)(3)).

4. That on or after January 1, 2015, there shall be no interest due and payable on security deposits of a tenant held under the Virginia Residential Landlord Tenant Act (§ 55-248.2 et seq.) of the Code of Virginia (the Act). Any accrued interest due and payable as of December 31, 2014, on security deposits of a tenant held under the Act shall be paid to such tenant no later than 45 days after termination of tenancy and delivery of possession as otherwise provided in § 55-248.15:1 of the Code of Virginia.

The second sentence is still a live duty for a deposit held since before 2015. Under the repealed rate schedule the rate was 0.00% for every year from 2009 through 2014 (5.25% for 2007, 0.75% for 2008), so the amount can be more than zero only for a deposit held since 2008 or earlier; and under the old section no interest was payable at all unless the deposit had been held for more than 13 months. This tool does not compute that amount. The old schedule is printed in the 2014 act linked here.

If a landlord receives prepaid rent, it shall be placed in an escrow account in a federally insured depository authorized to do business in Virginia by the end of the fifth business day following receipt and shall remain in the account until such time as the prepaid rent becomes due.

For the deposit itself this is a finding of absence: the words "trust account", and any form of "commingle", appear nowhere in the Act, and "escrow" appears in the deposit section only where a landlord with no forwarding address "may continue to hold" the deposit. "Rent" in the Act includes "prepaid rent paid more than one month in advance of the rent due date". Whether a payment labelled "last month’s rent" is prepaid rent or a security deposit "however denominated" is not something we found decided, and this page does not classify it. A real estate licensee holding the deposit for a landlord has escrow duties of its own (next rule).

This section shall not preclude the landlord or tenant from recovering other damages to which he may be entitled under this chapter.

For a landlord, this keeps a claim for damage beyond the deposit, or for rent (for example under § 55.1-1251), open. The section says it does not preclude other damages the Act allows, so on our reading such a claim survives even where the deposit must be returned; one Roanoke City circuit court judge read it that way in 2015 (Reed v. Smith), whose opinion binds no other court, and we found no appellate decision on it. For a tenant, it keeps the Act’s other remedies open, including the general action in § 55.1-1259(A).

The Court overrules Tenant’s Motion To Strike for two reasons: (1) under the facts in this case, Landlord’s noncompliance with the VRLTA was not willful; and (2) willfulness notwithstanding, noncompliance with this provision neither relieves a tenant of the obligation to pay rent owed, nor precludes a landlord or tenant from recovering other damages to which they may be entitled under the VRLTA or the lease agreement.

This is a trial court: the Circuit Court of the City of Roanoke, hearing an appeal from the general district court anew. A circuit court opinion binds no other court. It is the only published opinion we found that applies "willfully" to a deposit, and it applied the predecessor section, whose remedy sentence was in substance the same. The facts: the tenant left about a month early, telling the landlord by text, and did not give a forwarding address when asked; the landlord gave no disposition notice and no itemization and sued within days of the tenant leaving. The judge called that "probably negligent" but not willful "under these facts"; the opinion does not define willfulness. On the rent offset, the judge said only that he "would" be obliged to apply the $750 deposit to the $750 of unpaid rent; the award lists the full rent and shows no credit for the deposit, and the opinion does not say what became of it. It decides nothing about what willful means in any other case. What "we found" rests on is a search of CourtListener’s collection of Virginia opinions on November 11 and 12, 2026; that search reaches published opinions only, and the collection does not hold every circuit court opinion.

Unless the landlord asserts, pursuant to subsection B, that the tenant's termination of the rental agreement is unjustified, the landlord shall refund all deposits and rent paid by the tenant to the tenant on or before the fifteenth business day following the day on which (i) the termination notice is delivered to the landlord or (ii) the tenant vacates the dwelling unit, whichever occurs later.

That right needs written notice of intent to terminate within seven days of the date possession was to pass to the tenant, and a landlord who disputes it must say so in writing, with reasons, within 15 business days. The other routes: a tenant who ends the lease for the landlord’s noncompliance (§ 55.1-1234) and a tenancy ended by fire or casualty (§ 55.1-1240) get the deposit back "in accordance with § 55.1-1226"; a tenant who ends the lease because the landlord gave no foreclosure notice gets it "in accordance with law or the provisions of the rental agreement, whichever is applicable" (§ 55.1-1237(B)); where the landlord willfully fails to deliver possession and the tenant ends the lease, the landlord "shall return all prepaid rent and security deposits", with no period stated (§ 55.1-1238); after an unlawful exclusion the court may end the lease and order the landlord to return all of the deposit in accordance with § 55.1-1226 (§ 55.1-1243.1(C)); after a condemnation that followed the tenant’s notice of a code violation, the landlord "shall also return" the deposit, with no period stated (§ 55.1-1243.2); on eviction or voluntary vacating, the deposit is credited to the tenant’s account under § 55.1-1226 (§ 55.1-1251); and money left over from a sale of abandoned property is "treated as a security deposit" under § 55.1-1226 (§§ 55.1-1254, 55.1-1255). The tool computes the ordinary 45-day clock only; for the uninhabitable-unit case it names the fifteen-business-day clock and stops.

The holder of the landlord's interest in the premises at the time of the termination of the tenancy, regardless of how the interest is acquired or transferred, is bound by this section and shall be required to return any security deposit received by the original landlord that is duly owed to the tenant, whether or not such security deposit is transferred with the landlord's interest by law or equity, regardless of any contractual agreements between the original landlord and his successors in interest.

A buyer of rented property is bound for the deposits whether or not the seller hands them over, and a contract between the two does not change that. A real estate licensing statute says the same for a single-family home sold at foreclosure with a tenant in place (§ 54.1-2108.1(A)(3)).

The provisions of this chapter shall apply to occupancy in all single-family and multifamily dwelling units and multifamily dwelling units located in the Commonwealth.

The repeated words "and multifamily dwelling units" are in the statute as printed. Public housing and other housing is covered, but where the Act is inconsistent with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations, those regulations control (§ 55.1-1201(A)); this tool does not cover federal program rules. Commercial leases are under a different chapter of the Code (Chapter 14, nonresidential tenancies). Manufactured home lot rentals use this deposit section too (see that rule).

The following tenancies and occupancies are not residential tenancies under this chapter: 1. Residence at a public or private institution, if incidental to detention or the provision of medical, geriatric, educational, counseling, religious, or similar services; 2. Occupancy by a member of a fraternal or social organization in the portion of a structure operated for the benefit of the organization; 3. Occupancy by an owner of a condominium unit or a holder of a proprietary lease in a cooperative; 4. Occupancy in a campground as defined in § 35.1-1; 5. Occupancy by a tenant who pays no rent pursuant to a rental agreement; 6. Occupancy by an employee of a landlord whose right to occupancy in a multifamily dwelling unit is conditioned upon employment in and about the premises or a former employee whose occupancy continues less than 60 days; 7. Occupancy under a contract of sale of a dwelling unit or the property of which it is a part, if the occupant is the purchaser or a person who succeeds to his interest; or 8. Occupancy in a recovery residence as defined in § 37.2-431.1.

In brief, the eight: residence at an institution incidental to detention or to medical, geriatric, educational, counseling, religious or similar services; a member of a fraternal or social organization in its building; an owner of a condominium unit or a holder of a proprietary lease in a cooperative; a campground; a tenant who pays no rent under the rental agreement; an employee whose occupancy of a multifamily unit depends on working in and about the premises (or a former employee whose occupancy continues less than 60 days); a purchaser in occupancy under a contract of sale; and a recovery residence. For transient lodging (subsection D): a guest who does not live there as a primary residence is outside the Act, a primary residence of 90 consecutive days or less is outside it, and more than 90 consecutive days, or a written lease for more than 90 days, brings it inside.