How Much Can a Landlord Charge for a Security Deposit in Virginia?

Two months’ periodic rent: the limit in § 55.1-1226(A)

The limit is the first sentence of Virginia’s deposit section:

No landlord may demand or receive a security deposit, however denominated, in an amount or value in excess of two months' periodic rent. Va. Code § 55.1-1226(A)

“However denominated” means a label does not take money out of the limit: refundable money held as security counts whatever the lease calls it. In dollars, at two example rents:

The limit column is the statute’s two months applied to the monthly figure, worked out by the same calculation the Virginia tool runs. For weekly rent, both the conversion to a monthly figure and the reading of the limit as two months’ worth of rent are ours.

Two months’ worth of rent, not two rental periods

The Act does not define “periodic rent”. On our reading “two months’” is a length of time, so the limit 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), below), which is one reason we read it that way.

The difference shows only where rent is not paid by the month. At $300.00 a week, two rental periods would be $600.00, about a quarter of the $2,600.00 our reading gives. Where rent is not paid monthly, the Virginia tool asks for the monthly equivalent, and that conversion is our reading too.

What counts toward the two months?

The Act defines a security deposit, and the definition does most of the work:

"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. Va. Code § 55.1-1200 ("Security deposit")

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 months (below).

Pet deposits and pet fees

A refundable pet deposit is part of the security deposit by definition (§ 55.1-1200), so it counts toward the two months and is returned under the same rules as the rest of the deposit. Calling refundable money a “fee” does not take it outside the limit, which reaches a deposit “however denominated”.

A nonrefundable pet fee is not a "refundable deposit", so the definition of a security deposit does not reach it, and the Act neither caps nor forbids one in terms. That is all we say about it: we found nothing that decides whether a given fee is lawful.

For an assistance animal, no pet fee or deposit, and no additional rent, may be required where the Virginia Fair Housing Law applies; that law has exemptions (next section).

Assistance animals

Virginia’s Fair Housing Law, not the landlord-tenant Act, sets this rule:

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. Va. Code § 36-96.3:1(A)

“Such person” is a person with a disability, or a person associated with one, who keeps an assistance animal in a dwelling. Where the Virginia Fair Housing Law applies, no pet fee or deposit, and no additional rent, may be required to keep the animal, but the tenant is responsible for physical damage to the dwelling if residents who keep pets are responsible for such damage. 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 fair housing rules on assistance animals are outside what this page covers.

Insurance premiums

Insurance premiums the landlord requires can share the two months with the deposit, under two separate rules. The first applies where the premiums must be paid before the tenancy begins:

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. Va. Code § 55.1-1206(C)

The second, in subsection A of the same section, has no timing words: a landlord may not require a tenant to pay both a security deposit and damage insurance premiums that together exceed 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 also lets the landlord add a monthly amount as additional rent to recover further renter’s insurance costs.

A landlord may also let a tenant provide damage insurance instead of paying a deposit, if the coverage meets five criteria:

The landlord may permit a tenant to provide damage insurance coverage in lieu of the payment of a security deposit. Such damage insurance in lieu of a security deposit shall conform to the following criteria: 1. The provider of damage insurance is licensed or approved by the Virginia State Corporation Commission; 2. The coverage is effective upon the payment of the first premium and remains effective for the entire lease term; 3. The coverage provided per claim is no less than the amount the landlord requires for security deposits; 4. The provider of damage insurance agrees to approve or deny payment of a claim; and 5. The provider of damage insurance shall notify the landlord within 10 days if the damage policy lapses or is canceled. Va. Code § 55.1-1226(I)

The tenant may switch to paying the full deposit at any time without the landlord’s consent, and the landlord may not change the terms of the lease because of it (§ 55.1-1226(J)). Premiums the landlord requires and collects for damage or renter’s insurance are rent, not a security deposit (§ 55.1-1206), but they count toward the two months in the cases above.

Money taken before the tenancy starts

The definition’s second sentence matters at signing. 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. That section has its own refund clock if the applicant does not rent: 20 days, or 10 in the cases it names.

If no written lease is offered

If the landlord does not offer a written rental agreement, the tenancy exists by operation of law on terms the statute sets, one of which is a deposit of no more than two months of rent.

6. The landlord may collect a security deposit in an amount that does not exceed a total amount equal to two months of rent Va. Code § 55.1-1204(C)(6)

The same subsection fixes the other terms of such a tenancy: twelve months, with rent in twelve equal periodic installments due on the first of each month and late if not paid by the fifth.

The lease: the fee disclosure, and how the deposit is paid

The first-page fee disclosure

The first page of a written lease must itemize the security deposit, the rent per payment period and any one-time charges due before the commencement date or included in the first rental payment, under a sentence the statute prescribes.

A landlord shall provide, beginning on the first page of the written rental agreement, an itemization of all charges to the tenant that comprise (i) the security deposit, (ii) the amount of rent due per payment period pursuant to the lease period, and (iii) any additional one-time charges due prior to the commencement date of the rental agreement or that will be included in the first rental payment. Immediately above the itemized list of charges, the written rental agreement shall state: No additional security deposits or rent shall be charged unless they are listed below or incorporated into this agreement by way of a separate addendum after execution of this rental agreement. Va. Code § 55.1-1204.1

This section states no remedy of its own. The rule for manufactured home lot rentals words the sentence slightly differently and adds statutory damages of $500 per occurrence for collecting an unlisted charge (§ 55.1-1302(B)); that remedy is not in this section.

How the deposit is paid

The Act has no exemption for an owner of only a few rental houses, but some individual rules still turn on how many units a landlord has: card payments, for one (§ 55.1-1204(J)(2)). This page does not summarize subsection J. Read it in § 55.1-1204 before setting up how you take the deposit; that page prints two versions of the section, and the first is the one in force.

Manufactured home lots

For manufactured home lot rentals, the deposit rules are the same § 55.1-1226, except that on an automatic renewal for a year-round resident the deposit may not be increased and no additional deposit may be required.

Except as limited by subsection C, the provisions of § 55.1-1226 shall govern the terms and conditions of security deposits for rental agreements under this chapter. Va. Code § 55.1-1302(E)

The lot-rental chapter also has its own fee disclosure rule (§ 55.1-1302(B)) and the same late-charge ceiling as the Act (§ 55.1-1302(F)). This page does not otherwise cover lot rentals, and the Virginia tool does not compute a deposit return for one.

A deposit above the limit

Taking more than the limit is a failure to comply with the deposit section, so a willful excess falls within that section’s remedy:

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, unless the tenant owes rent to the landlord, in which case the court shall order an amount equal to the security deposit credited against the rent due to the landlord. Va. Code § 55.1-1226(E)

If the tenant owes rent, the statute directs an amount equal to the deposit credited against the rent due; it does not say whether actual damages and attorney fees are still awarded then. “Willfully” is not defined. The only published opinion we found that applies it to a deposit is one Roanoke City circuit court judge’s decision in 2015, Reed v. Smith, a trial-court opinion that binds no other court. The section has no multiplier, and in its own words its remedy “shall not preclude the landlord or tenant from recovering other damages”. The deadline guide covers the same remedy where the notice at the end of the tenancy is late.

Willfulness is the gate for that order, not for every claim. Separately, another section of the Act, on a tenant ending the lease for the landlord’s noncompliance, also lets a tenant recover damages for a landlord’s noncompliance with the rental agreement or the Act, and reasonable attorney fees unless the landlord proves its actions were reasonable under the circumstances; that text has no willfulness requirement.

In addition, the tenant may recover damages and obtain injunctive relief for noncompliance by the landlord with the provisions of the rental agreement or of this chapter. The tenant shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorney fees unless the landlord proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the landlord's actions were reasonable under the circumstances. Va. Code § 55.1-1234

Taking more than the limit is a failure to comply with the deposit section, so on our reading an excess that was not willful may still be claimed under Va. Code § 55.1-1234, with damages and attorney fees. We found no decision on whether it applies to a deposit violation.

Two other remedies sit beside these. Where the excess comes from a lease term on insurance premiums, a landlord who sues to enforce that term is liable for the tenant’s actual damages and reasonable attorney fees (§ 55.1-1208(B)). And anyone adversely affected by an act or omission the Act prohibits may sue the person responsible in circuit court for an injunction and damages (§ 55.1-1259(A)); that subsection does not require willfulness.

City and county rules

The Act applies in every Virginia locality, a locality may not modify it, and it supersedes all other local ordinances or regulations on landlord and tenant relations and the leasing of residential property (§ 55.1-1201(A), (E)). In 1987 the Supreme Court of Virginia held the dead-bolt provisions of an Arlington County ordinance pre-empted. It relied on the Act’s purposes clause of the time ("a single body of law"), which is no longer in the Act, on the predecessor of today’s supersession sentence, and on a direct conflict with a specific statute. The case was not about deposits. One loose end: the Alexandria city charter still gives that city power to pass its own deposit ordinance; we found no ordinance using it, and whether the power survives the Act is a lawyer’s question. Municode lists 163 Virginia entries. Four have no code hosted there (Ashland, Augusta County, Orange County, and a statewide manual that is not a local code). We checked the other 159 for "security deposit" and "damage deposit", singular and plural: 158 through Municode’s search, and Newport News, where that search returns nothing for any word, by checking the full text of its code for the same phrases. Forty-two codes had hits, and we read every hit that mentioned a tenant, landlord, rental, lease, dwelling or apartment (18 of the 42 codes). None was a local tenant-deposit rule: they were utility service deposits and liens, cable television rules, fee schedules, a Fairfax County condominium-conversion rule, and Alexandria’s charter section and Landlord-Tenant Relations Board. Codes not hosted on Municode, including those of Arlington, Loudoun and James City counties and of Fredericksburg, Staunton and Lexington, and the three listed there without a code, were not searched, so the finding is none in the 159 codes we checked, not none in Virginia.

A pending bill (SB349)

SB349, a bill continued to the 2027 session, would cut the limit to one month as introduced, and the bill summary on the Legislature’s bill site describes that version. A substitute offered in the Senate committee on February 11, 2026 would keep the two-month limit; the bill’s history records it as offered, not as adopted. Neither text is law. The law changes page sets out both.

Work out a Virginia deposit return

How much you may collect is the start of the tenancy. At the end, the free Virginia deposit tool works out day 45 from the later of the termination date of the tenancy and the date the tenant vacated, warns if the deposit, any refundable pet deposit and any insurance premiums you required come to more than two months’ rent, and generates a statute-cited return letter, all in your browser with nothing stored. The deadline guide goes through the 45 days, what may come out of the deposit is in the deductions guide, and interest is in the interest guide.

Virginia security deposit limits: common questions

What is the maximum security deposit a landlord can charge in Virginia?

Two months’ periodic rent. A landlord may not demand or receive a security deposit, however it is labelled, of more than that. "Periodic rent" is not defined; on our reading the cap is two months’ worth of rent, not two rental periods, which matters where rent is paid weekly. A refundable pet deposit is part of the security deposit by definition, so it counts. Insurance premiums can count too: where the landlord requires them to be paid to the landlord before the tenancy begins, all security deposits and damage and renter’s insurance premiums together may not exceed two months’ periodic rent, and a landlord may not require both a deposit and damage insurance premiums that together exceed that amount. If the landlord offers no written lease, the terms the statute then sets include a deposit of no more than two months of rent. (Va. Code §§ 55.1-1226(A), 55.1-1200, 55.1-1206(A), (C), 55.1-1204(C)(6))

How is the Virginia deposit limit worked out when rent is paid weekly?

"Periodic rent" is not defined. On our reading "two months’" is a length of time, so the limit 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 limit. Converting weekly rent to a monthly figure is our reading too: at $300.00 a week, 52 weeks spread over 12 months comes to $1,300.00 a month, so on our reading the limit is $2,600.00, not $600.00. (Va. Code § 55.1-1226(A))

Does a pet deposit count toward the two-month limit in Virginia?

A refundable pet deposit does. The Act defines a security deposit as any refundable deposit of money the tenant furnishes to secure the rental agreement, as security for damages, or as a pet deposit, so a refundable pet deposit is inside the two-month cap and is returned under the same rules. A nonrefundable pet fee is not a "refundable deposit", so the definition does not reach it, and the Act neither caps nor forbids one in terms; we found nothing that decides whether a given fee is lawful. A label does not move money out of the cap, which reaches a deposit "however denominated": refundable money called a fee still counts. Where the Virginia Fair Housing Law applies, no pet fee or deposit, and no additional rent, may be required for an assistance animal; 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 answer. (Va. Code §§ 55.1-1200, 55.1-1226(A), 36-96.3:1(A), 36-96.2)

Can a Virginia landlord charge a pet deposit for an assistance animal?

Where the Virginia Fair Housing Law applies, no pet fee or deposit, and no additional rent, may be required to keep an assistance animal in a dwelling. That rule is in the Fair Housing Law, not the landlord-tenant Act, and it protects a person with a disability, or a person associated with one, who keeps an assistance animal. The tenant is still responsible for physical damage to the dwelling if residents who keep pets are responsible for such damage. The Fair Housing 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 fair housing rules on assistance animals are outside what we cover. (Va. Code §§ 36-96.3:1(A), 36-96.2)

Do insurance premiums count toward the Virginia security deposit limit?

They can. If the landlord requires insurance premiums to be paid to the landlord before the tenancy begins, all security deposits, damage insurance premiums and renter’s insurance premiums together may not exceed two months’ periodic rent. Separately, a landlord may not require a tenant to pay both a security deposit and damage insurance premiums that together exceed that amount. 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 and unenforceable. (Va. Code §§ 55.1-1206(A), (C), 55.1-1208(A)(7))

What happens if a Virginia landlord charges more than the deposit limit?

Taking more than the limit is a failure to comply with the deposit section, so a willful excess falls within that section’s remedy: the court must order the whole deposit returned to the tenant, with actual damages and reasonable attorney fees. If the tenant owes rent, the statute directs an amount equal to the deposit credited against the rent due; it does not say whether actual damages and attorney fees are still awarded then. "Willfully" is not defined, and the only published opinion we found that applies it to a deposit is one Roanoke City circuit court judge’s 2015 decision (Reed v. Smith), which binds no other court. The section has no multiplier. Willfulness is the gate for that order, not for every claim: another section of the Act, on a tenant ending the lease for the landlord’s noncompliance, also lets a tenant recover damages for a landlord’s noncompliance with the rental agreement or the Act, and reasonable attorney fees unless the landlord proves its actions were reasonable under the circumstances, and that text has no willfulness requirement. We found no decision on whether it applies to a deposit violation. (Va. Code §§ 55.1-1226(A), (E), 55.1-1234)

Is Virginia changing its security deposit law in 2027?

Nothing enacted changes the deposit section itself. Changes already enacted for 2027 touch other sections of the Act; four bear on rules used here: fire or casualty (§ 55.1-1240, January 1, 2027), the notice section (§ 55.1-1202, July 1, 2027; how a notice is given does not change), tenant records (§ 55.1-1209, July 1, 2027), and applications (§ 55.1-1203, July 1, 2027: before requesting or collecting any payment or information, a landlord must tell the applicant the amount of any fee or application deposit and whether it is refundable). The guide linked below sets them out. The only bill we found in the 2027 session that names the deposit section is SB349, a 2026 bill that a Senate committee continued to the 2027 session on February 11, 2026; it is not law. As introduced, which is the version the bill summary on the Legislature’s bill site describes, it would set a one-month cap, a 30-day deadline and a separate pet deposit. A substitute offered in the Senate committee on February 11, 2026, which the bill’s history records as offered and not as adopted, does none of those. As that substitute reads, it would change "may be applied" to "shall be applied"; bar applying the deposit to professional services, or to materials and labor by the landlord or the landlord’s employee, unless the cost is reasonably necessary to return the unit to its condition at the start of the rental agreement, less reasonable wear and tear, and the landlord gives the tenant a receipt; cut the notice for deductions during a tenancy from 30 days to 15; cut the contractor extension from 15 days to 10; and reletter every subsection after A; under it the two-month cap and the 45 days would not change. Until a version passes, SB349 changes nothing on this site. (SB349, 2026 Regular Session, continued to 2027; Va. Code §§ 55.1-1226, 55.1-1240, 55.1-1202, 55.1-1209, 55.1-1203)

Sources

• Va. Code § 55.1-1226(A): the two-month limit
• Va. Code § 55.1-1200 ("Security deposit"): what a security deposit is, pet deposits and application deposits
• Va. Code § 36-96.3:1(A): assistance animals
• Va. Code §§ 55.1-1206(A), (C), 55.1-1208(A)(7): insurance premiums and the two months
• Va. Code § 55.1-1226(I), (J): damage insurance in place of a deposit
• Va. Code § 55.1-1204(C)(6): no written lease offered
• Va. Code § 55.1-1204.1: the first-page fee disclosure
• Va. Code § 55.1-1302(C), (E): manufactured home lots
• Va. Code § 55.1-1226(E): the remedy for a willful failure
• Reed v. Smith, 90 Va. Cir. 220 (Roanoke City Cir. Ct. 2015) (a trial court; binds no other court): one judge’s reading of “willfully”
• Va. Code § 55.1-1234: a tenant’s damages and attorney fees for a landlord’s noncompliance, with no willfulness requirement in the text
• Va. Code § 55.1-1259(A): the general action for an injunction and damages
• Va. Code § 55.1-1201(A), (E): local rules and supersession
• SB349 (2026 session, continued to 2027), Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; pre-tenancy fees: a pending bill, not law
• The Virginia security deposit tool and full cited rules

About this page

Every quoted passage above comes from the same rules the Virginia tool runs on, and the dollar figures are computed by the same code. The statutes are on an automated weekly watch. Where a sentence gives our reading rather than the text, it says so, and where it relies on a court, it names which court and what kind it is. How we verify the law explains the process. This is general information that cites the law, not legal advice, and Orygn LLC is not a law firm. For advice about your situation, talk to a licensed Virginia attorney.