Virginia Mobile Home Park Laws

Virginia Mobile Home Park Laws — Lot Rent and Evictions (2026)

By Oleg Kachko · Updated August 22, 2026

✓ Law Verified August 2026

Virginia mobile home park laws are their own world: you own the home, you rent the ground, and a separate set of rules, different from ordinary landlord-tenant law, decides what the park can charge, when it can evict, and what happens if the land is sold out from under the whole community. This guide covers those rules in plain English, verified against official Virginia sources as of August 2026.

Virginia Mobile Home Park Laws at a Glance

The law that governs parks Virginia Manufactured Home Lot Rental Act (VMHLRA), Va. Code Title 55.1, Chapter 13, §§ 55.1-1300 through 55.1-1312
Notice before a lot rent increase 60 days. Under § 55.1-1302 the park must give written notice of any change in lease terms, including a lot rent increase, at least 60 days before the current lease term ends; if you object in writing within 30 days of that notice, you may choose not to renew rather than accept the new rent. Effective July 1, 2027 a separate VRLTA amendment moves rent-increase notice to 90 days for rentals it covers, so check which rule your court applies after that date.
Cap on lot rent increases NO CAP. Virginia sets no percentage limit on lot rent increases — unlike New Jersey (3.5 percent) or Oregon (roughly 6 percent). One narrow 2026 limit exists: a park may not raise annual lot rent at renewal, with exceptions, while an unresolved locality notice of zoning, building, or fire code violation or an unresolved habitability inspection report is outstanding against the community.
Eviction notice periods Nonpayment of lot rent — 5 days written pay-or-quit notice (§ 55.1-1245, applied through § 55.1-1311). Material lease or rule violation that can be cured — written notice that the tenancy ends no sooner than 30 days out if you do not remedy within 21 days (the 21/30 notice). Ordinary no-fault termination of a lease of 60 days or more by either side — 60 days written notice (§ 55.1-1308 A). Change in park use — 180 days written notice by certified mail stating the termination date and the reason; that 180-day period cannot be waived in the lease, though a shorter period may be agreed to in a separate written agreement signed after the notice is given (§ 55.1-1308 B). After any notice expires the park must still file an unlawful detainer, win a court order of possession, and have the sheriff serve a writ of eviction.

Why Park Living Has Its Own Rulebook in Virginia

Virginia treats you as a tenant of the LOT only, not of the dwelling — you own the manufactured home and rent the parcel under it. The Act applies to any park where five or more manufactured homes sit on a continual, nonrecreational basis (§ 55.1-1300).

Because moving a home costs thousands and often cannot be done at all, Virginia gives lot tenants protections apartment renters do not get: a mandatory written lease of at least one year that auto-renews (§ 55.1-1302), a 180-day notice if the park changes use, statutory relocation money in redevelopment sales, and resident purchase rights when the park is sold.

Ordinary VRLTA sections (§§ 55.1-1234 through 55.1-1252 and others) are pulled in only where Chapter 13 does not say otherwise (§ 55.1-1311).

Owning the home while renting the ground under it creates a kind of leverage no apartment landlord has: moving a manufactured home typically costs thousands of dollars, and many older homes cannot be moved at all without falling apart.

Lawmakers know that “just move” is not a real option for park residents, which is exactly why Virginia mobile home park laws give lot renters protections apartment tenants never get, limited eviction grounds, longer notice periods, and rules about what happens when the park itself changes hands.

Lot Rent Increases: Your Rights Before You Pay More

Required notice: 60 days. Under § 55.1-1302 the park must give written notice of any change in lease terms, including a lot rent increase, at least 60 days before the current lease term ends; if you object in writing within 30 days of that notice, you may choose not to renew rather than accept the new rent.

Effective July 1, 2027 a separate VRLTA amendment moves rent-increase notice to 90 days for rentals it covers, so check which rule your court applies after that date.

Is there a cap? NO CAP. Virginia sets no percentage limit on lot rent increases — unlike New Jersey (3.5 percent) or Oregon (roughly 6 percent). One narrow 2026 limit exists: a park may not raise annual lot rent at renewal, with exceptions, while an unresolved locality notice of zoning, building, or fire code violation or an unresolved habitability inspection report is outstanding against the community.

Whatever the number on the notice, read it against the rules above before paying. An increase served with short notice, or one that violates a cap where Virginia has one, is challengeable, and park residents who organize respond far more effectively than neighbors acting alone. Many states saw lot-rent fights turn into new legislation in the last two years for exactly this reason.

The Park Cannot Evict You for Just Any Reason

Virginia limits park evictions to: (1) nonpayment of lot rent; (2) violation of a building or housing code, or of a law or lease term materially affecting health, safety, or welfare; (3) two or more lease or park-rule violations within a 6-month period;

and (4) a change in the use of all or part of the park permitted by local zoning (conversion to commercial use, planned unit development, rehabilitation, or demolition).

The park may NOT force you out by self-help — shutting off gas, electricity, or water, or removing your home from the lot, is barred (§ 55.1-1308).

This list matters enormously: it means a park in Virginia cannot simply non-renew you to free up the lot the way an apartment landlord might. If an eviction notice arrives, check it against the legal grounds first, park evictions fail in court most often because the stated reason is not on the list, or the notice skipped a required warning step.

If the Park Sells or Closes

When the park is sold: Under § 55.1-1308.2, if the park owner offers or lists the park for sale to a third party, each tenant must get written notice at least 90 days before the owner accepts an offer, and the owner must consider purchase offers received during that 90-day window.

Once an offer is received, acceptance is contingent on written notice of the proposed sale and purchase price sent to every tenant and to DHCD at least 60 days before closing; during that 60 days the owner must consider a competing offer from an entity documenting that it represents at least 25 percent of tenants holding valid leases.

New § 55.1-1308.3, effective July 1, 2026 (2026 HB375), adds a right of first refusal: a resident entity gets the primary chance to buy on substantially equivalent terms to the third-party offer, with the locality holding a secondary right;

the park owner must give tenants annual written notice of these rights, must notify every tenant and the locality within 5 business days of signing a sales contract, and may not contract with a third party unless the deal is contingent on that notice and opportunity.

The resident entity or locality generally has 60 days after the agreement to obtain financing and close, and a purchaser exercising the right generally must commit to keeping the property a manufactured home park for at least 15 years. You may be able to enforce these rights, but organizing early — before a listing appears — is what makes a resident offer realistic.

When the park closes: 180 days (6 months) written notice by certified mail to each tenant stating the termination date and the reason, whenever the park closes or converts to another use allowed by zoning (§ 55.1-1308 B).

If the termination follows a sale of the park to a buyer who will redevelop it and change its use, § 55.1-1308.1 requires the landlord to pay each manufactured home owner 5000 in relocation expenses within that 180-day period; for parks located in Planning District 8 (Northern Virginia) the figure in the statute is 3500, paid for the purpose of removing the home from the park.

Payment is subject to a written agreement between the landlord and the home owner to remove the home. Virginia has no general statewide relocation trust fund beyond these payments.

Fees the Park Can and Cannot Charge in Virginia

Under § 55.1-1306 a park may NOT demand or collect an entrance fee for the privilege of leasing or occupying a lot, and may NOT collect an exit fee for moving a manufactured home out of the park. Your guests and invitees must have free access to your home site without charge or registration — guest fees are barred.

The park may not take a commission on the sale of a home located in the park unless you expressly hire it for that service, and hiring it can never be a condition of the initial sale or lease. You cannot be restricted in choosing the vendors you buy your home, goods, or services from (narrow exception for the initial lease of a newly constructed lot). Security deposits are capped at two months’ rent (§ 55.1-1302).

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A 2026 amendment requires all charges to be itemized on the first page of the written lot lease, with a statement barring any additional deposit or rent not listed in or incorporated into the agreement. Whether Virginia caps a utility markup above the park’s actual cost is UNVERIFIED — ask the park for the billing method in writing and check the itemization on page one of your lease.

The park’s side of the bargain: Under § 55.1-1303 the park must make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the park in a fit and habitable condition, and must keep all facilities and common areas it provides for the use of tenants of two or more lots in a clean and safe condition.

It must provide reasonable access to electric, water, and sewage disposal connections for each lot, and must give tenants written notice at least 48 hours before any planned disruption of electric, water, or sewage service. It must provide and maintain garbage and waste receptacles as a park facility and arrange for removal of the waste.

If a condition affects life, health, safety, or seriously affects habitability and the park has not begun to address it within 14 days after your written notice, § 55.1-1303 lets many tenants hire a licensed contractor, spend up to 1500 or one month’s rent (whichever is more), and deduct the actual cost from rent — keep receipts and written proof of the notice.

The Trapped-Equity Problem and How to Protect Yourself

The economics of a mobile home park in Virginia are unlike any apartment: you own the home, but moving it typically costs thousands of dollars, often more than an older home is worth, and many parks will not accept a home past a certain age. That is why lot-rent disputes feel so different here: walking away is rarely a real option, and park owners know it.

The law is what balances that power gap, which makes knowing the exact notice rules, fee limits, and eviction grounds in Virginia worth more to a park resident than to almost any other kind of tenant.

Protect yourself the way the long-time residents do: keep every rent notice and rule change in writing, photograph the condition of your lot and the park’s common areas a couple of times a year, and read the community rules before signing anything, in most states the written rules you were given are what a court will hold both sides to.

Selling Your Home Without Losing Its Value

When it is time to leave, most residents sell the home in place rather than move it, and this is where park rules matter most.

Many states limit a park’s power to block an in-place sale: the park can usually screen the buyer the way it screens any new resident, but it generally cannot force you to remove a home just because you are selling, and it cannot demand a cut of your sale price unless it actually acted as your sales agent.

Get the park’s buyer-approval requirements in writing early, keep the lot rent current through the sale, and never sign a rule change mid-sale without reading it, a home that can stay on its lot is worth far more than one that has to be moved.

The Strongest Protection Is the Lot Next Door

Everything about park life is shared, the roads, the water lines, the rent schedule, the fate of the land itself. That is why the single most effective move a park resident in Virginia can make is joining or forming a residents association. A park owner can ignore one complaint about a rent increase; ignoring a letter signed by sixty households is a different decision.

Associations are also how residents use park-sale rights in the states that grant them, organized communities have bought their own parks across the country, usually with help from nonprofit lenders who specialize in exactly this.

Keep your own records the same way any tenant should: the lease for your lot, every rent notice, every rule change, photos of anything the park fails to maintain. Virginia mobile home park laws reward the resident who can show a judge dates and documents, and most disputes never reach a judge once the park realizes you have them.

Recent changes in Virginia: 2026 HB375 (Delegate Krizek) created § 55.1-1308.3, giving resident entities a right of first refusal to buy their park — with localities second in line and a roughly 15-year park-preservation commitment — effective July 1, 2026.

2024 HB1397 rewrote the sale-notice and relocation rules now in §§ 55.1-1308.1 and 55.1-1308.2, setting the 90-day pre-listing notice, the 60-day pre-closing notice, and the 5000 / 3500 Planning District 8 relocation payments.

Virginia lawmakers have repeatedly declined to enact a lot-rent percentage cap; the 2026 session instead barred renewal rent increases at communities with unresolved code or habitability violations, and a 90-day rent-increase notice takes effect for VRLTA rentals on July 1, 2027 — check with your court or a legal aid office on which notice period applies to your lease.

Virginia Mobile Home Park Laws: Quick Answers

Can the park raise lot rent whenever it wants? The Virginia mobile home park laws above set the notice rules, and any cap, that apply before an increase is valid.

Can the park make me remove my home? Only for the legal grounds listed in the Virginia mobile home park laws, and only through the court process, never by padlock or tow truck.

Do apartment tenant rights apply to me? Partly. The Virginia mobile home park laws are their own chapter, and this page plus the state guides linked below cover both layers.

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Official Virginia Sources & Resources

Making Virginia Mobile Home Park Laws Work for You

The Virginia mobile home park laws only protect residents who use them, and parks count on most residents never reading the act. Read your lot lease against this page, calendar every notice deadline the moment a letter arrives, and talk to your neighbors, nearly every protection in the Virginia mobile home park laws gets stronger when residents act together.

If the park ignores the rules, the state agency and local legal aid both handle park disputes, and a written complaint citing the act gets a very different response than a phone call. Under the Virginia mobile home park laws, the resident with documents and neighbors is never as trapped as the park hopes.

This guide to virginia mobile home park laws was last verified against official sources in August 2026. Lot-rent caps and park-sale laws are moving fast in many states, re-check before acting on a deadline.

More Virginia Tenant Rights Guides

Disclaimer: This guide is informational only and is not legal advice. Landlord-tenant laws change and vary by city and county within a state. Verify current rules with your state, your local court, or a free legal-aid office before acting. If you are facing eviction, contact a local tenant attorney or legal-aid organization right away.

Renting? Protect your belongings — compare renters insurance at Home Insure Guide. Divorce involving a lease? See Divorce Help Guide. Unsafe housing / toxic mold injury? Some cases qualify — see Mass Tort Info.