Virginia Lease Fee Itemization Law 2025: Itemized Charges Must Start on the First Page of the Lease

The itemization has to begin on the first page of the written rental agreement, not simply appear somewhere within the document.

[Cite: Va. Code 55.1-1204.1, as amended by H.B. 2430, 2025 Va. Acts of Assembly, c. 567]

That specific placement requirement directly addresses a real problem: a tenant who has to dig through pages of lease boilerplate to find the actual financial terms is at a real disadvantage compared to one who sees the complete cost picture immediately upon opening the document.

The required itemization covers the security deposit amount, the rent due per payment period, and any one-time charges due before the tenancy begins or included in the first payment.

[Cite: Va. Code 55.1-1204.1]

Those 3 categories together capture what a tenant actually needs to understand their full upfront and ongoing financial obligation; a landlord can't satisfy this requirement by listing only the rent amount while leaving one-time move-in charges scattered elsewhere in the lease.

The lease has to state that no additional security deposits or rent will be charged unless they're listed in the itemization or incorporated later through a separate addendum.

[Cite: Va. Code 55.1-1204.1]

That specific language does real work; it's not just a disclosure of what charges exist, it's an affirmative commitment that the itemization is the complete list, closing off the possibility of a landlord later claiming an undisclosed charge was somehow always part of the agreement.

The statute does allow additional security deposits or rent to be added later through a separate addendum after the rental agreement is executed.

[Cite: Va. Code 55.1-1204.1]

That exception gives landlords legitimate flexibility for genuinely new charges arising after lease signing; it isn't a loophole for avoiding the upfront itemization requirement by deliberately listing fewer charges at signing and adding the rest through addenda immediately afterward, which would undermine the provision's purpose.

This itemization requirement applies to new leases and lease renewals alike.

[Cite: Va. Code 55.1-1204.1]

A landlord renewing an existing tenant's lease has to include this same first-page itemization in the renewal document, even if the original lease predates this requirement; the obligation attaches at the point of signing, whether that's an entirely new tenancy or a renewal of an existing one.

Since the itemization has to begin on the first page specifically, a landlord's existing lease template, built with other content occupying that first page, likely needs structural redesign rather than just inserting a new paragraph somewhere convenient.

[Cite: Va. Code 55.1-1204.1]

A landlord who simply adds a itemization section wherever space allows in an existing template, without actually moving it to the first page, hasn't met this requirement; the placement itself is a defined, non-negotiable element of compliance.

The itemization requirement covers one-time charges due before the tenancy begins or included in the first payment, which requires a landlord to have fully identified every such charge before presenting the lease for signature.

[Cite: Va. Code 55.1-1204.1]

A landlord who typically adds move-in charges informally after lease signing, an administrative fee decided later, a pet fee added once a tenant mentions a pet, needs to shift that process earlier, identifying and itemizing those charges before the lease is finalized rather than after.

This itemization requirement arrived in the same general legislative period as Virginia's fee-free payment option requirement and its screening disclosure rules.

[Cite: Va. Code 55.1-1204.1; Va. Code 55.1-1204(J); Va. Code 55.1-1203]

A property manager should recognize this as part of a broader push toward requiring landlords to disclose financial terms clearly and upfront, across several different points in the landlord-tenant relationship, rather than treating this first-page itemization as an isolated requirement.

A landlord managing multiple similar units benefits from standardizing the itemization format and content across comparable leases, rather than customizing the structure for each individual tenant.

[Cite: Va. Code 55.1-1204.1]

A consistent, standardized itemization template reduces the risk of a formatting or placement error slipping into any individual lease, and it also simplifies internal review and staff training compared to a process where each lease's itemization is built from scratch.

Because the statute requires both the itemization and the affirmative no-additional-charges language, a tenant facing an unexpected fee not listed in that original itemization has a clear, statutory basis to challenge it.

[Cite: Va. Code 55.1-1204.1]

A landlord should understand this provision as creating real downstream exposure for any charge collected that wasn't properly itemized at signing or added through a proper post-execution addendum; the itemization isn't just a disclosure formality, it functions as the agreed ceiling on what can be charged.

The practical starting point is reviewing current lease templates specifically for where the required itemization appears, and restructuring the document if that itemization isn't genuinely positioned starting on the first page.

Building a standardized pre-signing checklist that captures every one-time charge before the lease is presented for signature keeps the itemization genuinely complete at the point of signing, rather than incomplete and later supplemented informally.