Virginia Property Management Fees: What Managers Charge in 2026
What property management costs in Virginia
Property managers in Virginia quote 8%–12% of collected rent. On Virginia’s average apartment rent of $2,017, 10% works out to $202 a month, or $2,420 a year before a single lease is signed.
The arithmetic on a Virginia rental
| Percentage manager at 10% | Ziprent flat | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly management | $202/mo | $199/mo |
| Twelve months of management | $2,420 | $2,388 |
| Tenant placement, one lease | $1,513 | $1,500 |
| Year one, one lease signed | $3,933 | $3,888 |
At Virginia’s average apartment rent the two come out close to a wash in year one — within $45 of each other. The difference shows up in year two and beyond, when the percentage fee tracks every rent increase and $199 does not.
The break-even point is $1,990 a month: above that rent, 10% of rent costs more than $199.
Three years, one tenancy, no rent increase
A three-year view is fairer than a twelve-month one, because placement is a one-time charge and management is not. At $2,017 a month in Virginia, held flat:
| Model | Three-year total | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| 10% of rent + placement | $8,774 | Excludes the two lease renewals a local firm would also bill on top. |
| Ziprent $199 flat + $1,500 placement + 2 renewals | $9,164 | Fixed. Includes both $250 renewals. |
| ZipGuarantee $250 flat | $9,000 | Fixed. Placement and renewals already included. |
Add-ons sit outside those figures. The ones that recur in Virginia are vacancy fee ($50-$100 per month), inspection fee ($50-$100 per inspection) and eviction fee ($200-$500 plus court costs), and they are absent from a Ziprent bill.
The fees underneath the headline percentage
Ask any Virginia manager for their fee schedule and the percentage is line one of several. The rest of the schedule tends to read like this.
| Fee | What it costs here |
|---|---|
| Monthly management | 8%–12% of collected rent |
| Tenant placement | 50%-100% of one month’s rent (roughly $1,009-$2,017 at Virginia’s average), or a flat $250-$500 at some firms |
| Lease renewal | $200-$250 per renewal, or a percentage of one month’s rent |
| Account setup | $100-$300 per unit |
| Maintenance markup | 10%-15% markup on vendor invoices |
| Also commonly charged | vacancy fee ($50-$100 per month); inspection fee ($50-$100 per inspection); eviction fee ($200-$500 plus court costs) |
Against that list Ziprent bills management at $199 a month, $1,500 per signed lease and $250 per renewal. Setup, vacancy and maintenance markups do not appear. ZipGuarantee at $250 a month takes the placement and renewal lines off the invoice.
What Virginia requires of landlords
Managing someone else’s rental for a fee in Virginia is licensed activity: Va. Code 54.1-2100 defines a real estate broker to include a person who, for compensation, leases or offers to lease, or rents or offers for rent, any real estate for others, and Va. Code 54.1-2106.1 provides that no individual shall act as a broker without a real estate broker’s license from the Real Estate Board, so an unlicensed manager is operating illegally. Va. Code 54.1-2135 then regulates the management contract itself — for residential property the property management agreement must be in writing and must state the management fees and how they are paid, the services to be rendered, and a definite termination date, and an agreement with no termination date automatically expires 90 days after it is made. The Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, Va. Code 55.1-1200 et seq., governs the tenancy, and 55.1-1226 caps the security deposit at two months’ periodic rent and requires an itemized written notice with any refund within 45 days after the tenant vacates.
What to ask a Virginia manager before signing
- Is the quoted 10% charged on rent collected or rent due, and do you bill in a vacant month?
- Managers here commonly charge for vacancy fee ($50-$100 per month), inspection fee ($50-$100 per inspection) and eviction fee ($200-$500 plus court costs) — which of those do you charge, when do they trigger, and are any capped?
- Is maintenance coordination inside the monthly fee, or billed against the invoice?
Ziprent’s pricing in Virginia
| Plan | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Management | $199 / month | Rent collection, maintenance coordination, inspections, day-to-day handling of the tenancy. |
| Tenant placement | $1,500 per lease | Marketing, showings, screening, lease preparation. Charged only when a lease is signed. |
| Lease renewal | $250 per renewal | Re-screening and paperwork when a sitting tenant renews. Not charged on ZipGuarantee. |
| ZipGuarantee | $250 / month | Management plus unlimited tenant placement and lease renewals folded into the monthly fee. |
All four are flat. None is a share of rent, so what you pay does not climb every time the rent does. At Virginia’s average apartment rent, ZipGuarantee at $3,000 a year covers management, placement and renewals against roughly $3,933 for a 10% manager billing placement separately.
Virginia property management fee questions
How much do property managers charge in Virginia?
Is a flat fee cheaper than a percentage in Virginia?
What does tenant placement cost in Virginia?
What is the average rent in Virginia?
More on Virginia
Every Virginia market we cover · Property management fees by market · Ziprent pricing
Fee breakdowns for other markets
Washington · Nebraska · Utah
Sources
Rents: RentCafe, August 2026. Local and state requirements: Virginia Law. Fee percentages and add-on charges are drawn from published fee schedules and industry survey data for this market, and are given as ranges because practice varies between firms.