Richmond Landlord & Rental Property Blog

Renting in an HOA or Condo Community in Richmond: What Residents Should Know

If you rent in a Richmond-area community with an HOA, condo association, or another community association, your lease may not be the only set of day-to-day rules that affects the home. The association may control parking, common areas, exterior changes, pools, clubhouses, gates, ...

What Is Virginia Form R-5? What Nonresident Rental Owners Need to Know

Virginia Form R-5 is easy to confuse with several other filings that can affect an out-of-state rental owner. It is a Virginia Tax registration connected to rental payments made to nonresident payees, not a resident-agent appointment and not an LLC registered-agent filing. For ow...

Storm Readiness for Richmond Renters: What to Do Before, During, and After Severe Weather

Storms put rental properties under stress quickly. In Richmond Metro, heavy rain, wind, falling limbs, and power outages can expose drainage, roofing, moisture, and system weaknesses that were manageable under normal conditions. The most useful preparation starts with two questio...

Is the 1% Maintenance Rule Still Useful for Richmond Rental Properties?

The 1% maintenance rule is still useful for Richmond rental owners, but only as a starting point. The rule says to reserve roughly 1% of a property's value each year for maintenance. That is simple enough to help with an early budget, but it is too blunt to become the propert...

Before You Repair a Pre-1978 Rental: The Lead Paint Rule Richmond Landlords Miss

For a Richmond rental owner, a pre-1978 house can turn an ordinary maintenance call into a federal lead-compliance question. The repair may have nothing to do with "lead work." A painter sands a wall, an electrician cuts an access hole, a plumber opens a painted chase, ...

Richmond, VA Rental Market Trends: Q3 2026 Update

As of August 21, Q3 2026 is still underway, and Richmond Metro is not moving as one uniform rental market. Large-apartment data still shows year-over-year rent growth, while a broader measure of smaller rental listings shows mild softness. Local readings add another layer: Easter...

Eco-Friendly Rental Upgrades That Make Sense in Richmond

Eco-friendly rental upgrades can be worthwhile, but the label alone does not make an improvement a good investment. For a Richmond rental owner, the better question is whether an upgrade reduces waste, solves a recurring property problem, improves comfort, lowers future maintenan...

How to legally reject a rental applicant without violating Fair Housing

Rejecting a rental applicant is one of the highest-risk moments in property management. Not because landlords are trying to discriminate — most aren't — but because the rejection process is where undocumented decisions, vague reasoning, and gut-feel habits collide...

Is Midlothian Still a Good Place to Buy Rental Property in 2026?

Midlothian can still make sense for a rental property purchase in 2026, but the local numbers reward careful property selection. Chesterfield County continues to add residents, Midlothian home values have risen modestly over the past year, and Zillow's rent index remains abov...

Richmond’s Multifamily Shift: What New Supply Means for Class B and C Investors

Richmond’s multifamily market is changing, but the change is more measured than the old version of this article suggested. New apartments are still being delivered, large professional operators have raised the standard for pricing and presentation, and renters have more cho...