Legislation enabling Virginia cities to mandate vacant building registration, fees advances through General Assembly

A bill sponsored by State Del. Betsy B. Carr granting Virginia localities the authority to require registration and collect fees for vacant buildings aims to address derelict properties and increase owner accountability, according to the Virginia State House.

The measure secured passage in both the House and Senate, being officially enrolled on March 11, 2026, after a 76-22 vote in the House and a 22-18 result in the Senate.

Designated HB802 and introduced on Jan. 14, 2026, during the 2026 regular session, the bill’s summary by the legislature states: “Vacant buildings; registration by registered agents, etc., annually.”

See below for a detailed summary derived from the actual bill text. Provisions have been clarified as needed.

Fundamentally, this legislation allows Virginia localities to require property owners or their registered agents to register vacant buildings if they are derelict, meet the standards for criminal blight, or are occupied without the owner’s permission after 12 months of vacancy, and after three years in other cases. Localities are authorized to set an annual registration fee up to $100 and must require owner or agent contact details on registration forms. The law establishes a $200 civil penalty for failure to register, increasing to $400 in designated conservation, rehabilitation, or blight areas. Notification must be mailed at least 30 days before any penalty is imposed.

Within the House, 63 Democrats and 13 Republicans supported the bill, while 22 Republicans voted against it.

In the Senate, the vote tally included 21 Democrats and one Republican in favor, opposed by 18 Republicans.

Del. Betsy B. Carr (Democrat-78th District) was the sole sponsor of the legislation.

Carr earned a BA from Hollins College in 1968.

Carr, a Democrat, began representing Virginia’s 78th House district after being elected to the State House in 2024, succeeding former state representative Jay Leftwich.

Virginia’s legislative procedure starts with a bill being introduced in the House of Delegates or the Senate. Bills are assigned to committees for debate and possible revision, then advance to the floor for debate and votes in both chambers. If passed by both, the bill is sent to the governor to be signed into law, vetoed, or allowed to become law without signature. The General Assembly holds regular sessions annually beginning the second Monday in January, during which lawmakers file hundreds of bills, although only a fraction are enacted.

Information in this article came from the Virginia State House. The source data is available here.