Short-term rentals in Lynchburg, explained properly.

On or before July 1 of each year, the owner, managing agent or an authorized representative must register the address of any dwelling unit to be used for short term rental with the Zoning Administrator. One form may list multiple addresses under single ownership. A dwelling previously and continuing to be used as a short term rental must give the City updated contact information on or before July 1 each year. Virginia law sets limits on which operators a locality can require to register; see the Virginia rules above. The section was adopted by Ord. No. O-19-040 on October 8, 2019.

Every person filing registration forms with the Zoning Administrator pays a one-time registration fee of $150.00 per form to defray the cost of processing the registration. A form may include multiple addresses under single ownership. The fee is stated in the ordinance text (Ord. No. O-19-040, October 8, 2019); no separate fee schedule was read.

A person who fails to register a building to be used as a short term rental by the July 1 deadline is subject to a penalty of $500.00. Virginia law caps a registry penalty at $500 per violation.

The maximum number of occupants in a dwelling unit offered for short term rental may not exceed four unrelated individuals. Where two or more related individuals occupy the unit, only one person unrelated to the related people may also occupy it. The section applies in the districts where short term rental is permitted by right (R-C, R-1, R-2, R-3, R-4, B-1, B-3, B-4, B-5 and IN-2).

Section 35.2-71.16(c) says short-term rentals are exempt from section 35.2-62 (parking and loading). This applies within the districts where the section permits short term rental.

Section 35.2-71.16(d) requires all buildings offered for use as a short term rental to meet the requirements of the Uniform Statewide Building Code.

Three violations of state or local laws, ordinances or regulations for a property offered for short term rental, directly related to the short term rental use, within a three-year period result in the use no longer being permitted. Before revoking approval, the Zoning Administrator gives the owner written notice describing the violations. Notice is given by posting a copy in a conspicuous place on the premises and by first class mail or e-mail to the addresses listed in the registration form.

Code of Virginia § 15.2-983 defines a short-term rental as a room or space offered for dwelling, sleeping or lodging for fewer than 30 consecutive days in exchange for a charge. Any locality may, by ordinance, set up a short-term rental registry and require operators to register every year. Registration is ministerial: the operator's name, the address of each property offered, and, if the operator is a lessee or sublessee, an attestation that the owner has given permission. A locality may charge a reasonable fee tied to the cost of the registry. People licensed by the Real Estate Board (or owners represented by a real estate licensee), time-share registrants, places licensed by the Department of Health and businesses licensed by the locality for rental or property management (such as hotels and bed and breakfasts) cannot be required to register. A registry ordinance may set a penalty of up to $500 per violation for offering an unregistered property, and may bar an operator from offering a property after repeated registry violations or after violations of state and local short-term rental laws on more than three occasions. No local ordinance may prohibit an operator from offering a property solely because the operator is a lessee or sublessee, if the owner has given permission; a locality may limit a lessee or sublessee to one short-term rental. No local ordinance enacted after December 31, 2023 may require a special exception, special use or conditional use permit for a short-term rental in a dwelling that the owner also legally occupies as a primary residence. Otherwise, localities keep their general land use and zoning authority over short-term rentals, and the statute does not override recorded covenants, condominium instruments or property owners' association declarations. The section was last amended in 2024 (Acts of Assembly 2024, chapters 700 and 792).

Virginia's retail sales tax applies to accommodations, which the Retail Sales and Use Tax Act defines to include short-term rentals as well as hotels, motels, inns and similar places. A taxable retail sale includes charges for accommodations furnished to transients for less than 90 continuous days. The Department of Taxation says the tax applies to the total charge for the accommodation, and that fees charged by booking agents and other companies that handle reservations are also taxable; under the statute the room charge includes any fee retained for facilitating the sale.

The Virginia Department of Taxation lists the general sales tax rate by location: 7% in James City County, Williamsburg and York County; 6.3% in Charlotte County, Danville, Gloucester County, Halifax County, Henry County, Northampton County, Patrick County and Pittsylvania County; 6% in the Central Virginia region (Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, Powhatan and Richmond City), Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia; and 5.3% everywhere else. The page lists different rates only for groceries and for aircraft, watercraft and motor vehicles. Rates are set by the locality where the sale is made. Local lodging or transient occupancy taxes charged by cities and counties are separate and are listed on each city page.

The Department of Taxation says the tax is collected by either the accommodations provider or the accommodations intermediary, depending on how the stay was booked. Online travel companies, travel agents and similar businesses that facilitate bookings are accommodations intermediaries. When a short-term rental is booked through an intermediary, the intermediary collects the tax on the total charge, including its own fees, and reports the sales tax on the entire transaction on its Virginia sales tax return.

When a reservation is made directly with the accommodations provider, the Department of Taxation says the provider collects the tax on the total charge for the lodging and reports it on its Virginia sales tax return. Sellers whose sales go through a marketplace facilitator's platform generally do not need to collect sales tax on those sales, but may still need to register to collect it on their own sales outside the platform; registering gives you a sales tax account number and a Certificate of Registration (Form ST-4).