Virginia property deeds

Deeds Virginia recognizes

How a deed has to be signed in Virginia

Virginia requires the grantor's signature to be acknowledged before a notary public. No witnesses are required.

Virginia document formatting rules

A safe layout for Virginia is 8.5 × 11 inch paper with a 3-inch clear space at the top of the first page for the clerk of the circuit court's stamp, 1-inch margins elsewhere, and no type smaller than 10 point. That is the profile Deedly formats every Virginia document to. Writing into the recorder's stamp area is the most common formatting rejection there is.

• Virginia's recording standards for paper documents (17VAC15-61-20 to 17VAC15-61-40, which Va. Code § 55.1-606 applies to deeds): white, unglazed paper from 8½ × 11 to 8½ × 14 inches, at least 20-pound weight, with no watermarks or logos; black print of 9 point or larger, in a font equivalent to a normal Arial or Courier; a top margin of at least 1¼ inches on every page and other margins of at least ¾ inch; one side only; signatures in dark blue or black ink. Virginia sets no 3-inch space on page one; Deedly leaves one for the clerk's stamp.

Virginia transfer tax and recording fees

Virginia charges Recordation tax and grantor's tax at $0.25 per $100 (or part of $100) of the price or the assessed value, whichever is greater, in state recordation tax (§ 58.1-801), plus a local recordation tax of one-third of that where the city or county imposes it (§ 58.1-814); on a sale the grantor also pays a grantor's tax of $0.50 per $500 (§ 58.1-802) and a regional fee of $0.20 per $100 in Northern Virginia or $0.06 per $100 in Hampton Roads (§§ 58.1-802.3 to 58.1-802.5). The clerk collects these taxes when the deed is recorded. The grantor pays the grantor's tax and the regional fees unless the parties agree otherwise (Va. Code §§ 58.1-802(A), 58.1-802.3, 58.1-802.4, 58.1-802.5), and the parties may split the recordation tax however they agree (§ 58.1-812(D)). Every Virginia county and city may add a local recordation tax equal to one-third of the state tax (§ 58.1-814); towns don't levy one. On a sale in the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority's localities (Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and Manassas Park, § 33.2-2501), the grantor pays the regional WMATA capital fee of $0.10 per $100 (§ 58.1-802.3) and the regional congestion relief fee of another $0.10 per $100 (§ 58.1-802.4, which applies in Planning District 8). A sale in a Hampton Roads transportation district pays a regional transportation improvement fee of $0.06 per $100 (§ 58.1-802.5). The grantor's tax and these fees don't apply to the transfers listed in § 58.1-811(C), such as a deed into your own revocable trust or under a divorce decree. Gifts and transfers with no payment are exempt only if the deed says so and cites the Code section; a family transfer where money changes hands or a mortgage is assumed is taxed.

Common exemptions: deeds of gift and quitclaim deeds without consideration, when nothing is paid and the deed says so (§ 58.1-811(D)), deeds in which spouses are the only parties, when tax was paid on the original deed (§ 58.1-810(3)), deeds under a divorce or separation decree or agreement (§ 58.1-811(A)(14)), deeds into your own revocable trust when you are its beneficiary and nothing is paid (§ 58.1-811(A)(11)), deeds of distribution out of a trust or estate, stated as such on page one (§ 58.1-811(K)), deeds of correction or confirmation of a deed that was taxed (§ 58.1-810(1), (2)), and transfer-on-death deeds and their revocations, when nothing is paid (§ 58.1-811(J)).

Recording fees run about $35 per document. Virginia's recording fees are set by state law, though clerks' published schedules differ in places. A deed of 1 to 10 pages pays a $26 clerk's fee ($18 under Va. Code § 17.1-275(A)(2) plus the $8 Technology Trust Fund fee under § 17.1-279; $40 for 11 to 30 pages), a $1 land-book transfer fee (§ 58.1-3314(3)), and a $3 open-space fee where the Virginia Outdoors Foundation holds open-space easements (§ 58.1-817). A clerk with e-recording may add $5 for a deed filed on paper (§ 17.1-258.3:1(B)). That makes $35 for a tax-exempt deed of up to 10 pages filed on paper. A deed that owes recordation tax also pays the tax, and Fairfax and Prince William add a $20 deed processing fee. Prince William's schedule lists the $26 clerk's fee, but Fairfax's schedule (effective July 1, 2026) lists $23 for a deed of 1 to 10 pages, so ask your clerk which applies. Use the Virginia courts' deed fee calculator for the exact amount: Prince William rejects a short check.

See how Virginia's transfer tax and recording fee compare with other states.

How to hold title in Virginia

• Sole ownership. One person owns everything.
• Tenancy in common. Separate, divisible shares with no survivorship. A deceased owner's share goes to their heirs.
• Joint tenancy with right of survivorship. Equal shares; the survivor takes the whole property automatically.
• Tenancy by the entirety. Married couples only, with automatic survivorship and, in most states that allow it, protection from one spouse's creditors.

Where to record a deed in Virginia

Deeds are recorded with the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property is located. Virginia has 95 counties. Many offices accept e-recording, but usually only from approved submitters such as title companies, attorneys, and lenders.

Fairfax · Prince William · Virginia Beach · Loudoun · Chesterfield · Henrico · Chesapeake · Arlington · Norfolk · Richmond City · Alexandria. all Virginia recording offices

Why deeds get rejected in Virginia

• Virginia clerks and title examiners expect a deed to recite the instrument the grantor took title under, with the deed book and page or instrument number. A missing or wrong reference is a common reason clerks return deeds.
• Virginia has 95 counties and 38 independent cities, served by 120 circuit court clerks. Some cities record with a neighboring county's clerk: the City of Fairfax with the Fairfax Circuit Court, and Manassas and Manassas Park with the Prince William Circuit Court. A mailing address can mislead: much of "Alexandria" is in Fairfax County. Check the tax assessment to see which county or city the property is in, then record there.
• Fairfax, Chesterfield and other clerks refuse a paper deed without a Virginia Land Record Cover Sheet (Form CC-1570) on top.
• A deed that claims a recordation tax exemption must state the Code section on its face (Va. Code § 17.1-223(A)). Without it, the clerk taxes the deed on the greater of the price and the assessed value.
• Virginia recognizes transfer-on-death deeds under its Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act.
• Virginia allows tenancy by the entirety to be preserved inside a joint revocable trust. Unusual and valuable for asset protection.