Hanover County, VA Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

Section 18-22 of the Hanover County Code sets the county's maximum grass and weed height at fifteen inches. The rule applies to any owner of occupied or vacant, developed or undeveloped property, including lots with buildings or other improvements, so long as the property is zoned for commercial, industrial or residential use and sits within the suburban service area shown on the general land use plan in the county's comprehensive plan; land outside that mapped service area is not covered. Three categories are exempt under subsection (b): land zoned for or actively used in farming, vegetation maintained under a plan approved by government authorities or located in a Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area resource protection area, and any ground on a slope of twenty-five percent or greater.

'Weeds' is defined in Section 18-20 to mean grass, weeds, bushes, poison ivy, poison oak or other vegetative growth other than trees, ornamental shrubbery, flowers and garden vegetable plants. Enforcement runs through the director of public works: any aggrieved person may report a suspected violation under Section 18-23, the director then inspects the site, and if a violation exists the owner gets one week's written notice, posted at the property and mailed to the owner's last known address, to cut the growth under Section 18-24.

If the owner does not comply, Section 18-25 lets the director have the growth cut and bill the cost to the owner as a lien against the property, and Section 18-26 allows the county to act without notice when the owner cannot be found. A first violation under Section 18-27 draws a civil penalty of up to fifty dollars, rising to up to two hundred dollars for a repeat violation within twelve months, capped at three thousand dollars total per twelve-month period, and a fourth violation within twenty-four months becomes a class 3 misdemeanor.