Stafford County, VA Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

County Code § 15-58 lets the Sheriff or his designee remove motor vehicles, trailers, semitrailers or parts for safekeeping when a vehicle is left unattended on a public highway or public property and constitutes a traffic hazard, is illegally parked, is left unattended more than ten days on public or private property without the property owner's, lessee's or occupant's permission, or is immobilized by weather or an emergency. Subsection (e) sets the abandonment presumption at four days for any vehicle missing a current plate or valid safety inspection decal.

No vehicle may be removed from private property without the written request of the owner, lessee or occupant of the premises unless it is illegally parked on county-owned or -leased land. A tower must report every removal to the Sheriff's office within twenty minutes and notify the vehicle's owner within twenty-four hours. 2, Chapter 12. A related but separate rule, the nuisance inoperable motor vehicle provisions of Article IV (§§ 15-101 to 15-104), separately bars keeping more than one inoperable vehicle outside an enclosed structure on residentially or commercially zoned land (two on smaller agricultural parcels, three on larger ones), with the Board of Supervisors empowered to remove it after fifteen days' notice and place a lien on the property for unpaid removal costs.