Fauquier County, VA Short-Term Rentals: Repeat Violator Strikes (2026)

County Code § 8-240 sets escalating consequences for repeat problem short-term rental properties in unincorporated Fauquier County. A single unregistered offering draws a written notice and a $500 penalty per violation, capped at $1,500 per calendar year, and the operator cannot resume renting until the penalty is paid and the property is registered (§ 8-240(a)). Once a specific property accumulates two or more written-notice violations of the registration requirement, the Commissioner of the Revenue may prohibit the operator from registering that property, and from offering or using it as a short-term rental at all, for one calendar year from the date of the last violation notice (§ 8-240(b)).

That prohibition can be rescinded early for good cause shown to the Commissioner. A harsher strike applies to broader misconduct: once written notice documents more than three violations of any applicable state or local law, ordinance, or regulation tied to the property's use as a short-term rental, the operator may be barred from offering that specific property as a short-term rental anywhere in the county for one year from the last violation notice (§ 8-240(c)). This third-strike bar may also be rescinded for good cause.

The Commissioner of the Revenue or a designee administers and enforces all three tiers and issues the required written notices by mail to the operator's and property owner's address of record (§ 8-241).