Albemarle County, VA Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

Albemarle County taxes short-term rentals through two separate County Code articles that apply in Albemarle County outside Charlottesville and Scottsville, since Charlottesville and the Town of Scottsville run their own rules. Chapter 15, Article 12 imposes a short-term rental property tax on the gross proceeds of any short-term rental business. 1-605. Operators file quarterly returns with the Director of Finance covering the quarters ending March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31, with each return and payment due by the twentieth of the following April, July, October, or January (§ 15-1202).

1-636 (§ 15-1203). Separately, Chapter 7, Article 6 requires every short-term rental operator, defined broadly to include hosts renting a room or dwelling for fewer than 30 consecutive days, to register annually with the Department of Community Development, listing the operator's name and the address of every rental property (§ 7-602). Registration carries an annual fee set in the Chapter 1, Article 5 fee schedule to cover the cost of running the registry. Operators who list a property without registering it owe a $500 penalty per violation, and each day the unregistered listing stays up counts as a new violation (§ 7-603); an operator with more than three violations tied to the same property can be barred from registering that property for short-term rental at all.