ADU Pass
Remington
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Remington, Fauquier County, Virginia navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 1 ZIP code.
Map
ADU details
ADU legality: allowed-with-restrictions
Two-step permit pathway: Town zoning permit first, then Fauquier County building permit. Remington is small (~0.4 sq mi, ~280 households) so the Town zoning administrator review is informal and quick. Town water and sewer is available within town limits; outside, parcels rely on private well and Virginia Department of Health septic. HB 1832 effective 2026-07-01 will preempt any current Town special-permit or relative-only restriction on ADUs.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 350 | $1,450 | $91,000 | $92,450 |
| 600 | 600 | $1,700 | $174,000 | $175,700 |
| maximum | 900 | $1,900 | $261,000 | $262,900 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-04)
Permitting process
- Town Hall pre-application meeting (~5d)
Visit Remington Town Hall (105 East Main Street) or call 540-439-3220 to discuss the project with the Zoning Administrator. Confirm zoning district, accessory-use permissibility, lot coverage and setback rules. The Town's small staff makes this an informal conversation rather than a multi-week intake. - Town zoning permit application (~1d)
Submit zoning permit application to Town Hall with site plan, elevations, and existing-conditions photos. Required BEFORE any County building-permit submission. Application fee approximately $150. - Town zoning administrator review (~14d)
Town zoning administrator reviews against Remington Zoning Ordinance setback, height, lot-coverage, and accessory-use standards. Issues approved Zoning Permit; conditions may apply. - Fauquier County building permit submission (~1d)
Submit building permit application to Fauquier County Department of Community Development WITH the approved Town zoning permit attached. Fauquier County provides building inspections for Remington under interagency agreement. - Fauquier County plan review (~35d)
County reviews stamped plans for compliance with the 2021 Virginia USBC. Trade permits (electrical, plumbing, mechanical) filed concurrently by Virginia DPOR-licensed contractors. - Utility connection coordination (~30d)
If on Town water/sewer: coordinate connection through Town Hall (typical 30-50 days for new sewer lateral). If on private well/septic: schedule Virginia Department of Health Lord Fairfax Health District evaluation; can require new perc test for septic upsize. Add 30-60 days. - Construction inspections
Footing/foundation, framing, MEP rough-in, insulation, drywall, final inspections by Fauquier County inspector. Typical inspection requests respond within 2-3 business days. - Certificate of Occupancy and Town notification (~7d)
Final inspection by County triggers CO. Town Treasurer notified for water/sewer billing; Fauquier County Commissioner of the Revenue notified for supplemental real-estate assessment.
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes (Va. Code Section 55.1-1200 (Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act)) Long-term rental of an ADU is permitted; landlord-tenant law applies. Town does not require rental registration.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions (Town zoning ordinance + Fauquier County Section 5-303 STR Administrative Permit) Inside Town limits, the Town of Remington has not adopted a separate STR ordinance; verify with Town Hall whether County STR permit is required or whether Town zoning silence permits STRs as accessory uses. Outside Town limits, Fauquier County requires an Administrative Permit under Section 5-303 with parcel eligibility, occupancy caps, and life-safety standards.
- Office rental: with-restrictions Detached office rental requires a home-occupation permit; Remington allows home occupations in residential districts with limited employees and customer traffic.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted with restrictions on signage, customer traffic, and outside storage.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal studio (artist, music, woodworking) is a permitted accessory use.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Town residential districts allow garden plots and small chickens (<5 hens); larger livestock prohibited inside town limits.
- Relative support: yes Family/multigenerational accessory dwelling is the most common use case in Remington; permitted by-right under accessory-use provisions.
Incentives
- Virginia Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit (state, 25%) — 25% of qualified rehab expenditures (Applies to contributing structures within Remington Historic District (NRHP-listed 2005); minimum $25K rehab spend on owner-occupied; certified by DHR)
- Federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit (20%) — 20% of qualified rehab expenditures (income-producing only) (Income-producing rehabilitation of National Register contributing structures; not available for owner-occupied principal residences)
Contacts
Staff: Town Hall - Town Administrator (Zoning Administrator / Town Treasurer), Fauquier County Community Development (Building Permits and Inspections)
Utilities
- Water: Town of Remington Public Water (within town limits); private wells outside · 35d connect · $4,500
- Sewer: Town of Remington Wastewater (within town limits); VDH-permitted septic outside · 50d connect · $7,500
- Electric: Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) covers most of Fauquier including Remington area · 25d connect · $2,200
- Gas: No natural-gas distribution in Remington; bottled propane (AmeriGas, Suburban Propane) is the norm · 14d connect · $1,900
Property values & taxes
Market rent by ADU size
| Sq ft | Rent |
|---|---|
| 350 | $950/mo |
| 600 | $1,325/mo |
| 800 | $1,575/mo |
| 900 | $1,700/mo |
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 8mo · typical 12mo · worst 18mo
Rural Fauquier GC pool is shallow; most ADU work is done by Warrenton-based or Culpeper-based GCs willing to drive to Remington. Septic/well work on out-of-town parcels adds 4-8 weeks.
Modular pathway Virginia DHCD Industrialized Building Unit (13 VAC 5-91) · inspectors are rare with modular
US 15/29 corridor accessible; in-town narrow streets in central Remington restrict module width. Crane access feasible on most parcels.
Financing
State ADU loans:
- Virginia Housing first-time-buyer / DPA programs (Virginia Housing)
Insurance impact
Rural Fauquier premiums lower than Northern Virginia suburbs. Flood insurance significant on Rappahannock-adjacent lots ($800-1500/yr).
HOA prevalence & preemption
Remington is mostly older platted Town lots without HOAs. A small share of newer subdivisions on the town periphery have HOAs. Virginia has no HOA-ADU preemption; HB 1832 effective 2026-07-01 also does not preempt HOA covenants.
Regulatory overlays (2)
- flood-zone — Rappahannock River floodplain along eastern edge of Remington; FEMA SFHA Zone AE plus floodway designation · +14d · +8% cost
Lots near the Rappahannock and Tin Pot Run floodplains require finished-floor elevation above BFE; flood vents required. Floodway prohibits new structures. (map) - historic-district — Remington Historic District (NRHP-listed 2005) covers central Main Street and adjacent residential blocks
National Register listing alone does not impose design review at the Town level. The Town has not adopted a local historic-preservation overlay. NRHP listing makes contributing structures eligible for federal/state rehab tax credits. (map)
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Virginia USBC state amendments (13 VAC 5-63) — Includes the residential fire-sprinkler R313 deletion.
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Town of Remington Zoning Ordinance, adopted 1985-01-01, last amended 2022-06-01
- 1890-01-01 — Town of Remington incorporated by Virginia General Assembly (state-charter)
Original incorporation as 'Bowensville,' subsequently renamed Remington after the railroad station on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad.
Effect: Established the Town's separate municipal identity and authority to enact local ordinances, including zoning. - 1979-01-01 — Va. Code Section 15.2-2280 zoning authority codified (Dillon Rule baseline) (state-statute)
Virginia delegated zoning authority to counties, cities, and towns; no ADU-specific preemption.
Effect: Each Virginia locality (including Remington as a chartered Town) regulates ADUs through its own zoning ordinance. - 2005-04-01 — Remington Historic District added to National Register of Historic Places (national-register)
The Town's central commercial and adjacent residential blocks were designated a National Register Historic District.
Effect: Most of Remington's older housing stock is within the National Register district; tax-credit eligible for rehabilitation but no design-review constraint at the Town level (the Town has not adopted a local historic-preservation overlay). - 2026-07-01 — HB 1832 / HB 2533 - Statewide ADU by-right preemption (pending effective date) (state-law)
Requires all Virginia localities to permit ADUs as a by-right accessory use in single-family districts.
Effect: Applies to the Town of Remington as a chartered locality. Will void any Town special-permit or consanguinity requirement for ADUs.
Fauquier County — county ADU rules and overlays
County ADU ordinance
Fauquier County permits one accessory dwelling unit per lot in residential and rural-ag districts subject to size, occupancy, and placement standards. The county's definition is strict: an ADU may be attached to, inside of, or detached from the principal dwelling, but no more than one ADU is allowed per lot and it may not be occupied by more than three persons or contain more than two bedrooms. Base size cap is 800 sqft. Lots of at least five acres in the RA (Rural Agricultural) or RC (Rural Conservation) districts may go up to 1,000 sqft, and where a legally existing pre-2013 dwelling in RA/RC on a five-plus-acre lot is being converted to the ADU the cap rises to 1,400 sqft or the existing unit's square footage (whichever is less). Detached ADUs require a side or rear external entrance. Fauquier's ordinance is unusually preservation-oriented: the 800-sqft base cap and the three-person occupancy limit are tighter than most Northern Virginia peers, reflecting the county's horse-country / agricultural-preservation zoning culture.
County regulatory overlays
Fauquier County administers four overlay regimes that bear materially on ADU projects: (1) a Floodplain Overlay District under Zoning Ordinance Section 4-400 tied to FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas; (2) locally-adopted Historic Overlay Districts reviewed by the county's Architectural Review Board (distinct from the Commonwealth's Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register); (3) an extensive network of conservation easements held by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF), Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), and the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust (NVCT) on RA and RC parcels, which typically pre-empt ADU rights even where zoning would otherwise permit; and (4) the county's Service District framework (Bealeton, Catlett, Marshall, Midland, New Baltimore, Opal, Remington, Warrenton) inside which development standards are tuned for higher density and public utility connection. Fauquier has no coastal-commission jurisdiction, no CalFire-equivalent WUI regime (Virginia has no statewide wildland-urban-interface overlay), and no seismic-retrofit overlay.
- Floodplain Overlay District
- Fauquier County Historic Overlay Districts
- Conservation Easement Overlay (VOF, PEC, NVCT-held easements)
- Service District framework (Bealeton, Catlett, Marshall, Midland, New Baltimore, Opal, Remington, Warrenton)
County permitting (unincorporated parcels)
Fauquier County's Department of Community Development issues ADU building permits for every parcel in the county except those inside the Town of Warrenton (which operates its own zoning and building department). Unincorporated CDPs (Bealeton, Catlett, Marshall, Midland, New Baltimore, Opal, Remington outside the town limits, and the eight other service districts) all route through the county's building division. A typical ADU permit bundle includes: (1) a Zoning Permit confirming use and dimensional compliance, (2) a Building Permit with stamped plans, (3) Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical trade permits, (4) a Virginia Department of Health (VDH) - Fauquier Environmental Health construction permit for well and/or septic on parcels not served by public water or sewer, (5) a Floodplain Development Permit if any portion of the parcel is within the Floodplain Overlay District (Section 4-400), and (6) a Historic District Certificate of Appropriateness if the parcel is in a designated Fauquier Historic Overlay District.
Virginia state — ADU law and programs
State ADU law
Virginia has NOT enacted a statewide ADU preemption law. Virginia is a Dillon Rule state — localities possess only those powers expressly granted by the General Assembly — and the statutes granting zoning authority (Va. Code § 15.2-2280 et seq.) leave ADU regulation to local ordinances. ADU permission, setbacks, parking, size, and owner-occupancy rules therefore vary by county, independent city, and town. Virginia is unique in that it has 38 independent cities that function as counties (neither in nor subordinate to the surrounding county), meaning 'the county' for any given Virginia property may be an independent city rather than a true county. Several ADU preemption bills have been introduced in recent General Assembly sessions (2022 through 2025) without enactment; none have advanced past committee as of the Assembly's 2026 regular session adjournment.
State financing programs
Virginia does not operate an ADU-specific statewide loan, grant, or forgivable-loan program. Virginia Housing (formerly the Virginia Housing Development Authority, VHDA — rebranded 2020) administers general first-time-homebuyer, down-payment-assistance (DPA), mortgage-credit-certificate, and rehabilitation products that can be applied to ADU-adjacent purchases or improvements when eligibility criteria are met, but none target ADU construction as a distinct product. The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) administers federal HOME and CDBG pass-through funds that local jurisdictions can direct toward ADU-adjacent rehab, but there is no state-level ADU-dedicated line item. Federally available products (FHA 203(k), Fannie Mae HomeReady and HomeStyle Renovation, Freddie Mac CHOICERenovation) remain the primary ADU financing path for Virginia homeowners.
State housing programs
Virginia does not run a state-level pre-approved-ADU-plan catalog, statewide impact-fee-waiver statute for ADUs, or streamlined-review mandate. State-level programs that touch ADU-adjacent policy are coordinated primarily through the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and Virginia Housing, and act by funding or assisting local jurisdictions rather than by preemption. Local ADU activity — Arlington County's Accessory Dwellings program (detached ADUs permitted since 2008, liberalized 2020), Alexandria's accessory-dwelling ordinance, Fairfax County's accessory-living-unit program, and Charlottesville's 2021 zoning-code changes — is authorized under the localities' Va. Code § 15.2-2280 zoning authority, not by state mandate.
- DHCD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program — Federal CDBG funds administered by DHCD to eligible non-entitlement Virginia localities for community-revitalization, housing-rehab, and infrastructure projects. Not ADU-specific. Participating localities can direct CDBG funds toward housing-rehab projects where local policy supports ADUs.
- DHCD HOME Investment Partnerships Program — Federal HOME funds administered by DHCD to Virginia participating jurisdictions and non-profits for affordable-housing acquisition, rehab, and new construction. Not ADU-specific; can be directed to ADU-adjacent rehab at local discretion.
- Virginia Housing Commission — Permanent advisory commission of the General Assembly that studies housing-policy questions and recommends legislation. Has periodically studied ADU preemption and missing-middle housing without recommending statewide enactment as of 2026-04-21.
- Local ADU ordinances under Va. Code § 15.2-2280 authority — Not a state program — listed here because Virginia ADU policy is executed entirely at the locality level under the § 15.2-2280 zoning grant. A homeowner seeking to build an ADU consults the zoning ordinance of the specific county, city, or town where the parcel is located.
Federal (United States) — ADU-relevant rules and programs
Federal ADU law
The United States has no federal statute that directly regulates accessory dwelling unit entitlement or design. Land-use authority over ADUs resides with states and local governments under the traditional police power. Federal engagement is limited to financing (Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA/USDA), flood insurance (FEMA/NFIP), and discretionary housing programs (HUD), which are recorded in sibling sections of this file.
Federal financing programs
Federal housing-finance agencies and GSEs set nationwide underwriting rules that govern whether an ADU can be financed, appraised, and counted toward mortgage qualifying income. The relevant actors are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA (HUD), VA, and USDA Rural Development.
Federal tax credits
There is no ADU-specific federal tax credit. ADUs may incidentally qualify for existing federal energy-efficiency and clean-energy tax credits when the ADU construction includes qualifying measures.
Federal housing programs
HUD administers several discretionary programs that can fund ADU-related activity at the grantee's election, but none is an ADU-specific program.
ZIP Code
- 22734
Post Office
- 501 N James Madison St, 22734