ADU Pass
Casanova
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Casanova, No 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
Casanova is an unincorporated community in southern Fauquier County, listed in part as the Casanova Historic District on the National Register since 2005. The Fauquier County Zoning Ordinance governs ADU permission; the village core's historic-district overlay adds Virginia Department of Historic Resources review for federally funded or licensed projects.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 200 | $1,500 | $64,000 | $65,500 |
| 600 | 600 | $1,700 | $198,000 | $199,700 |
| midpoint | 800 | $1,800 | $268,000 | $269,800 |
| 1000 | 1,000 | $1,800 | $335,000 | $336,800 |
| maximum | 1,400 | $1,900 | $462,000 | $463,900 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-05)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term ADU rental permitted; landlord-tenant law and Fauquier zoning compliance apply.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Fauquier requires an Administrative Permit for STR per Zoning Ordinance § 5-303.
- Office rental: no ADU must remain a dwelling unit; rental to a non-residential office tenant would conflict with the accessory-dwelling definition.
- Home office: yes Owner home occupation permitted subject to Fauquier home-occupation rules.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist or workshop use by owner-occupant permitted.
- Agriculture: yes Fauquier's RA and RC districts are agricultural by design; bona fide agricultural uses receive significant flexibility under Virginia's right-to-farm protections.
- Relative support: yes Family-occupancy ADU is one of the most common Fauquier use cases. Owner-occupancy of the principal dwelling required.
Contacts
Utilities
- Water: Private well (Virginia Department of Health Rappahannock-Rapidan District approval required) · 45d connect · $9,500
- Sewer: Private septic system (VDH Rappahannock-Rapidan District approval required) · 60d connect · $14,000
- Electric: Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) · 28d connect · $1,900
- Gas: Propane (no natural-gas distribution in Casanova; bulk propane suppliers serve the area) · 14d connect · $2,000
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 8mo · typical 11mo · worst 18mo
Modular pathway inspectors are occasional with modular
Modules transported via US-29 and US-17. Some Casanova-area rural roads have weight or width restrictions; verify route with Fauquier VDOT Residency.
Financing
State ADU loans:
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Casanova is primarily large-lot rural acreage; HOAs are uncommon outside a few subdivided clusters.
Regulatory overlays (1)
- historic-district
Casanova Historic District (NRHP 2005, DHR ID 030-5163) covers the village core. Federal-funded or federally-licensed projects within the boundary trigger DHR/SHPO review.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Fauquier County Zoning Ordinance - Article 6 Accessory Uses and Article 5 ADU size standards, adopted 2013-01-01, last amended 2024-06-01
- 2005-09-13 — Casanova Historic District listed on National Register of Historic Places (historic-designation)
DHR ID 030-5163. District encompasses the late-19th and early-20th-century village core including Grace Church Parish Hall, the former Casanova Store, the converted stone mill, and a number of I-house residences.
Effect: Triggers Virginia Department of Historic Resources review for federally funded or licensed projects within the district boundary. - 2013-01-01 — Fauquier County accessory-dwelling ordinance - 1,400 sqft cap reference date for conversions (county-ordinance)
Fauquier ADU rule treats pre-2013 legally existing dwellings as eligible for the higher 1,400-sqft conversion cap in RA/RC districts on 5+ acre parcels.
Effect: Created a vintage-based unit-size threshold for ADU conversions; post-2013 newly built primary dwellings cannot leverage the conversion uplift.
Known issues (1)
- other — Historic-district village core (NRHP boundary) plus VDH well/septic dependency makes Casanova ADU projects sensitive to site conditions and historic-fabric review.
County: no attribution (synthetic bucket)
No county
This city sits in the state's "no county" bucket — its ADU rules derive directly from state law and city ordinance without a county intermediary. No county-level sections apply.
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
- 20139
Post Office
- 5137 Weston Rd, 20139