ADU Pass
Centreville
No County portion
Also in: Fairfax County · Loudoun County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Centreville, 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
Centreville is the most populous CDP in Fairfax County (~73k 2020 census). ADUs are permitted strictly as interior Accessory Living Units (ALUs) within single-family detached dwellings; detached units are not allowed. Administrative permit from the Fairfax County Zoning Administrator is the gating step.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 400 | $2,200 | $160,000 | $162,200 |
| 600 | 600 | $2,400 | $252,000 | $254,400 |
| midpoint | 700 | $2,400 | $301,000 | $303,400 |
| 1000 | 1,000 | $2,500 | $440,000 | $442,500 |
| maximum | 1,200 | $2,500 | $540,000 | $542,500 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-05)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term ALU rental is permitted; landlord-tenant law and the ALU administrative-permit terms apply.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Fairfax County requires a short-term lodging permit; STR in an ALU is permitted only by the owner-occupant of the principal dwelling, subject to limits on occupancy and rental days.
- Office rental: no ALU must remain a dwelling unit; rental to a non-residential office tenant is not a permitted accessory use.
- Home office: yes Owner home occupation is permitted subject to Fairfax home-occupation standards.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist or workshop use by the owner-occupant is permitted.
- Agriculture: no Centreville is a dense suburban CDP; agricultural uses on residential parcels are very limited.
- Relative support: yes The most common ALU use case in Fairfax County is housing for elderly parents, adult children, or other relatives. Owner-occupancy of the principal dwelling required.
Contacts
Utilities
- Water: Fairfax Water (Fairfax County Water Authority) · 21d connect · $5,500
- Sewer: Fairfax County Wastewater Management · 21d connect · $6,500
- Electric: Dominion Energy Virginia · 21d connect · $1,900
- Gas: Washington Gas (natural gas distribution) · 28d connect · $1,700
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 7mo · typical 10mo · worst 15mo
Modular pathway inspectors are novice with modular
Not commonly used for interior ALU work.
Financing
State ADU loans:
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Centreville is heavily subdivided into HOA-governed townhouse and single-family communities (Sully Station, Virginia Run, Centre Ridge, etc.). Many HOA covenants restrict accessory use or short-term lodging; check covenants before applying for an ALU permit.
Regulatory overlays (1)
- airport-noise-zone
Centreville sits south/west of Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD). Some northern Centreville parcels fall within the Dulles airport noise-impact area; FAA Part 150 noise contours require disclosure on real-estate transactions.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Fairfax County Zoning Ordinance Chapter 112.2 - Accessory Living Unit provisions, adopted 2021-03-01, last amended 2024-01-01
- 2021-03-01 — Fairfax County Zoning Ordinance Modernization (zMOD) effective (county-ordinance)
Comprehensive rewrite of the Fairfax County Zoning Ordinance to Chapter 112.2; ALU provisions consolidated and modernized but kept the interior-only restriction.
Effect: Reorganized ADU/ALU rules into the current Article 4 location; preserved the prohibition on detached accessory dwellings county-wide. - 2023-09-26 — Fairfax County Zoning Ordinance Amendment ZO 112.2-2023-1 adopted (county-ordinance)
Comprehensive amendment effective 2024-01-01; primarily addressed off-street parking standards in Article 6 of the Zoning Ordinance. ALU provisions in the same chapter remain in force.
Effect: Parking-related cleanups; does not expand ALU detached eligibility.
Known issues (1)
- policy-review — Fairfax County is engaged in ongoing public consultation on potential detached-ADU options (Engage Fairfax ADU process). No regulatory change in force as of 2026-05-13; current rule remains interior-only ALU.
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
- 20122
Post Office
- 14120a Route 29, 20120