ADU Pass
Leesburg
No County portion
Also in: Loudoun County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Leesburg, No County, Virginia navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 2 ZIP codes.
Map
ADU details
ADU legality: allowed-with-restrictions
Accessory dwelling permitted under Town of Leesburg Section 9.4.1 in single-family zones. Old and Historic District (downtown core) parcels require BAR design review which substantially extends timeline and constrains exterior changes. Homestay rentals (STR) regulated separately by Town. Process requires Town zoning permit + Loudoun County building permit (dual-jurisdictional).
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 250 | $1,100 | $102,500 | $103,600 |
| 600 | 600 | $1,450 | $246,000 | $247,450 |
| midpoint | 700 | $1,550 | $287,000 | $288,550 |
| maximum | 900 | $1,750 | $369,000 | $370,750 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-05)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Accessory dwelling long-term rental permitted per Section 9.4.1; owner-occupancy of primary typically required.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Town of Leesburg regulates short-term rentals as 'Homestay Rentals' with separate registration. Owner-occupancy of principal dwelling typically required. Permit and transient occupancy tax apply.
- Office rental: no Third-party office rental in residential accessory dwelling not permitted.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted under Town zoning with standard restrictions.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist/studio use of accessory structure permitted; Historic District design review for exterior changes.
- Agriculture: no Town of Leesburg is largely zoned residential and commercial; agricultural uses not typical.
- Relative support: yes Multigenerational accessory-dwelling use is a primary intended use case (per the ordinance's Guest House sub-provision 9.4.1.3).
Incentives
Contacts
Utilities
- Water: Town of Leesburg Department of Utilities · 30d connect · $6,200
- Sewer: Town of Leesburg Department of Utilities (wastewater treatment plant on Tuscarora Creek) · 30d connect · $7,800
- Electric: Dominion Energy Virginia (most of Leesburg) or Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC) for some outlying parcels · 28d connect · $2,100
- Gas: Washington Gas (natural gas widely available in Leesburg) · 21d connect · $1,800
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 10mo · typical 15mo · worst 22mo
Modular pathway inspectors are experienced with modular
Leesburg accessible from I-81, US 15, Route 7; Historic District parcels have narrow streets that may complicate large modular drops.
Financing
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Most newer Leesburg subdivisions carry HOAs; HOA covenants commonly restrict accessory dwellings even where town zoning permits. Older downtown parcels are often HOA-free.
Regulatory overlays (2)
- historic-district
Leesburg Old and Historic District (NRHP 1970, expanded 1990s) covers much of downtown. BAR Certificate of Appropriateness required for any exterior alteration visible from the public way; adds 60-120 days to project timeline. - flood-zone
Tuscarora Creek and Town Branch floodplain affects some downtown Leesburg parcels (FEMA Zone AE).
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Town of Leesburg Zoning Ordinance (April 2023) Section 9.4.1 Accessory Dwellings, adopted 1991-01-01, last amended 2023-04-01
- 1758-01-01 — Town of Leesburg founded; laid out as 60-acre grid (founding)
Town established 1758 around Nicholas Minor's tavern; became Loudoun County seat. The original grid forms today's Old and Historic District.
Effect: Historic-district overlay constrains accessory-dwelling design and siting in the downtown core. - 1970-01-01 — Leesburg Old and Historic District placed on National Register of Historic Places (historic-designation)
NRHP listing 1970; boundary expanded in 1990s to include late 19th and early 20th century resources. Establishes design-review framework via Town Board of Architectural Review.
Effect: Historic-district parcels (much of downtown Leesburg) face BAR review for accessory-dwelling proposals affecting exterior. - 2023-04-01 — Town of Leesburg Zoning Ordinance April 2023 edition (town-ordinance)
Current edition of Town of Leesburg Zoning Ordinance; Section 9.4.1 governs accessory dwellings.
Effect: Establishes current accessory-dwelling framework that grandfathers under SB531. - 2026-04-14 — Virginia SB531 signed by Governor Spanberger (state-bill)
Statewide ADU mandate effective July 1, 2027.
Effect: Leesburg's pre-2026 accessory-dwelling ordinance qualifies for SB531 grandfather; town may opt to align voluntarily with the $500 fee cap.
Known issues (3)
- other — Adds coordination overhead; total timeline 60-120 days. Owners benefit from working with a contractor experienced in both Town and County review.
- policy-review — Adds 60-120 days and design constraints; mass-produced ADU kits often need substantial modification to pass BAR.
- other — Owners must check HOA covenants before designing; some HOAs prohibit ADUs entirely.
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 Codes
- 20177
- 20178
Post Office
- 15 E Market St, 20178
- 25 Catoctin Cir SE, 20175
Locale Names
- Downtown Leesburg