ADU Pass
Marshall
No County portion
Also in: Fauquier County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Marshall, 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
ADUs are permitted in Marshall under Fauquier County's accessory-dwelling provisions, subject to the Marshall Code's neighborhood-specific dimensional standards and (for detached ADUs) potential special-permit review. SB 531 will streamline this further as of July 1, 2027.
Cost scenarios
Fee breakdown (as of 2025-07)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental of a permitted accessory dwelling is allowed; owner-occupancy of either primary or ADU typically required by county.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Fauquier County permits short-term rentals through a zoning-administrator-issued STR permit; ADU may be used for STR with permit and compliance with parking and occupancy rules. See Fauquier County STR program.
- Office rental: no Office rental to third parties not permitted in residential zones in Marshall service district.
- Home office: yes Home occupations permitted under Fauquier County zoning code with restrictions on signage, traffic, and outside employees.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist/workshop studio is a permitted accessory use in residential zones.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Marshall service district is residential; surrounding Fauquier County agricultural zones permit by-right ag uses. ADUs near agricultural property may qualify for farmworker housing exemption.
- Relative support: yes Family-member occupancy of an ADU is explicitly permitted; SB 531 will eliminate any family-relation restrictions in 2027.
Contacts
Utilities
- Water: Marshall service district: Fauquier County Water & Sanitation Authority (FCWSA) public water; outside district: private well · 45d connect · $8,500
- Sewer: Marshall service district: FCWSA public sewer; outside district: private septic with Virginia Department of Health permitting · 45d connect · $12,000
- Electric: Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC); some areas Dominion Energy · 28d connect · $2,400
- Gas: Washington Gas (limited to Marshall service district); propane prevalent elsewhere · 60d connect · $3,500
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 10mo · typical 14mo · worst 20mo
Modular pathway inspectors are occasional with modular
Marshall's rural roads accommodate modular delivery from I-66; some narrow lanes in the Marshall Town neighborhood limit module size.
Financing
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Marshall has predominantly older single-family stock without HOA covenants; newer subdivisions (Marshall Residential neighborhood) may carry HOA. Virginia POAA does not preempt HOA ADU bans.
Regulatory overlays (2)
- historic-district
Marshall Town neighborhood includes historic Main Street commercial district; design review may apply to ADUs facing or visible from Main Street. - other
Marshall service-district boundary determines public-utility eligibility: properties outside the service district require private well and septic system, materially increasing ADU cost and timeline.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Fauquier County Zoning Ordinance Part 10 (Marshall Code) Section 4-1000 et seq., adopted 2009-01-01, last amended 2023-01-01
- 2015-08-01 — Fauquier County Department of Community Development zoning ordinance covering accessory dwellings (county-ordinance)
Long-standing Fauquier County zoning ordinance establishes accessory-dwelling permissibility in residential and rural zones, including the Marshall service district.
Effect: Marshall ADU permissibility derives from county-level zoning ordinance. - 2026-04-14 — Virginia SB 531 signed: statewide by-right ADUs effective July 1, 2027 (state-law)
Governor Spanberger signed SB 531 mandating localities permit ADUs in single-family zoning as a permitted accessory use, capping permit fees at $500.
Effect: Fauquier County's accessory-dwelling provisions predate Jan 1, 2026 and may qualify for partial grandfathering; SB 531 will still preempt any more-restrictive setback/lot-coverage rules effective July 1, 2027.
Known issues (2)
- other — Outside-district lots face significantly higher ADU project cost and timeline.
- policy-review — Detached ADUs in Marshall outside the Marshall Town neighborhood may face special-permit pathway.
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
- 20116
Post Office
- 8361 W Main St, 20115