ADU Pass
Middleburg
No County portion
Also in: Loudoun County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Middleburg, 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 permitted in both Town of Middleburg (under 1995 town zoning) and the surrounding Loudoun County rural land (under 2023 ZOR). Town approvals require both town zoning compliance and Historic District Review Board approval for exterior modifications. Town runs its own water and sewer utility. County parcels rely on private well/septic. Post-July 2027 SB531 will impose statewide by-right framework with the $500 permit fee cap; Middleburg's historic-district design review may continue under SB531 as long as it does not effectively prohibit by-right ADUs.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 200 | $1,250 | $100,000 | $101,250 |
| midpoint | 600 | $1,800 | $300,000 | $301,800 |
| maximum | 800 | $2,950 | $400,000 | $402,950 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-05)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: with-restrictions Long-term rental permitted under town zoning; modest tenant pool of equestrian-industry workers, vineyard staff, and Salamander Resort employees.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Town of Middleburg requires STR approval; hunt-country / wine-country tourism, Salamander Resort guests, Middleburg Film Festival, and DC weekend visitors drive strong STR demand.
- Office rental: no Detached office rental in town residential districts not permitted.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted under town zoning with HDRB approval for signage and exterior modifications.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist studio is a normal accessory use; Middleburg has thriving art and equestrian-painting community.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Town parcels are mostly small residential lots; agricultural accessory uses largely on surrounding unincorporated Loudoun horse farms (5-acre+).
- Relative support: yes Multigenerational accessory dwelling permitted; SB531 post-2027 will further codify family-flexible by-right.
Incentives
Contacts
Utilities
- Water: Town of Middleburg municipal water (runs own utility for in-town parcels) · 30d connect · $3,800 · separate meter required
- Sewer: Town of Middleburg municipal sewer · 45d connect · $6,500
- Electric: Dominion Energy Virginia (most parcels); NOVEC for some western Loudoun parcels · 30d connect · $2,400
- Gas: Propane (no piped natural gas service to Middleburg) · 14d connect · $2,200
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 11mo · typical 16mo · worst 24mo
Modular pathway inspectors are novice with modular
Middleburg is reached via US Route 50 from both east and west; narrow historic-village side streets and HDRB design expectations make modular delivery and aesthetic acceptance both challenging.
Financing
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Middleburg's village core is mostly older non-HOA parcels; a few newer subdivisions on town periphery have HOAs. Historic district covenants and HDRB review effectively serve a similar role.
Regulatory overlays (2)
- historic-district
Middleburg Historic District covers most of the town core. Town Historic District Review Board reviews exterior changes (windows, roofing, siding, color, signage, additions). HDRB design review adds 30-60 days and $300-800 in review costs. Federal and state historic rehabilitation tax credits may offset some costs. - other
Surrounding unincorporated parcels sit in Loudoun's Rural Policy Area; equestrian / wine-country land uses dominate adjacent rural land.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Town of Middleburg Zoning Ordinance (1995, as amended), adopted 1995-01-01, last amended 2024-09-12
- 1787-01-01 — Town of Middleburg established (chartered as Middleburg by Leven Powell) (other)
Founded by Leven Powell in 1787 at the halfway point between Alexandria and Winchester on the Ashby Gap Turnpike (now US Route 50).
Effect: Establishes Middleburg as an incorporated Virginia town with separate zoning and ordinance-making authority from Loudoun County. - 1995-01-01 — Town of Middleburg Zoning Ordinance (1995) (local-ordinance)
Current town zoning ordinance establishing residential, commercial, and historic-district zoning categories; HDRB design review for exterior changes within Historic District.
Effect: Active legal framework for Middleburg zoning and accessory-dwelling permission. - 2023-01-01 — Loudoun County 2023 Zoning Ordinance Rewrite (does not apply within Middleburg) (local-ordinance)
Loudoun County's comprehensive zoning rewrite including ADU framework applies to unincorporated parcels only; Middleburg town parcels exempt.
Effect: No direct effect within town; provides ADU framework for adjacent unincorporated Loudoun rural land. - 2026-04-14 — Virginia SB531 signed by Governor Spanberger (state-law)
Statewide ADU by-right mandate; caps permit fees at $500; effective July 1, 2027.
Effect: May compel Middleburg to permit ADUs by-right in single-family residential districts. Historic-district design review may continue as long as it does not effectively prohibit ADUs.
Known issues (3)
- policy-review — Adds 30-60 days versus standard western Loudoun rural permitting; design iteration cycles common.
- policy-review — Architectural fees 15-25 percent above non-historic equivalents; modern materials prohibited; design changes typical after HDRB feedback.
- policy-review — Some rural parcels adjacent to town are categorically barred from ADUs by easement terms regardless of zoning.
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
- 20118
Post Office
- 113 W Washington St, 20117