Sandbridge Beach, VA Airbnb & Short-Term Rental Regulations 2026

Regulation Overview

A quiet barrier-island beach community at the southern end of Virginia Beach, and — by deliberate city policy — one of only two places in the city where short-term rentals are permitted by right.

Governing jurisdiction: City of Virginia Beach — Sandbridge Special Service District. Local position: Annual STR zoning permit ($500/yr) — by right.

Virginia State Law

Virginia does not broadly preempt local short-term rental regulation. Instead Va. Code § 15.2-983 (2020) affirmatively authorises a locality to establish a short-term rental registry by ordinance and require annual registration.

• A locality may require the operator's name, the address of each property offered, and — where the operator is a lessee or sublessee — an attestation that the owner has granted permission.
• A locality may limit a lessee or sublessee operator to registering one property per locality, but may not otherwise prohibit an owner-permitted lessee from operating.
• Exemptions from the registry include real-estate-licensee-represented owners, timeshares, and already-licensed lodging providers such as hotels and B&Bs.

There is no separate state short-term rental licence. Everything else — including Virginia Beach's zoning permit and its overlay restrictions — is a local creation layered on top of that authorisation. Localities also set their own transient occupancy taxes.

Sandbridge Beach Rules

Sandbridge is unusual: it is privileged by Virginia Beach's short-term rental policy rather than restricted by it.

The city's 2021 ordinance restricted by-right short-term rentals to just two designated overlay areas — the Oceanfront Resort area and the Sandbridge Special Service District — and banned them elsewhere in the city unless a neighbourhood affirmatively opts in. If you want to run a short-term rental in Virginia Beach, Sandbridge is one of the two places the city has said yes in advance.

• Every property in the district is eligible. There is no cap on the number of permits, and no owner-occupancy requirement — this is an investor-friendly designation by design.
• Annual STR zoning permit — the city-wide fee is $500 per year per property.
• Inspection: an annual city inspection covering smoke alarms and fire/CO detectors, unless the property is run by a licensed professional short-term rental management company.
• Tax: owners register with the Commissioner of the Revenue and remit transient occupancy tax. Sandbridge properties are not required to submit proof of that registration as a condition of the zoning permit, but the obligation still stands.

We could not confirm the specific per-unit occupancy limit or the penalty amounts for operating without a permit; confirm both with Virginia Beach Planning.

Buyer Due Diligence Checklist

Before you write an offer on a short-term rental in this market:

• Get a written determination from the governing jurisdiction for the specific parcel. Verbal guidance from anyone else is not diligence.
• Establish which jurisdiction governs — incorporated city and unincorporated county can differ sharply within a few miles.
• Ask whether an existing permit transfers on sale. In several markets it does not, and a listing marketed as a running short-term rental may convey nothing of the sort.
• Read the HOA or condo CC&Rs during your inspection period. Private covenants bind even where the jurisdiction permits the use, and discovering a prohibition after closing is not grounds to unwind the sale.
• Model revenue against the legal occupancy cap, not the bedroom count. Where a cap is low, it — not the house — sets your ceiling.

Frequently Asked Questions