Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Virginia

I am not sure exactly what you mean by a "move in fee," but I am nto aware of any restriction on this.

In particular, do you mean a move-in fee if someone actually moves in or a PENALTY if someone does not move in?

In general, Virginia is a State that believes sttrongly in contract. So whatever you can get someone to AGREE to will generally be upheld and enforced by the Court.

Where you might run into some legal difficulty is where you include a PENALTY that is greater than your actual costs. When enforceing a contract, a court will award you any ACTUAL losses to compensate you for what you ahve lost. But they will generally NOT uphold a penalty for breaking a contract in excess of any real or actual losses you have experienced.

There is a system allowed for "liquidated damages" when the parties both agree that actual losses will be difficult to determine and they agree in advance to payment of a specific amount.

If the fee is not reasonably related to ACTUAL costs of a move-in, a court might say it is excessive (that is, woudl not be enforced if you tried to collect in court) and is really a penalty.

If you can explain why your move-in fee is reasonably based on your actual expenses -- including your time probably -- of preparing the house for a new renter and the actual work that you go through to rent to a new tenant.