Virginia (VA) · Open house rules

Open house rules for Virginia agents

What Virginia asks of an agent at the door: disclosing in writing that you work for the seller once the talk turns substantive, the written permission the Telephone Privacy Protection Act wants before a text, why the buyer agreement comes before the showing, and who the privacy act reaches.

Last reviewed September 1, 2026Every claim links to a primary source

This is not legal advice

We are software people, not lawyers. This page is a plain reading of public Virginia sources, gathered so you can go read them yourself. Rules change, and how any rule applies to your situation is a question for your broker, your association, or an attorney licensed in Virginia.

Tell visitors you work for the seller, in writing

At an open house you are the seller's agent and most visitors walk in unrepresented. Once you have a substantive discussion about the property with a visitor who is not your client and is not represented by another licensee, Virginia requires you to disclose the brokerage relationship you have with the other party to the transaction. That disclosure has to be in writing at the earliest practical time and no later than the moment you first give that visitor specific real estate assistance, and it has to stand out on the page: bold lettering, all capitals, underlined, or inside its own box (Va. Code 54.1-2138(A)). Subsection D also tells you to keep copies of disclosures relative to fully executed purchase contracts for three years.

Upon having a substantive discussion about a specific property or properties in a residential real estate transaction with an actual or prospective buyer or seller who is not the client of the licensee and who is not represented by another licensee, a licensee shall disclose any broker relationship the licensee has with another party to the transaction.

Va. Code § 54.1-2138, Disclosure of brokerage relationship in residential real estate transactions (opens the source in a new tab)

Checked at the source on September 1, 2026

Get written permission before you call or text

Virginia's Telephone Privacy Protection Act governs the follow-up, and as of the 2025 amendment its definition of a telephone solicitation covers text messages sent to a wireless number with a Virginia area code or registered to a Virginia resident, not just voice calls (Va. Code 59.1-510). The cleanest way to be covered is the sign-in form itself: a signed written agreement in which the visitor agrees to be contacted by you, with the phone number written on it, counts as prior express invitation and puts the call outside the do-not-call rules of Va. Code 59.1-514. Without it you are bound by the National Do Not Call Registry (59.1-514(B)), and separately by the 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. window measured in the contacted person's local time, which 59.1-511 lifts only where you have that person's prior consent. If a visitor tells you to stop, or replies STOP or UNSUBSCRIBE to a text, that request has to be honored for at least 10 years (59.1-514(A)).

with that person's prior express invitation or permission as evidenced by a signed, written agreement stating that the person agrees to be contacted by or on behalf of a specific party and including the telephone number to which the call may be placed

Va. Code § 59.1-514, Virginia Telephone Privacy Protection Act (opens the source in a new tab)

Checked at the source on September 1, 2026

The written buyer agreement comes before the showing

Virginia puts the written agreement ahead of the showing by statute, not just by settlement practice. A licensee engaged by a buyer has to enter into a brokerage agreement with that buyer before showing them property, and Va. Code 54.1-2130 defines showing property broadly enough to include taking someone through a house and responding to on-site questions about it that are not of public record. Hosting your own listing is a different situation: under 54.1-2130, unless a licensee enters into a brokerage relationship with a person, that person is presumed to be the licensee's customer rather than a client, so an unrepresented visitor can tour the open house without signing anything. Get the written agreement in place before you start showing that visitor other properties or otherwise begin acting as their agent.

Enter into a brokerage agreement with the prospective buyer prior to showing property to such prospective buyer

Va. Code § 54.1-2132(A)(1), Licensees engaged by buyers (opens the source in a new tab)

Checked at the source on September 1, 2026

What you owe the people on your sign-in list

Virginia regulates visitor data by size of business, not by industry. The Consumer Data Protection Act only reaches businesses that control or process the personal data of at least 100,000 Virginians in a calendar year, or 25,000 while deriving more than 50 percent of gross revenue from the sale of personal data, so one agent's sign-in list sits well below the threshold and the Act's notice and deletion duties do not attach to it. The Act still describes the standard worth working to: Va. Code 59.1-578 tells covered controllers to limit collection to what is adequate, relevant, and reasonably necessary for the purposes they disclosed, to maintain reasonable data security practices, and to describe their handling in a privacy notice. Treat that as the shape of a good sign-in form. Ask for what you will actually use, say on the form what you will use it for, and keep the list somewhere protected.

This chapter applies to persons that conduct business in the Commonwealth or produce products or services that are targeted to residents of the Commonwealth and that (i) during a calendar year, control or process personal data of at least 100,000 consumers

Va. Code § 59.1-576, Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (scope) (opens the source in a new tab)

Checked at the source on September 1, 2026

How this page is put together

Every claim above carries a link to a primary source, plus the exact words from that source that support it. If a claim cannot be quoted, it is not on this page.
Each claim shows the date a human last opened that link and confirmed the quote still says what it says.
We only cover what we could source. A topic you were hoping to find may be one we have not confirmed yet, so treat this as a starting point rather than a complete list of everything Virginia expects of you.

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