Who can give me permission to walk land before I make an offer?
The owner or the owner's agent; on listed land, ask through the listing agent. Virginia makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to go on or stay on another's land without authority of law after being forbidden, orally, in writing or by signs posted where they may be reasonably seen, by the owner, lessee, custodian, their agent or anyone else lawfully in charge. Posted land adds a hunting and fishing rule.
The people who can forbid you the land are the people to ask for a yes
Virginia's trespass statute is written as a list of who may say no. Read it the other way around and it names the people to ask for a yes.
If any person without authority of law goes upon or remains upon the lands, buildings or premises of another, or any portion or area thereof, after having been forbidden to do so, either orally or in writing, by the owner, lessee, custodian, or the agent of any such person, or other person lawfully in charge thereof
Va. Code 18.2-119
The section goes on to cover signs posted by or at the direction of those same people, or by the holder of an easement or right of way authorized to post them, at places where they may be reasonably seen. A person who goes on or stays on the land after being forbidden in one of those ways is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Three things in that text matter to a buyer. First, the owner is not the only voice: a lessee, a custodian, an agent or another person lawfully in charge can forbid entry too. Second, a warning does not have to be a sign; it can be spoken or written. Third, the statute's conditions are the whole of it. It does not say that an unposted field is open to walk, and a web page cannot turn silence into permission. Whether a particular entry was lawful is a question for an attorney.
So the clean way onto land you are thinking of buying is an explicit yes from someone on that list. For ground that is for sale, the person whose yes is easiest to get, and easiest to prove later, is usually the one already acting for the owner in the sale.
Posted land adds a written-consent rule for hunting, fishing and trapping
Virginia treats going on posted ground to hunt, fish or trap as its own offense, with its own consent rule.
Any person who goes on the lands, waters, ponds, boats or blinds of another, which have been posted in accordance with the provisions of ยง 18.2-134.1 ... to hunt, fish or trap except with the written consent of or in the presence of the owner or his agent shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Va. Code 18.2-134
The standard there is higher than a spoken yes: written consent, or the owner or the owner's agent standing there. A buyer who wants to fish the pond or hunt the woods before buying is asking for something different from a walk to look at the ground, and it is worth asking for it separately and in those terms. Licenses and seasons are the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources' to answer.
On listed ground the request goes through the listing agent
When land is listed, the owner has signed a listing agreement with a brokerage, which the Code calls a brokerage agreement, and the licensee on that listing is the working route to the owner's yes.
The licensing rules explain why a showing itself runs through a licensee. Under 18VAC135-20-335 A, only a licensee may show property, hold an open house, or answer questions on listings, contracts and brokerage agreements. Va. Code 54.1-2130 defines showing property to include taking a prospective buyer through a property, and entering a property to give a live, virtual tour to a buyer who is not physically there. That rule is about who conducts a showing. It does not describe a buyer walking alone with the owner's permission, and this page does not stretch it that far.
The seller's licensee does not need any agreement with the buyer to arrange a showing under the seller's brokerage agreement, and the routine help involved does not make the buyer a client. A buyer who has hired a licensee under buyer agency is in a different position: that licensee must enter a brokerage agreement with the buyer before showing the buyer property. Whether a buyer wants a licensee at all is taken up in who represents a buyer without a buyer's agent.
For this office's own current listings, the practical side of arranging a visit is on the current listings page. Whether the seller has to be on hand when buyers come is its own subject, answered under whether a seller needs to be there for showings. And an owner who lives far away can still grant permission through the agent; how a sale runs for an owner who has never stood on the ground is covered in selling land the owner has never visited.
Four steps from a sign on a fence to a walk you are allowed to take
The request itself is short. What makes it work is naming the right person and being specific about what you want to do on the land.
Find who speaks for the owner
On listed land that is the listing agent named on the listing. On unlisted land it is the owner, or a lessee, custodian or other person lawfully in charge.
Ask for a specific visit
Name the day, how long, who is coming with you and what you want to see. A walk to look at the ground, a visit with a well driller and a hunt are three different requests.
Get the yes in a form you can point to
An email or a text from the listing agent or owner confirming the visit is easier to rely on than a remembered phone call, and on posted land hunting, fishing or trapping calls for written consent or the owner's or agent's presence.
Know what the walk can and cannot settle
Standing on the ground shows grade, water and trees. It does not show recorded rights of way or where the lines run.
Use the time on the ground well. What to look at, from access to soil, is laid out in reading land on the ground. Whether the drive you walked in on is a recorded, legal way to the parcel is a separate question, worked through in how to know if land has legal access.
A walk before the offer is a look, not an inspection. Once a contract is signed, it can give the buyer a defined window for surveys, soil work and other checks, the due diligence period, and access during that window is set by the contract. How long that window runs and what it covers is on how long a due diligence period is.
Want to walk one of the current listings before you write an offer?
Say which listing you want to walk and roughly when you could be there. Lowell is the listing agent on the current listings, so the request starts with him. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions this raises
Can a buyer's own agent take me onto land someone else has listed?
A licensee working for a buyer must enter into a brokerage agreement with that buyer before showing property, under Va. Code 54.1-2132. The permission to enter still comes from the owner, and on listed land the request normally runs through the listing agent. Signing with a buyer's agent changes who represents the buyer, not who owns the land.
Does permission to walk a tract also cover hunting or fishing on it?
Treat them as separate requests. On land posted under Va. Code 18.2-134.1, Va. Code 18.2-134 makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to go on it to hunt, fish or trap except with the written consent of, or in the presence of, the owner or the owner's agent. Licenses and seasons are a question for the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Va. Code 18.2-119, trespass after having been forbidden to do so Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 18.2-134, trespass on posted property (posting under 18.2-134.1) Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 54.1-2130, definitions, including showing property Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 54.1-2131, licensees engaged by sellers Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 54.1-2132, licensees engaged by buyers Virginia General Assembly
- 18VAC135-20-335 A, activities only a licensee may perform (Real Estate Board regulations, full chapter) Virginia Real Estate Board