Should I clear or bush hog land before listing it?
No listing rule read requires either: the SWVAR MLS accepts a plat, map or aerial of the specific property as a land listing's required photo. Virginia's erosion statute names clearing and grading, not mowing or bush hogging, as land disturbance, with control requirements outside Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas from 10,000 square feet or a lower local figure. Clearing land use ground can change its qualifying use.
Cutting back what grows again, or removing what does not: the statute's definition names only the second
Owners getting a tract ready tend to say "clearing it up" about two jobs that have little in common. One is cutting back what grows again every year: a bush hog pass over a field gone to briars, mowing along a farm road. The other is removing what does not grow back on its own schedule: trees, stumps, roots, and the soil that comes with them when a machine grades a pad or a drive.
Virginia's erosion and stormwater law sorts those two jobs for you, at least partway. Va. Code 62.1-44.15:24 defines land disturbance as a man-made change to the land surface that may result in soil erosion or change its runoff characteristics, "including construction activity such as the clearing, grading, excavating, or filling of land." Clearing and grading are named. Mowing and bush hogging are not named anywhere in the statute text read for this answer.
That does not settle mowing in the other direction either. Va. Code 62.1-44.15:34 F 1 takes minor land-disturbing activities out of the article, including home gardens, individual home landscaping, repairs and maintenance work, unless federal law requires otherwise. No source read here applies that exemption to a bush hog, so whether a particular mowing job is maintenance work or something more is a question for the county's erosion and sediment control authority or DEQ, not a rule this page can print.
| The job | What the statute text says | Who settles a close case |
|---|---|---|
| Mowing or bush hogging vegetation that grows back | Not named in the definition or the exemptions read here | The county's erosion and sediment control authority, or DEQ |
| Clearing trees and stumps, grading, excavating or filling | Named in the definition of land disturbance | The same authority, once the area disturbed is known |
What a land listing asks of the ground: an accurate picture, not a mowed one
No listing rule read for this answer requires a cleared or mowed tract. In the SWVAR MLS, at least one photo has to be an exterior front view of the structure, with an exception for farms or land: a plat, map or aerial of the specific property is acceptable.
What the rules do care about is accuracy. Every photo uploaded to that MLS has to be representative of the property, the landscape and the views. The Public Remarks field takes only information descriptive of and relevant to an accurate portrayal of the listed property. And under 18VAC135-20-190 B 3, any property information a licensee provides and controls in advertising must be consistent with the property condition and its current contract status.
So the order of the work matters. If a field is going to be bush hogged or a drive cleared before a sale, doing it before the photographs keeps the pictures and the ground in agreement. Doing it after means the pictures describe a tract that no longer looks that way.
Where clearing becomes regulated: 10,000 square feet, and one acre
Once trees and stumps come out, the size of the disturbed area starts to matter. Outside a Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area, Va. Code 62.1-44.15:34 E 2 a applies soil erosion control requirements and water quantity technical criteria to any activity that disturbs 10,000 square feet or more, and a locality may reduce that threshold to a smaller area.
What a plan under that rule contains, and how it gets approved, is set out in what an E and S plan is. Separately, land-disturbing activity of one acre or more, or less than an acre that is part of a larger common plan of development or sale reaching one acre, may be required to obtain permit coverage under the Board's regulations.
Two things a seller cannot read off the statute: whether the county has set a threshold below 10,000 square feet, and which office reviews clearing there. Both are questions for the county before a machine is on the ground, not after.
Fence lines are their own subject. What an existing or planned fence carries into a sale is covered in does fencing help sell land.
Clearing for pasture and cutting timber carry conditions of their own
The erosion article has a farm exception, and it is narrower than it sounds. Va. Code 62.1-44.15:34 F 6 excludes clearing of lands specifically for bona fide agricultural purposes, and the management, tilling, planting or harvesting of agricultural, horticultural or forest crops, unless federal law requires otherwise.
The same subsection then limits the timber half. The exception does not apply to harvesting forest crops unless the area is reforested, artificially or naturally, under Chapter 11 of Title 10.1, or "is converted to bona fide agricultural or improved pasture use" as the statute describes. Cutting a stand so a lot shows better is not a purpose that exception names, and whether a particular cut fits it is a question for the county's erosion and sediment control authority.
If the trees are cut to be hauled away for manufacturing, a second statute applies. Under Va. Code 10.1-1181.2 H, the operator notifies the State Forester of a commercial timber harvest before completion and no later than three working days after the operation begins. Commercial harvesting there means harvesting trees mainly to transport them to another site for further manufacturing.
Whether the timber should be sold before listing or left to convey with the ground is a different decision, taken up on selling your land. Whether a stand needs a professional count before either path is in do I need a timber cruise before selling.
On land use ground, the clearing question is also a tax question
Land taxed on its use value sits under one more rule. Va. Code 58.1-3237 A makes land in the program subject to roll-back taxes when the use by which it qualified changes to a nonqualifying use. Except as a local ordinance under subsection G provides, a change of its zoning to a more intensive use at the request of the owner or his agent does the same.
Clearing a wooded tract enrolled for its forest use, or grading a pasture into a building pad, may change the qualifying use. Whether a specific job changes the qualifying use is the commissioner of the revenue's call, and it is worth asking before the work rather than explaining it after. The events that start rollback taxes, and the ones that do not, are set out in what triggers rollback taxes.
A sale by itself is a different matter: subsection D sets the conditions under which a change in ownership leaves roll-back liability unattached, and how that plays out when enrolled ground is listed is covered in selling land that is in land use, and the program itself under land use taxation in the glossary.
| The question | Who answers it |
|---|---|
| Is this mowing job maintenance work or land disturbance? | The county's erosion and sediment control authority, or DEQ |
| Has the county set a threshold below 10,000 square feet? | The county |
| Is the parcel enrolled in land use, and would this clearing change its qualifying use? | The commissioner of the revenue |
| Does a timber harvest need notice? | The State Forester, Virginia Department of Forestry |
| What is the tract worth as it stands, or cleared? | An opinion of value, or a licensed appraiser |
Weighing what to cut back on a tract before it is listed?
Tell Lowell what is on the ground now, brush, trees or open field, and what you had in mind. He will look over the ground with you and point each rule question to the office that answers it before any equipment goes in. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions this raises
If the erosion statute does not name bush hogging, does that make it exempt?
Not by itself. The definition of land disturbance names clearing, grading, excavating and filling, and Va. Code 62.1-44.15:34 F 1 exempts minor land-disturbing activities including maintenance work, but no source read for this answer applies either provision to mowing. Silence in the text is not an exemption, so whether a particular job counts is a question for the county's erosion and sediment control authority or DEQ.
Who has to notify the state if trees are cut and hauled off before the sale?
Under Va. Code 10.1-1181.2 H, the operator of a commercial timber harvest notifies the State Forester before the harvest is complete and no later than three working days after the operation begins. Commercial harvesting there means cutting trees mainly to transport them to another site for further manufacturing. The Virginia Department of Forestry answers questions about how the notice is given.
Can the listing photos show the land before it was cleared?
Photos in the SWVAR MLS must be representative of the property, landscape and views, and under 18VAC135-20-190 B 3 property information a licensee controls in advertising must be consistent with the property's condition. If the ground changes after the photos are taken, the pictures no longer describe it, which is why the order of the work and the photography matters.
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 62.1-44.15:24, definitions (land disturbance) Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 62.1-44.15:34, regulated land-disturbing activities and exemptions Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 10.1-1181.2, notice of commercial timber harvest Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 58.1-3237, roll-back taxes Virginia General Assembly
- 18VAC135-20-190, advertising by licensees Virginia Real Estate Board
- MLS quick reference handout (photo and Public Remarks rules) Southwest Virginia Association of REALTORS