Most owners think about income in one line: rent. But a rental property often contains assets that are not being charged for — a garage used to store the previous owner’s paint cans, a parking pad nobody claims, a shed, a basement, a laundry hookup with no machines in it.
Ancillary income is the practice of turning those into revenue. Done well, it improves yield without raising rent and sometimes without any capital at all. Done badly, it produces nickel-and-diming that costs you a good resident, or a fee that runs into a legal problem.
Quick Answer
The best ancillary income opportunities are ones where you already own an underused asset — a garage, parking space, or storage area — or where you provide something of genuine value the resident would otherwise buy. Disclose every charge clearly and up front; Virginia requires a fee disclosure statement, and undisclosed fees create disputes and legal exposure. Never charge for an assistance animal, and be careful with utility billing arrangements, which are regulated.
Start With Assets You Already Own
Garages and parking
The most reliably valuable and most consistently overlooked. In parts of Richmond where street parking is genuinely difficult — The Fan, Oregon Hill, Jackson Ward, Church Hill, Scott’s Addition — a dedicated off-street space is worth real money to a resident, and to some it is close to decisive in choosing a property.
Options:
- Include it and price it into rent, which is simplest and usually best for retention
- Offer it as a separately priced add-on, which surfaces the value explicitly
- Rent a detached garage or extra space separately where it does not compromise the tenancy
The trap is renting the garage to a third party while a resident lives in the house. It creates access, security, and liability complications that rarely justify the revenue. Offer it to your resident first.
Storage
Basements, attics, sheds, and outbuildings. Two rules: only offer space that is dry, secure, and safe, and define it in writing — what space, what may be stored, and who is responsible for what.
Offering an unconditioned Richmond basement or crawl space as storage is a bad idea. Humidity ruins belongings and you will end up in a dispute about it. If the space is not suitable, say so explicitly in the lease rather than leaving it ambiguous.
Boat, trailer, and RV parking
On larger county lots in Hanover, Goochland, Powhatan, or rural Chesterfield, space for a boat or trailer can be genuinely valuable. Check zoning and any covenants first — many communities prohibit it outright.
Services and Amenities Worth Charging For
| Offering | Capital needed | Resident value | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washer and dryer provided | Moderate | High | Often better recovered through higher rent than a separate fee |
| Lawn care included | None (pass-through) | Moderate to high | Also protects your curb appeal and neighbor relations |
| Furnished or partly furnished | High | High for specific segments | Suits corporate, medical, and student tenancies |
| Air filter delivery | Low | Low to moderate | Genuinely protects your HVAC — a rare win-win |
| Pest control included | Moderate | Moderate | Prevents small problems becoming large ones |
| EV charging | Moderate to high | Growing | Check electrical capacity first |
| Internet included | Varies | Moderate | Works best in multi-unit properties |
| Coin or card laundry | Moderate | Moderate | Only makes sense in multi-unit buildings |
The pattern worth noticing: the best offerings are ones that also protect your asset. Filter delivery keeps the HVAC healthy. Lawn care keeps the property presentable. Pest control catches problems early. You are being paid to do something you wanted done anyway.
Pet Policy: Income and a Serious Caveat
Pet fees, pet deposits, and pet rent are common and can be meaningful, particularly given how many renters have pets and how few properties accept them. Allowing pets often expands your applicant pool enough to reduce vacancy, which is worth more than the fee itself.
The caveat is absolute: assistance animals are not pets. Under Va. Code § 36-96.3:1, a person with a disability maintaining an assistance animal cannot be required to pay a pet fee, deposit, or additional rent. They remain responsible for physical damage on the same terms as any resident with a pet.
Make sure your accounting system cannot automatically apply pet rent to a resident with an approved assistance animal. This is a common and entirely avoidable fair housing violation. Our guide to assistance animals and fair housing covers the framework.
Utility Billing: Regulated Territory
Recovering utility costs is a legitimate strategy and a regulated one. Virginia addresses energy submetering, energy allocation equipment, water and sewer submetering, and ratio utility billing systems in § 55.1-1212.
The main approaches:
- Tenant holds the account directly — simplest and cleanest where the property is individually metered
- Submetering — actual measured usage billed to each unit
- Ratio utility billing — allocating a master-metered cost across units by a formula
- Included in rent — simplest for the resident, and you absorb the variability
If you are considering submetering or ratio billing, read the statute and get advice before implementing. Requirements around disclosure, methodology, and administrative fees are specific, and getting them wrong turns a modest revenue item into a dispute.
Also note that a landlord may withhold a reasonable portion of the security deposit for an unpaid final water, sewer, or other utility balance that is the tenant’s obligation to a third-party provider — but only with the specific advance notice that § 55.1-1226 requires. The notice requirement is not optional.
Disclose Everything
This is the part that determines whether ancillary income helps or hurts you.
Virginia requires a fee disclosure statement under § 55.1-1204.1, and beyond the legal requirement, transparency is simply better business. Residents do not object to a garage costing money. They object to discovering it after they signed.
Practices worth adopting:
- Advertise the all-in monthly cost, not a headline rent that excludes mandatory fees. Applicants comparing properties will find out anyway, and feeling misled at application is a bad start.
- Itemize every recurring charge in the lease with the amount and what it covers.
- Distinguish optional from mandatory. If a fee is genuinely optional, let residents decline it.
- Do not bundle things nobody wants to inflate the effective rent. Residents notice.
- Review annually against what the service actually costs you.
The reputational math matters here. A resident who feels nickel-and-dimed leaves at the end of the term, and turnover — vacancy, make-ready, marketing, screening — will typically cost you more than a year of the fee earned.
Where the Real Money Usually Is
An honest closing observation. Ancillary income is worth pursuing, but for most single-family and small rental owners the larger gains are elsewhere:
- Reducing vacancy — a few weeks of avoided vacancy typically exceeds a year of garage rent. See our guide to reducing vacancy time.
- Retaining good residents — avoiding a turnover cycle is worth more than most fees.
- Correct initial pricing — being meaningfully under market costs more than any add-on recovers.
- Appealing an over-assessment — a permanent expense reduction. See our guide to appealing a property tax assessment.
- Preventative maintenance — deferring capital failures is a large, if invisible, return.
Treat ancillary income as a sensible optimization on top of a well-run property, not as a substitute for running one well.
Pricing It Sensibly
Once you have identified an opportunity, the question is what to charge. A few principles keep this from going wrong.
Price against the alternative, not against your cost. A garage space is worth what a resident would otherwise pay for parking, or what the inconvenience of street parking costs them — not what the garage costs you to own. In a neighborhood with genuinely difficult parking, that number is higher than owners assume. In a neighborhood with easy street parking, it is close to zero.
Bundle or unbundle deliberately. Bundling into rent produces a simpler transaction, a higher headline rent, and better retention. Unbundling surfaces the value explicitly and lets residents opt out of things they do not want. Bundling generally works better for things everyone wants; unbundling for things only some do.
Test it at turnover. The lowest-risk time to introduce a new charge is with a new resident, where it is simply part of the offer rather than a change to an existing arrangement. Introducing fees mid-tenancy, where the lease even permits it, is where resentment comes from.
Watch the total. Applicants compare all-in monthly cost. If rent plus fees puts you above comparable properties, you will sit vacant regardless of how the number is constructed. Vacancy costs far more than the fees recover.
Review annually against actual cost. A lawn care charge set three years ago may no longer cover what the vendor charges. Equally, a fee that has become pure margin on a service you no longer provide should be removed.
The underlying test is simple: would you be comfortable explaining this charge to the resident face to face? If yes, it is probably fine. If not, reconsider it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I charge extra for a garage or parking space?
Yes, either as a separately priced add-on or built into rent. In neighborhoods with difficult street parking it is genuinely valuable. Offer it to your resident before renting it to a third party.
Can I rent out basement storage to my tenant?
Only if the space is dry, secure, and safe, and only with the terms defined in writing. Unconditioned basements in Richmond’s humidity are a poor storage offering and a likely dispute.
Can I charge pet rent?
Yes for pets. No for assistance animals — Virginia Code § 36-96.3:1 prohibits charging a pet fee, deposit, or additional rent for an assistance animal.
Can I bill tenants for utilities in a multi-unit property?
Submetering and ratio utility billing are permitted but regulated under § 55.1-1212, with specific requirements. Read the statute and get advice before implementing.
Do I have to disclose fees up front?
Yes. Virginia requires a fee disclosure statement under § 55.1-1204.1, and advertising an all-in cost is better practice regardless.
Is providing a washer and dryer worth it?
Usually, and generally better recovered through higher rent than a separate fee. It broadens your applicant pool, particularly for family tenancies.
Should I include lawn care?
Often yes. It costs a predictable amount, protects curb appeal and your relationship with neighbors, and removes a common source of resident friction.
Can I keep a portion of the deposit for unpaid utilities?
Section 55.1-1226 permits withholding a reasonable portion for an unpaid final water, sewer, or other utility balance owed to a third-party provider — but only with the specific advance notice the statute requires.
Does charging extra fees hurt retention?
It can, if fees feel hidden or arbitrary. Transparent, optional, genuinely valuable offerings do not. Undisclosed mandatory fees do.
Find the Value Already in Your Property
Most owners are surprised by what a property could achieve once pricing, add-ons, and vacancy are looked at together. Mission Realty Property Management works with owners across Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield, and Hanover on exactly that.
- Get a free rental analysis for your property
- See our property management services and pricing
- Explore our owner resources
- Read more investor guides in the Learning Center
- Or contact our team
This article is general information and is not legal advice. Fee, utility billing, and fair housing requirements are specific — consult a Virginia attorney before implementing new charges.
