New Kent County, Virginia Eviction Risk: Low

New Kent County earns an eviction risk score of 3.1/10 (Low), placing it at 131st of 132 Virginia counties -- the single least-risky county in the Commonwealth for landlords. With 130 other Virginia counties carrying higher risk scores and none falling below it, New Kent sits firmly at the bottom of the risk distribution. The county's only incorporated place, New Kent, scores 3.1/10, consistent with the countywide average. For context, the Virginia statewide average is 4.3/10, meaning New Kent is meaningfully below that baseline.

New Kent County is a rural, predominantly owner-occupied community east of Richmond along the Interstate 64 corridor. The renter share of occupied housing units is just 3.6% -- among the lowest in Virginia -- which means the rental market here is small, with limited tenant-advocacy infrastructure and no local rent stabilization ordinances. Virginia state law preempts any local rent control, so there is no prospect of a municipal cap layered on top of state law. The average asking rent runs approximately $1,763 per month, and rent burden (the share of renter household income spent on rent) stands at 30.3%, a moderate figure that reflects relatively stable housing costs against household incomes in a county where the poverty rate is just 5.3%. These fundamentals -- low renter density, moderate rent burden, low poverty -- combine to produce a regulatory and economic environment that is consistently favorable to landlords relative to the rest of the state.

On the legal side, New Kent County cases are governed entirely by the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (Va. Code § 55.1-1200 et seq.), with no local overlays. Virginia requires only a 5-day notice to pay or quit for nonpayment of rent under Va. Code § 55.1-1245 -- one of the shorter notice windows in the country. Material lease violations require a 21-day cure notice, and non-curable material breaches or month-to-month terminations require 30 days. Once a case is filed, court filing fees run $58 to $90, and uncontested matters in General District Court typically resolve in 21 to 45 days from filing. Contested evictions extend to 45 to 120 days depending on how aggressively a tenant responds. Source-of-income discrimination is not protected under Virginia state law, giving landlords additional screening latitude not available in many other states. Virginia does not require just cause for non-renewal of a fixed-term lease. Together, these statutory conditions explain why New Kent registers the most landlord-favorable score in the state.

New Kent County's 3.1/10 score reflects a combination of a very small rental market (3.6% renter share), low poverty (5.3%), moderate rent burden (30.3%), and a landlord-permissive state statute -- no source-of-income protection, no just-cause requirement, and a statewide preemption of local rent control under Virginia eviction laws law.