Buying Land in King and Queen County, Virginia

A rural Middle Peninsula county, not to be confused with its similarly named neighbors

King and Queen County sits on Virginia's Middle Peninsula, genuinely rural throughout, with agricultural and forested land making up the bulk of its area. It shares a colonial-era naming convention -- and nothing structurally in common -- with King William County and King George County, two entirely separate Virginia jurisdictions with their own governments and ordinances. If you're researching any of these three counties, double-check which one's actual documents you're reading; the names are genuinely easy to mix up in casual real estate listings and search results.

Zoning: Agricultural (A) and Rural Residential (R-R), with a minor-subdivision path

King and Queen County's Code of Ordinances establishes an Agricultural (A) district covering most of the county's working farmland and open land, and a Rural Residential (R-R) district for lower-density residential use. The R-R district carries a specific, useful provision for a buyer thinking about a small-scale subdivision: it allows minor subdivisions of not more than five lots on secondary roads (Virginia's numbered 600-999 series of state secondary roads), with each resulting lot required to have a minimum area of 2 acres and 200 feet of road frontage. That's a concrete, workable pathway for splitting a modest rural tract into a handful of buildable lots without triggering the county's more involved major-subdivision review process -- worth discussing directly with the county's Planning and Zoning Department if that's your plan.

The county also allows accessory dwelling units in some residential and agricultural zones, though a detached ADU often requires a conditional use permit rather than being allowed by right -- confirm the current rule for your specific district and structure type before assuming an accessory dwelling is automatically permitted. As with any rural Virginia county, the Agricultural (A) district's own minimum lot size and by-right use list should be confirmed directly, since this page did not independently verify those specific figures this session.

Septic, well, and the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act

Septic and well permitting for King and Queen County runs through the Virginia Department of Health's Three Rivers Health District, reachable at 804-758-2381, rather than a county department -- consistent with Virginia's statewide model. Because King and Queen is a Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act locality, it carries an additional, specific obligation beyond the standard state permitting process: mandatory septic tank pump-out every 5 years, a recurring maintenance cost and compliance item worth factoring into your ownership budget on any parcel with an existing onsite system.

Separately, Virginia's HB 2671, effective July 2025, now requires a septic system inspection at the time of property transfer statewide -- meaning any King and Queen parcel with an existing septic system that you're buying should come with (or require you to arrange) a current inspection as part of the transaction, on top of the county's own recurring pump-out schedule. Confirm both requirements' current status and any recent updates directly with the Three Rivers Health District before closing.