Owning or managing rental property in Vermont comes with a learning curve — and honestly, most of us are still climbing it. Between fair housing law, tenant rights, habitability codes, and the day-to-day of running a rental, it’s easy to feel like you’re figuring it out as you go.
The good news: you don’t have to. Vermont has some genuinely excellent (and free) resources built specifically to help landlords and property managers get this right. Here are the ones we think every Vermont housing provider should have bookmarked.
Fair Housing: Know the Law Before You Need It
Fair housing compliance isn’t just a box to check — it protects your tenants and it protects you. The Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO) runs a Fair Housing Project that offers a self-paced, online training built specifically for landlords and housing providers. It covers state and federal fair housing requirements, real examples of what illegal discrimination looks like, accessibility requirements including reasonable accommodations and modifications, and best practices for anyone managing rental housing. It’s also a required training if you’re participating in the Vermont Housing Improvement Program (VHIP).
CVOEO also publishes a dedicated Guide to Fair Housing in Vermont, which breaks down the basics of state and federal fair housing law in plain language — a genuinely useful reference to keep on hand.
Resource: CVOEO Fair Housing Training for Landlords
The Vermont Tenant-Landlord Handbook
If you only bookmark one resource, make it this one. Finding Common Ground: The Definitive Guide to Renting in Vermont is a comprehensive handbook covering everything landlords and tenants need to know about Vermont’s landlord-tenant laws — leases, security deposits, repairs, habitability, terminations, evictions, and more, all explained in plain English. It’s a joint effort between the Vermont Tenants program (run by CVOEO) and the Vermont Landlord Association, and it’s updated frequently, so you’re always working from current information.
Resource: Vermont Tenants Rights & Resources (CVOEO)
Workshops and Ongoing Education
Beyond the written guides, CVOEO runs live and recorded workshops throughout the year covering fair housing, tenant skills, and landlord best practices — including sessions like Fair Housing Fridays and joint tenant-skills/fair-housing trainings. These are a great way to stay current and to ask questions specific to your properties.
Resource: CVOEO Fair Housing & Discrimination — Workshops & Trainings
Vermont Landlord Association
The Vermont Landlord Association (VLA) has represented residential and commercial landlords across the state since 1974. Membership gets you access to a Vermont-compliant lease (a real asset — a lease pulled off the internet often isn’t compliant with state rules), a member forum, a landlord/tenant mediation program, and a member hotline. VLA also publishes free public resources on landlord-tenant law and regularly hosts events and seminars for landlords around the state. As members, we can fully vouch for the value this group can provide!
Resource: Vermont Landlord Association
Local Facebook Communities
Sometimes the most useful resource is just other landlords who’ve been there. A couple of Vermont-based groups worth joining:
- Vermont Area Real Estate Investors — a community for VT-based investors to swap advice, deals, and lessons learned.
- Vermont Rental Housing Providers — a space for discussing landlord-tenant laws, property management tips, and market trends while supporting each other through challenges and successes.
Closer to Home: The Vermont Real Estate Meetup
We host the Vermont Real Estate Meetup (VTREM) because we wanted to see a space where local housing providers and investors could actually talk to each other, in-person — not just read about compliance, but compare notes on what’s really happening in this market. We bring in guest speakers, dig into topics investors are dealing with right now (like Vermont’s housing shortage), and build community among people doing this work across the state.
If you’re a Vermont housing provider or investor, we’d love to have you at the next one.
Resource: Vermont Real Estate Meetup (VTREM) — hosted by Lean Real Estate (us!)
Being a good housing provider in Vermont means staying informed — the laws are there to protect everyone in the rental relationship, tenants and landlords alike. Between CVOEO’s resources and a community like VTREM, there’s no reason to navigate this alone.
Have a resource you think other Vermont housing providers should know about? Reach out — we’re always adding to this list.