Why records is the category that generates findings

Records access is unusual among association disputes in being almost entirely rule-governed. Section 55.1-1828 of the Property Owners' Association Act sets out what books and records an association must keep and the terms on which a member may examine them; the Condominium Act has its counterpart. There is a list, a procedure and a timeframe.

That structure is exactly what the Ombudsman is equipped to assess. A board that refused an inspection either complied with the statute or did not, and the answer does not require weighing the reasonableness of anything.

Contrast an architectural denial. Whether a board acted reasonably in refusing a fence colour is a question about the declaration and about judgment — two things the Office is not authorised to review. The complaint may be entirely justified and still produce no determination.

Worth noting: § 55.1-1828 was last amended in 2019. The 2025 and 2026 sessions did not touch it.

Meetings and executive sessions, at sixteen

The second category has the same character. Virginia's association statutes prescribe notice, open-meeting requirements and the permitted grounds for going into executive session. A board that resolved into closed session for a reason not on the list has produced a reviewable conflict with law.

The Ombudsman's own determinations index names the associations and the sections at issue — one July 2025 determination concerned § 55.1-1825, the association's authority to borrow.

Reserve study, at six

Six determinations concerned reserve studies, which is notable because Virginia's requirement is specific and mechanical. Section 55.1-1826(B) requires the board to “conduct at least once every five years a study to determine the necessity and amount of reserves required to repair, replace, and restore the capital components”, to review the results at least annually, and to make budget adjustments it deems necessary.

Subsection C then specifies what the budget must contain where the study indicates a need to budget for reserves, down to “a statement of the amount of reserves recommended in the study and the amount of current cash for replacement reserves.”

Subsection D is where the discretion sits: the board “shall have the discretion to meet repair and replacement requirements through replacement reserves, additional assessments, or borrowed funds.” Virginia mandates the study, not the funding level. A determination in this category is therefore almost always about a missing or stale study rather than about an underfunded one.

Where the determinations are published

DPOR publishes individual determinations with case numbers, association names and dates. That makes the Virginia record searchable in a way that most states' are not, and it means an association's determination is a public document.

The conditions that change the answer

The counts are of determinations, not of complaints. Complaints totalled 310 in the same reporting year.

The topic mix reflects jurisdiction, not misconduct. Categories the Office cannot review will never appear, however often they occur.

A determination is a finding of conflict with law or regulation. It is not an order, and it awards nothing.

What to watch next

Section 55.1-1828 has not been amended since 2019 and no 2026 bill proposed to change it. If the records category keeps leading, the pressure for a statutory answer builds — but nothing filed in 2026 was aimed at it.