How the statute calculates roof age

The section defines its own arithmetic, which closes an argument insurers and owners have been having. Actual age is calculated using “(i) the last date on which 100 percent of the asphalt shingle roof's surface area was built or replaced in accordance with the building code in effect at such time or (ii) the initial date of a partial asphalt shingle roof replacement when subsequent partial…replacements were completed that resulted in 100 percent of the asphalt shingle roof's surface area being built or replaced.”

Limb (ii) is the useful one for a phased replacement. A Virginia owner who replaced half a roof in 2018 and the rest in 2021 dates the roof from 2018 — the start of the sequence, not the end.

Where this reaches a community association, and where it does not

Virginia associations divide roughly into two patterns on roofs.

Where the owner owns and insures the roof — detached single-family homes in a covenanted subdivision, and many townhouse communities — subsection K applies directly to that owner's policy. The insurer can no longer force replacement on age alone, and an inspector's report of five years' remaining life is a complete answer.

Where the association maintains and insures the roof — most Virginia condominiums, where the roof is a common element covered by the master policy — subsection K does not apply. Section 38.2-2114 governs policies “written to insure owner-occupied dwellings”. A condominium master policy is commercial property insurance, and the protections here do not extend to it.

So the Virginia owner who benefits is the one who already controls their own roof. The condominium owner whose building faces a master-policy roof demand gets nothing from this section.

The architectural review collision

There is a practical wrinkle for Virginia boards. Where an insurer previously demanded replacement, an owner in a covenanted community had a compelling reason to bring an architectural application — and boards approved them readily.

From 2027, an owner with an inspector's report can decline to replace. A board that would rather see the roof replaced, for appearance or for uniformity across a streetscape, cannot use the insurer's demand as leverage because the demand is no longer lawful.

Whether the association can require replacement itself depends entirely on the declaration. Virginia associations have maintenance-standard powers where the recorded documents grant them, and Sainani v. Belmont Glen remains the leading Virginia authority for the proposition that a board's aesthetic authority does not extend past what the declaration actually says.

The market this responds to

Virginia homeowners have seen sharp increases and shrinking availability. The Virginian-Pilot reported in January 2026 that Hampton Roads premiums rose an average of 33 percent between 2021 and 2024. Roof-age underwriting is one of the mechanisms behind that, and subsection K is a legislative answer to it.

The conditions that change the answer

Effective January 1, 2027. The Code currently carries two versions of § 38.2-2114, one effective until that date and one after.

Asphalt shingle roofs only. Other roofing materials are outside subsection K.

The inspection is at the owner's or purchaser's expense. The statute says so.

“Solely” is doing work. The protection is against refusal based solely on roof age or condition. Subsection A's existing cancellation grounds — including physical changes rendering the property uninsurable as determined from a physical inspection — are untouched.

What to watch next

Whether anything comparable reaches condominium master policies. Nothing in the 2026 session did, and Virginia's association insurance sections, §§ 55.1-1827 and 55.1-1963, were not amended.