Virginia HOA Political Signs

1. Overview: How political signs are regulated in Virginia HOAs

Virginia doesn't bar a homeowners association from prohibiting political signs. An association whose recorded declaration prohibits or restricts signs may enforce that prohibition against a lot owner's political signs, subject to the reasonableness limits Virginia courts apply to board-adopted rules and the strict construction Virginia courts apply to covenants.¹ There's no section of the Property Owners' Association Act (Va. Code § 55.1-1800 et seq.) that grants a lot owner an affirmative right to display political signs over a contrary covenant, and the section widely cited for that proposition, § 55.1-1819.1, is in fact the "Limitation of smoking in development" provision.²

The only political-sign-specific statute is a disclosure requirement. When a lot or unit is sold, the association's resale certificate must state any restriction on the size, placement, or duration of display of political signs, a requirement now codified at Va. Code § 55.1-2310(A)(23) in the Resale Disclosure Act.³ That's a disclosure obligation, not a limit on the association's power to restrict signs.

The protection some owners assume, the First Amendment, doesn't apply. An association is a private entity created by recorded covenants, not a state actor, so the federal free-speech guarantee doesn't constrain it.⁴ Condominiums are governed by the parallel Virginia Condominium Act (§ 55.1-1900 et seq.), which likewise contains no political-sign protection.⁵ The sections that follow set out the legal framework, the operational rules, and recent legislative and judicial activity.

2. The legal framework for political signs

2A. There is no protective political-sign statute

The Property Owners' Association Act, Chapter 18 of Title 55.1, doesn't contain a provision barring an association from prohibiting political signs. The chapter's operative sign and speech sections are § 55.1-1817 (distribution of information by members), § 55.1-1820 (display of the United States flag), § 55.1-1822 (for-sale signs), and § 55.1-1819 (adoption and enforcement of rules); none creates a political-sign right.⁶ The section cited in secondary commentary as the protection, § 55.1-1819.1, reads in full: "Except to the extent that the declaration provides otherwise, the board of directors may establish reasonable rules that restrict smoking in the development, including rules that prohibit smoking in the common areas."²

The 2020 legislation frequently cited as the origin of a protection, House Bill 720 (2020 Acts c. 441), amended only §§ 55.1-1809 and 55.1-1814, the disclosure sections. Its effect, per the official bill summary, was to require the association disclosure packet to "contain a statement of any restrictions on the size, place, duration, and manner of placement or display of political signs by a lot owner on his lot."⁷ That disclosure requirement was relocated in 2023: House Bill 2235 and Senate Bill 1222 (2023 Acts cc. 387, 388) created the Resale Disclosure Act and repealed Article 2 (§§ 55.1-1808 through 55.1-1814) of Chapter 18.⁸ The disclosure now appears at § 55.1-2310(A)(23), which requires the resale certificate to include "[a] statement setting forth any restriction, limitation, or prohibition on the size, placement, or duration of display of political, for sale, or any other signs on the property."³

Because there's no statute, the operative law is contract and common law. A declaration of covenants is a contract among owners, and under the Supreme Court of Virginia's decision in Sainani v. Belmont Glen Homeowners Ass'n, 297 Va. 714, 831 S.E.2d 662 (2019), restrictive covenants "are to be construed most strictly against the grantor and persons seeking to enforce them, and substantial doubt or ambiguity is to be resolved in favor of the free use of property and against restrictions."¹ Board-adopted rules, separately, must be reasonable and authorized by the declaration.⁶

Two related provisions must be kept distinct. Section 15.2-109 bars a locality from prohibiting political campaign signs on private property, but Virginia Attorney General Opinion No. 04-060 (Sept. 30, 2004) concluded that "the restriction imposed by § 15.2-109 on a locality's authority to regulate the display of political campaign signs on private property does not apply to private homeowners' associations."⁹ The flag provisions (§ 55.1-1820 for planned communities and § 55.1-1951 for condominiums) do protect display of the United States flag, subject to the association bearing the burden to show its restrictions are necessary to protect a substantial interest; those are flag provisions, distinct from political-sign protections.¹⁰

2B. The First Amendment and the source of any protection

The First Amendment limits government, not private parties. Municipalities are constrained by the First Amendment when they regulate political signs, but a community association created by recorded covenants is a private actor, and its covenants are a contract among owners; the First Amendment therefore doesn't apply to it.⁴ The common misconception is that a homeowner has a constitutional right to display political signs against the association. Whatever protection a Virginia owner has comes from covenant construction and the reasonableness limit on board rules, not the Constitution.

Two frequently cited United States Supreme Court decisions, Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015) and City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising (2022), concern municipal sign codes and the government's power to regulate signs; they don't constrain community associations.⁴ The Virginia Constitution protects free speech (Article I, Section 12), but no Virginia decision has been located applying that provision to a private association's sign restrictions, so the state constitution isn't asserted as an independent source of any owner protection.

2C. How covenants operate, and their limits

Order of operations in Virginia runs opposite to the owner-protective states. If the declaration prohibits political signs, the association may enforce that prohibition, and the board has no statute overriding it. If the covenants are silent, the board may adopt rules governing signs, provided the declaration authorizes rulemaking and the rule is reasonable.⁶ The limits on the association are three: the covenant must actually reach the display in question (strict construction against enforcement), any board rule must be reasonable, and enforcement must be procedurally correct and consistent.¹

What isn't protected: a lot owner has no statutory shield against a valid covenant banning political signs, and no First Amendment claim against the association. The practical protections are the disclosure requirement (which alerts a buyer to the restriction before purchase) and the doctrines of waiver, abandonment, and selective enforcement, which can defeat inconsistent enforcement. The operational takeaway: in Virginia an association may prohibit political signs by covenant and may adopt reasonable sign rules where the covenants are silent, but it must construe and enforce its covenants carefully and consistently.

3. Operational rules for Virginia associations

A. What an association may do

• Enforce a recorded covenant that prohibits or restricts political signs on a lot (Property Owners' Association Act, § 55.1-1800 et seq.; condominiums under the Virginia Condominium Act, § 55.1-1900 et seq.), because no statute overrides such a covenant.^6,5
• Adopt reasonable board rules regulating signs where the declaration authorizes rulemaking and the covenants are silent (§ 55.1-1819 for planned communities; § 55.1-1959 for condominiums).⁶

B. What limits an association

• Rules must be reasonable and covenants are construed strictly against the party enforcing them; ambiguity is resolved in favor of the free use of property (Sainani, 297 Va. 714).¹
• A covenant that bans "political campaign signs" reaches only electoral advocacy; it doesn't, as written, reach political viewpoint speech generally, per the Court of Appeals of Virginia in 2025.¹¹
• Selective or viewpoint-based enforcement exposes the association to waiver, abandonment, and estoppel defenses.¹

C. Enforcement and fining constraints

• Before charging a member or seeking removal, the association must give notice of the violation, a reasonable opportunity to cure, and, if uncorrected, an opportunity to be heard, with at least 14 days' notice of a hearing (§ 55.1-1819(C); condominiums, § 55.1-1959).⁶
• Charges may not exceed $50 for a single offense or $10 per day for a continuing offense, and the total for a continuing offense may not be assessed for more than 90 days (§ 55.1-1819(D)).⁶
• The association enforces through the general district or circuit court and may not remove a sign from an owner's lot by self-help; a court order is the mechanism to compel abatement (§ 55.1-1819(E)-(F)).⁶

D. Rule adoption and disclosure

• On resale, the resale certificate must state any restriction on the size, placement, or duration of display of political signs (§ 55.1-2310(A)(23)); failure to disclose can give a purchaser cancellation rights but doesn't itself invalidate the covenant.³
• A board rule regulating signs is enforceable only if the declaration authorizes the board to adopt it and it's reasonable (§ 55.1-1819).⁶

4. Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

No bill in the 2024, 2025, or 2026 General Assembly sessions was verified to create a substantive political-sign protection for association members.

B. Recent rulings

No decision construing a substantive political-sign statute was located, because Virginia has no such statute. Older HOA sign disputes (for example, the 2008-era "Obama" sign fining litigation) predate the January 1, 2022 expansion of the Court of Appeals of Virginia and would have proceeded directly from the circuit court to the Supreme Court of Virginia.

C. Active legislative debates

No active 2026 proposal that would grant association members a substantive right to display political signs was verified. Bills of interest in recent sessions concerned housing supply and resale disclosure, not political-sign protection.

5. National positioning and related coverage

Virginia sits among the non-protective states on association political signs. It's not among the owner-protective jurisdictions that restrict associations by statute, such as California (Civil Code § 4710), Arizona (A.R.S. §§ 33-1808 and 33-1261), Maryland (Md. Code, Real Property §§ 11-111.2 and 11B-111.2), Nevada (NRS 116.325), and Montana (Mont. Code Ann. § 70-1-522). Where those states void covenants that ban political signs and cap only reasonable time, place, and manner conditions, Virginia permits an association to prohibit political signs outright by recorded covenant, with the only statute being a resale disclosure requirement (§ 55.1-2310).³ The distinctive Virginia features are structural rather than substantive: the code was recodified from Title 55 to Title 55.1 effective October 1, 2019, and the Court of Appeals of Virginia began hearing civil appeals as of right on January 1, 2022, so association disputes now run circuit court to the Court of Appeals of Virginia to the Supreme Court of Virginia.¹² For multi-state operators, the practical implication is that a Virginia association may enforce a covenant prohibiting political signs, the opposite default from California or Maryland, and should focus compliance on consistent enforcement and accurate resale disclosure rather than a fixed display window or numeric cap.

HOA Weekly's Virginia Political Signs coverage updates quarterly as the General Assembly and the Virginia courts act. Federal frameworks (FHA, ADA, FDCPA, SCRA, and OTARD) apply to Virginia associations regardless of the state framework, but the federal First Amendment doesn't supply a basis to challenge an association's sign rules, because an association isn't a state actor.

Footnotes

1. Sainani v. Belmont Glen Homeowners Ass'n, 297 Va. 714, 831 S.E.2d 662 (2019) (covenants construed strictly against enforcement; board rules must be reasonable), applied alongside § 55.1-1819 ↩
2. Va. Code § 55.1-1819.1, "Limitation of smoking in development" (Code of Virginia, law.lis.virginia.gov) ↩
3. Va. Code § 55.1-2310(A)(23), Resale Disclosure Act; statement on political, for sale, or other signs (Code of Virginia) ↩
4. Sands Anderson PC, "Permissible Prohibitions on Campaign Yard Signs by HOA and Condo Associations" (associations are private, not state actors; First Amendment does not apply) ↩
5. Va. Code § 55.1-1900 et seq., Virginia Condominium Act, Chapter 19 table of contents (no political-sign protection) ↩
6. Va. Code § 55.1-1819, Adoption and enforcement of rules; notice, hearing, and $50/$10-per-day/90-day charge limits (Code of Virginia) ↩
7. HB 720 (2020) summary and § 55.1-1809/55.1-1814 amendments; 2020 Acts c. 441 (Virginia Legislative Information System) ↩
8. HB 2235 (2023), Resale Disclosure Act enacting clause repealing §§ 55.1-1808 through 55.1-1814 and adding Chapter 23.1; 2023 Acts cc. 387, 388 ↩
9. Va. Att'y Gen. Op. No. 04-060 (Sept. 30, 2004): § 15.2-109 restriction on localities does not apply to private homeowners' associations ↩
10. Va. Code § 55.1-1820 (flag display; POAA) and § 55.1-1951 (flag display; Condominium Act) — flag provisions, distinct from political signs ↩
11. Court of Appeals of Virginia, 2025 published decisions list (covenant banning "political campaign signs" does not reach general political viewpoint speech; verify specific opinion on vacourts.gov before quoting) ↩
12. Court of Appeals of Virginia; civil appeals as of right effective January 1, 2022 (SB 1261, 2021); Title 55 recodified to Title 55.1 effective October 1, 2019 ↩