Virginia HOA Compliance
3. Compliance topics grid
1. Introduction
Consider how Virginia handles its homeowners' associations. The state regulates planned-community HOAs through the Virginia Property Owners' Association Act, Va. Code § 55.1-1800 et seq.1 Condominiums answer to a separate law, the Virginia Condominium Act, Va. Code § 55.1-1900 et seq.2 Together, the state's common-interest-community framework reaches property owners' associations, condominium unit owners' associations, and the broader work of association governance — and it does so through recorded instruments, statutory operating rules, and resale disclosures.3
Virginia goes a step further than many states. It maintains a standing Common Interest Community Board inside the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. That board licenses community managers and requires associations to register and file annual reports.4 When disputes arise, they usually begin in a circuit court.5 Appeals climb to the Court of Appeals of Virginia6 and, where review is available, to the Supreme Court of Virginia.7
Recent General Assembly sessions have produced enacted HOA bills covering reserves, foreclosure remedies, assessments, management contracts, and resale certificates.8 Appellate decisions arrive at a steady pace and zero in on covenant authority, assessments, and enforcement standards.9 Inside any state compliance matrix, treat Virginia as a statute-and-agency state — not a covenant-only state.
2. Primary statute and key resources
- Virginia Property Owners' Association Act, Va. Code § 55.1-1800 et seq. This is the baseline statute governing property owners' associations, common areas, assessments, records, and enforcement.10
- Virginia Condominium Act, Va. Code § 55.1-1900 et seq. This Act controls condominiums and unit owners' associations across the state.11
- Virginia Judicial System. Circuit courts hear most civil HOA litigation, with appellate review running through the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of Virginia.12,13,14
- DPOR Common Interest Community Board. The Board licenses community managers, handles association registration and annual reports, and houses the Common Interest Community Ombudsman.15
- Virginia Attorney General, Consumer Protection Section. The Attorney General's official complaint portal receives consumer complaints involving association practices.16
4. Virginia's recent regulatory landscape
Recent Legislation
Virginia's 2024 and 2025 sessions delivered targeted fixes — not sweeping rewrites — to reserves, foreclosure thresholds, assessment authority, management transitions, and resale disclosures.
HB 1209 · Chapter 324 · 2024 Regular Session
Lawmakers rewrote the reserve-study and assessment rules for POA and condominium associations, opened the door to certain association borrowing, and defined a reserve study as a capital-budget planning tool. The change reframes reserves as a planning instrument rather than a passive savings line.[17]
| Property managers | Align reserve-study files and special-assessment workflows with the 2024 terminology. |
| HOA board members | Tie capital-repair votes to documented maintenance and reserve records. |
| Community association attorneys | Check board resolutions and governing documents against the amended statutes. |
| Homeowners | Expect capital projects backed by documented assessments or borrowing authority. |
HB 880 · Chapter 55 · 2024 Regular Session
Lawmakers restricted certain foreclosure bills tied to a primary residence when common-interest-community assessment judgments do not exceed $5,000 — interest and costs excluded. The bill draws a sharp line between routine collection and full foreclosure exposure.[18]
| Property managers | Run balance checks on collection files before any foreclosure-related escalation. |
| HOA board members | Separate routine collection from foreclosure exposure in board decisions. |
| Community association attorneys | Build demand letters and pleadings around the statutory dollar threshold. |
| Homeowners | Primary-residence assessment debts under the threshold now carry added foreclosure limits. |
SB 672 · Chapter 685 · 2024 Regular Session
Lawmakers clarified that the POA Act and the Condominium Act do not bar associations from using assessments, charges, or fees to meet contractual or other legal obligations. The bill takes a recurring question off the table for boards weighing how to fund obligations.[19]
| Property managers | Identify the legal obligation being funded on every assessment record. |
| HOA board members | Account for contractual and legal obligations when voting the budget. |
| Community association attorneys | Confirm authority before allocating charges among fewer than all owners. |
| Homeowners | Trace each charge to a specific association obligation and source of authority. |
HB 2750 · Chapter 105 · 2025 Regular Session
Lawmakers tackled termination of certain management contracts and required common interest community managers to transfer or release association funds, and close accounts maintained on an association's behalf, within a reasonable time. The bill cleans up a messy handoff problem in management transitions.[20]
| Property managers | Build fund-transfer, account-closure, and records-transfer checklists into offboarding. |
| HOA board members | Set written deadlines and account inventories for every management transition. |
| Community association attorneys | Review contract forms for renewal, termination, and transition provisions. |
| Homeowners | Association money and records should move more cleanly during manager changes. |
HB 1704 · Chapter 14 · 2025 Regular Session
Lawmakers amended the resale-certificate statute and now require a disclosure that governing documents may make an owner responsible for all or part of an insurance deductible. The change pushes a quiet but consequential cost question into plain sight before closing.[21]
| Property managers | Add the updated insurance-deductible disclosure to every resale package. |
| HOA board members | Check insurance policies and governing documents before resale disclosures issue. |
| Community association attorneys | Reconcile resale forms with governing-document deductible provisions. |
| Homeowners | Buyers now receive clearer notice of possible deductible exposure. |
Recent Court Rulings
Virginia's appellate courts have zeroed in on association status, covenant authority, and the limits of architectural enforcement — testing whether boards actually hold the power they claim.
Terrace View Property Owners Association, Inc. v. Jannah
In a published opinion, the Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment against the association. The circuit court found that Terrace View was not a valid property owners' association under the POA Act, and therefore could not levy the challenged assessments or enforce covenants against the owners. The decision strikes at a foundational question: does the entity demanding the check actually have standing to demand it?[22]
| Property managers | Verify assessment authority before any collection effort begins. |
| HOA board members | Board action depends on valid recorded authority and association status. |
| Community association attorneys | Review formation documents and covenant chains early in enforcement cases. |
| Homeowners | Owners may contest assessments when association authority is defective. |
Schiano v. Falkland Farm Estates Homeowners Association, Inc.
In an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals affirmed judgments for unpaid annual assessments and attorney fees. The court rejected owner challenges targeting covenant enforcement, privity, standing, and the association's prior corporate-status lapse. The ruling tells boards that recorded covenants do real work even when the corporate paperwork has stumbled.[23]
| Property managers | Preserve deeds, covenants, bylaws, and corporate-status records in every collection file. |
| HOA board members | Correct corporate compliance lapses quickly and on the record. |
| Community association attorneys | Identify the recorded source of assessment authority in every pleading. |
| Homeowners | Recorded restrictions can create assessment duties even after ownership transfers. |
Sainani v. Belmont Glen Homeowners Association, Inc.
In an unpublished opinion after remand, the Court of Appeals took up enforcement of unauthorized seasonal guidelines and attorney-fee issues arising from Belmont Glen's architectural-control dispute. The decision draws a line: a board cannot stretch architectural authority past what the covenants actually grant.[24]
| Property managers | Track rule enforcement against recorded covenants and board-approved authority. |
| HOA board members | Keep architectural standards inside the governing documents. |
| Community association attorneys | Build a record that supports every fee request. |
| Homeowners | Rules adopted outside covenant authority may be subject to challenge. |
Regulatory Developments
DPOR's Common Interest Community Board posted a standardized resale certificate that ties fees to registration status — a small form change with practical consequences.
Virginia DPOR Common Interest Community Board
DPOR posted a standardized resale certificate and supplemental fact sheet, both effective July 1, 2025. The form ties resale-certificate fees to current association registration, annual-report filings, and electronic-delivery options — quietly converting compliance status into a billing trigger.[25]
| Property managers | Switch resale teams to the current DPOR form and confirm annual-report status. |
| HOA board members | Monitor registration status before resale fees are charged. |
| Community association attorneys | Check form language against § 55.1-2310 and DPOR requirements. |
| Homeowners | Resale paperwork now includes standardized disclosures and registration certification. |
Active Policy Debates
What we're seeing in Richmond right now isn't a wholesale rewrite of the HOA code. The 2026 House General Laws docket carried HB 621 — a Property Owners' Association Act bill on declarant-control disclosure requirements — to the next session, keeping transition disclosure squarely on the Virginia policy agenda.26
5. Closing note
Our look at Virginia is ongoing. We'll be here as new bills move through the General Assembly and as the courts weigh in on new disputes. Beyond Richmond, there's also the intersection of federal law — the Fair Housing Act, the ADA, the FDCPA's Regulation F, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and even FCC rules on antennas — that every Virginia association has to navigate. We'll cover those federal frameworks in more detail at /federal/ as we build out our upcoming sections.27,28,29,30,31
Footnotes
- Code of Virginia, Title 55.1, Chapter 18, Property Owners' Association Act ↩
- Code of Virginia, Title 55.1, Chapter 19, Virginia Condominium Act ↩
- Virginia DPOR, Common Interest Community Board, common-interest-community framework overview ↩
- Code of Virginia § 54.1-2349, Powers and duties of the Common Interest Community Board ↩
- Virginia Judicial System, Circuit Court ↩
- Virginia Judicial System, Court of Appeals of Virginia ↩
- Virginia Judicial System, Supreme Court of Virginia ↩
- Virginia LIS, recent General Assembly HOA legislation summary ↩
- Court of Appeals of Virginia, recent appellate decisions summary ↩
- Code of Virginia, Title 55.1, Chapter 18, Property Owners' Association Act ↩
- Code of Virginia, Title 55.1, Chapter 19, Virginia Condominium Act ↩
- Virginia Judicial System, Circuit Court ↩
- Virginia Judicial System, Court of Appeals of Virginia ↩
- Virginia Judicial System, Supreme Court of Virginia ↩
- Virginia DPOR, Common Interest Community Board and Office of the CIC Ombudsman ↩
- Virginia Attorney General, Consumer Protection Section, File a Complaint ↩
- Virginia LIS, HB 1209, Common interest communities; reserve studies, special assessment rescission or reduction, 2024 Regular Session ↩
- Virginia LIS, HB 880, Common interest communities; foreclosure remedy, 2024 Regular Session ↩
- Virginia LIS, SB 672, Property Owners' Association Act or Virginia Condominium Act; assessments for legal obligations, 2024 Regular Session ↩
- Virginia LIS, HB 2750, Common interest communities; termination of certain management contracts; transfer of association books and records, 2025 Regular Session (Chapter 105) ↩
- Virginia LIS, HB 1704, Resale Disclosure Act; resale certificate; responsibility for payment of insurance deductible, 2025 Regular Session ↩
- Court of Appeals of Virginia, Terrace View Property Owners Association, Inc. v. Jannah, Record No. 2007-24-3, Feb. 3, 2026 ↩
- Court of Appeals of Virginia, Schiano v. Falkland Farm Estates Homeowners Association, Inc., Record No. 0377-23-4, Sept. 16, 2025 ↩
- Court of Appeals of Virginia, Sainani v. Belmont Glen Homeowners Association, Inc., Record No. 0049-23-4, Jan. 16, 2024 ↩
- Virginia DPOR, Standardized Resale Certificate Form, effective July 1, 2025 ↩
- Virginia House of Delegates, General Laws Subcommittee Agenda, HB 621, 2026 Regular Session ↩
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Housing Act overview ↩
- ADA.gov, Law, Regulations and Standards ↩
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Regulation F, 12 CFR Part 1006 ↩
- U.S. Department of Justice, Guide to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act ↩
- Federal Communications Commission, Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule ↩