West Virginia HOA Architectural Review

Section 1: Overview — How architectural review works in West Virginia

West Virginia governs common interest communities created after July 1, 1986 under the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, or UCIOA. It governs older condominiums under the Unit Property Act. And it anchors architectural authority in the recorded declaration.¹ So the professional reader starts by classifying the community. A condominium, planned community, or cooperative created after July 1, 1986 counts as a common interest community under the UCIOA (W. Va. Code § 36B-1-101 et seq.).¹ An older condominium falls under the Unit Property Act (Chapter 36A) when the owner submitted the property to that act by a recorded declaration.² And a community created before July 1, 1986 answers to only the specific UCIOA provisions that § 36B-1-204 lists.³

A separate statute governs solar. W. Va. Code § 36-4-19, which sits in Chapter 36 (Estates and Property), voids covenants that effectively prohibit or restrict a solar energy system, subject to a member-vote exception and a reasonable-restriction exception.⁴ West Virginia does not appear to give community associations a statutory flag or political-sign carve-out. The recorded declaration governs those disputes, and the federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act reaches display of the United States flag.⁵ Enforcement rests on the UCIOA and the declaration: the association may levy reasonable fines after notice and an opportunity to be heard, record an assessment lien, and invoke the attorney-fee provisions.⁶ Civil disputes move through the Circuit Court, then the Intermediate Court of Appeals of West Virginia, then the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.⁷ The sections below lay out the authority, the process, the statutory and federal limits, the compliance obligations, and the recent activity.

Section 2: The architectural-review framework

2A. Source and scope of architectural authority

In West Virginia, architectural authority is contractual in origin and statutory in administration. It arises from the recorded declaration, and the board or an architectural committee exercises it, reviewing exterior modifications such as paint, fences, sheds, additions, and landscaping under the authority the declaration delegates. The statutes supply the framework within which the declaration operates.

The UCIOA (W. Va. Code § 36B-1-101 et seq.) reaches every common interest community the state created after the act's effective date of July 1, 1986, and it covers condominiums, planned communities, and cooperatives.¹ For communities created before that date, only the specific provisions § 36B-1-204 lists apply, and they reach only events occurring after the act's effective date; that list includes the association's core powers and the lien and attorney-fee provisions, but it preserves the rights and obligations a preexisting declaration created.³ Older condominiums fall under the Unit Property Act (Chapter 36A), which reaches only real property the owner submits to the act by a duly recorded declaration.⁸ Most associations, meanwhile, organize as nonprofit corporations under the West Virginia Nonprofit Corporation Act (Chapter 31E), which supplies corporate governance rules but not architectural authority.⁹

Section 36B-3-102 sets out the association's powers. On the standard UCIOA model, the association may adopt and amend bylaws and rules and regulations, and, after notice and an opportunity to be heard, it may levy reasonable fines for violations of the declaration, bylaws, and rules.⁶ Architectural guidelines exercise that rulemaking power, and they must trace back to authority the declaration grants. The order of precedence runs from the UCIOA — or, for older condominiums, the Unit Property Act — to the recorded declaration, to the bylaws, and then to the rules and architectural guidelines. A guideline that exceeds the declaration, or a declaration term that conflicts with a mandatory UCIOA provision, invites a challenge.

2B. The approval process, standards, and enforcement

West Virginia imposes no statutory architectural application deadline and no statutory deemed-approval rule. The UCIOA sets no decision clock for architectural applications, so the timeline, the form of the decision, and any appeal all come from the recorded declaration. In practice, declarations frequently require the board to hold a hearing on an alleged violation before it pursues enforcement litigation, and a West Virginia court has enforced that declaration-imposed step, directing an association to hold the hearing its declaration required.¹⁰

The governing standard is straightforward: courts enforce valid recorded declaration terms, and architectural standards should be reasonable, consistently applied, and grounded in the declaration. West Virginia courts construe restrictive covenants according to the intent the parties expressed in the language they chose, and they refuse to extend a restriction by implication, resolving doubts against extension.¹⁰ An association that applies a written, declaration-based standard evenly stands on far stronger ground than one that denies a modification on an unwritten preference.

The fining and enforcement framework is statutory. Under § 36B-3-102, the association may levy reasonable fines only after notice and an opportunity to be heard.⁶ Unpaid assessments and fines become a lien on the unit under § 36B-3-116, and a judgment enforcing that lien must include costs and reasonable attorney fees for the prevailing party under § 36B-3-116(f).¹¹ Separately, § 36B-4-117 lets a court, in an appropriate case, award reasonable attorney fees when a person subject to the act fails to comply with the act, the declaration, or the bylaws and the failure adversely affects another person; that award is discretionary, not mandatory.¹² For the professional reader making a defensible approve-or-deny decision, the practical sequence runs like this: classify the community, ground the architectural process in the recorded declaration, follow any declaration-required hearing before enforcement, document the reasonableness and consistency of the decision, and remember that a separate statute voids anti-solar covenants in West Virginia.

2C. Statutory and federal limits on architectural authority

Solar is the one clear state-law limit on architectural authority that speaks specifically to community associations. W. Va. Code § 36-4-19 — which sits in Chapter 36, not in the UCIOA at Chapter 36B — arrived through the 2012 Committee Substitute for House Bill 2740 (Regular Session). It provides that any covenant, restriction, or condition in a housing association's governing document that effectively prohibits or restricts the installation or use of a solar energy system is void and unenforceable.⁴ The section carries two exceptions the professional reader must weigh. First, the statute's operative proviso lets "a housing association ... by vote of its members, establish or remove a restriction that prohibits or restricts the installation or use of a solar energy system." Second, subsection (c) provides that the section "does not apply to provisions that impose reasonable restrictions on solar energy systems including restrictions for historical preservation, architectural significance, religious or cultural importance to a given community"; a reasonable restriction is one that does not effectively amount to a prohibition by eliminating the system's energy-conservation benefits or economic practicality. The section also preserves an association's power to limit solar systems installed in common areas and common structures.⁴

West Virginia does not appear to give community associations a statutory flag or political-sign carve-out. The state adopted the earlier version of the uniform act, which lacks the flag-and-sign provision the drafters later added to the model, so the recorded declaration governs flag and sign disputes. The federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 reaches display of the United States flag and permits reasonable restrictions of time, place, or manner that a substantial association interest requires.⁵ No standalone West Virginia landscaping or EV-charging carve-out is confirmed; those remain declaration-governed.

Three federal overlays apply in West Virginia, as in every state, and they add to state law. The Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 addresses United States flag display.⁵ The FCC's OTARD rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000, bars restrictions that impair the installation, maintenance, or use of covered antennas and satellite dishes one meter or less in diameter on property within the owner's exclusive use or control, subject to the rule's limits.¹³ The Fair Housing Act reasonable-modification right, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(A), requires an association to permit reasonable disability-related exterior modifications at the requesting owner's expense and subject to reasonableness.¹⁴ These federal frameworks warrant fuller treatment, which we cover separately.

Section 3: Compliance obligations in the architectural-review process

A. Adopting and maintaining architectural standards

The authority to adopt and enforce architectural rules is statutory: § 36B-3-102 grants it on the standard UCIOA model. But the substance of the standards is declaration-based and must trace to authority in the recorded declaration.⁶ Associations organized as nonprofit corporations must also adopt and amend rules consistent with the West Virginia Nonprofit Corporation Act (Chapter 31E) — a statutory corporate-governance obligation distinct from architectural authority.⁹

B. Reviewing and deciding applications

The application timeline, the form of the decision, and any owner appeal are declaration obligations. West Virginia imposes no statutory architectural deadline, no statutory written-decision mandate, and no statutory deemed-approval rule.³ Decisions should be reasonable, consistently applied, and grounded in the declaration — a standard drawn from how West Virginia courts construe restrictive covenants rather than from a dedicated architectural statute.¹⁰

C. Honoring statutory and federal owner protections

Solar is a statutory limit: under W. Va. Code § 36-4-19 (Chapter 36), a governing-document covenant that effectively prohibits or restricts a solar energy system is void and unenforceable, subject to the member-vote and reasonable-restriction exceptions.⁴ Flag and sign display are declaration obligations, because West Virginia does not appear to have a statutory flag or political-sign carve-out; the federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act reaches the United States flag.⁵ Two further federal protections are statutory and additive: the FCC OTARD rule for covered antennas and dishes, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000,¹³ and the Fair Housing Act reasonable-modification right, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(A), which the owner funds and which reasonableness limits.¹⁴

D. Enforcement and dispute resolution

Fining authority is statutory: under § 36B-3-102, the association may levy reasonable fines only after notice and an opportunity to be heard.⁶ The assessment lien is statutory under § 36B-3-116, and § 36B-3-116(f) requires costs and reasonable attorney fees for the prevailing party in a lien-enforcement action.¹¹ A court may award discretionary attorney fees under § 36B-4-117 when a failure to comply with the act, the declaration, or the bylaws adversely affects a person.¹² A pre-litigation board hearing on an alleged violation, where the declaration requires it, is a declaration obligation rather than a statutory one.¹⁰ West Virginia has no dedicated state HOA regulator to adjudicate architectural disputes; associations organized as nonprofit corporations answer to the West Virginia Secretary of State for corporate existence only, and enforcement otherwise proceeds through the courts.⁹

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

No West Virginia bill enacted in the 2024, 2025, or 2026 Regular Sessions amended architectural-review authority, the UCIOA (Chapter 36B), or the solar statute (§ 36-4-19). Lawmakers introduced community-solar measures that did not pass. Senator Oliverio introduced 2025 Senate Bill 34 on February 12, 2025, and it went to the Committee on Energy, Industry, and Mining and then to Finance; it would have established a community-solar pilot program by adding §§ 24-2J-1 and 24-2J-2. A 2023 bill that would have made the UCIOA inapplicable to certain communities, House Bill 3558, died. The solar statute, § 36-4-19, stands as the Legislature enacted it in 2012, unamended.⁴

B. Recent rulings

The Intermediate Court of Appeals reversed a Jefferson County circuit court injunction and held that a homeowner's flag was not a "political campaign sign" the declaration prohibited. Michael B. Wilber flew a "Biden Sucks" flag on a flagpole, then replaced it with a "Let's Go Brandon" flag. Locust Hill issued a "Friendly Reminder" on August 23, 2021 asserting a violation of Declaration Section 10.2-1, followed with a "Notice of Continued Violation" and a demand letter, and then sued for injunctive relief. Construing the covenant by its plain language and refusing to extend it by implication, the court held that "[a] flag expressing a political viewpoint does not become a political campaign sign unless it advocates the election or defeat of a candidate, promotes a campaign, urges a vote, supports or opposes a ballot measure, or otherwise seeks electoral action."¹⁰ The decision confirms that in a UCIOA community — the Locust Hill declaration is administered under Chapter 36B — courts enforce architectural and sign restrictions as written and do not enlarge them to reach conduct the covenant does not clearly cover. The opinion also noted that owners may amend a declaration by the vote the declaration and § 36B-2-117(a) require.

C. Active legislative debates

Community-solar legislation has returned in successive sessions and may return again, though no prior version has become law. None of the introduced measures alters the architectural-review carve-out picture, which remains limited to the 2012 solar statute.⁴

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

West Virginia sits among the UCIOA states rather than the carve-out-heavy ones. It voids anti-solar covenants through a separate statute, with member-vote and reasonable-restriction exceptions; it leaves flag and sign disputes to the recorded declaration; and it routes civil appeals through a newly created Intermediate Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, the state's court of last resort.⁷ For a multi-state operator, the practical takeaways are clear: the UCIOA governs post-1986 communities, a separate statute in Chapter 36 voids anti-solar covenants, no statutory flag or sign carve-out exists, and a civil dispute runs through the Intermediate Court of Appeals before it reaches the Supreme Court of Appeals.¹⁵ This is a leaner statutory environment than carve-out-rich states such as California and Texas, and far leaner than California's comprehensive Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, so in West Virginia the recorded declaration does more of the work.

Federal frameworks — the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act, the FCC OTARD rule, and the Fair Housing Act — apply to West Virginia associations on top of state law.

1. W. Va. Code § 36B-1-201 (UCIOA applicability to new common interest communities created after the act's effective date, July 1, 1986) ↩
2. W. Va. Code § 36A-1-1 (Unit Property Act, short title) ↩
3. W. Va. Code § 36B-1-204 (applicability to preexisting common interest communities) ↩
4. W. Va. Code § 36-4-19 (solar energy covenants unenforceable; enacted 2012 Com. Sub. for H.B. 2740) ↩
5. Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-243, 119 Stat. 1565 ↩
6. W. Va. Code § 36B-3-102 (powers of unit owners' association; fines after notice and an opportunity to be heard) ↩
7. W. Va. Code § 51-11-3 (West Virginia Appellate Reorganization Act of 2021; Intermediate Court of Appeals created) ↩
8. W. Va. Code § 36A-1-3 (Unit Property Act applies to property submitted by duly recorded declaration) ↩
9. W. Va. Code ch. 31E (West Virginia Nonprofit Corporation Act) ↩
10. Wilber v. Locust Hill Unit Owner's Ass'n, Inc., No. 25-ICA-280 (W. Va. Int. Ct. App. June 11, 2026) ↩
11. W. Va. Code § 36B-3-116 (lien for assessments; § 36B-3-116(f), costs and attorney fees for prevailing party) ↩
12. W. Va. Code § 36B-4-117 (effect of violations on rights of action; attorney's fees) ↩
13. FCC Over-the-Air Reception Devices (OTARD) Rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000 ↩
14. Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(A) (reasonable modification) ↩
15. West Virginia Judiciary, Intermediate Court of Appeals (jurisdiction over civil circuit-court judgments entered after June 30, 2022) ↩