West Virginia HOA Assessment Limits
Section 1: Overview
West Virginia governs homeowner and condominium assessments through a budget-ratification mechanism and a six-month super-priority lien—not a statutory percentage cap. The state is a comprehensive Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA) jurisdiction, with condominiums, planned communities, and cooperatives all governed by Chapter 36B of the West Virginia Code, adopted in 1986.1 Regular increases move through board adoption of an annual budget followed by ratification: the executive board adopts the budget, distributes a summary, and sets a ratification meeting—the budget takes effect unless a majority of all unit owners (or any larger vote the declaration specifies) reject it at that meeting, whether or not a quorum is present.2 No statutory ceiling limits the size of any increase. The association lien under W. Va. Code § 36B-3-116 is generally prior to other liens, and it sits ahead of a prior recorded first security interest to the extent of common-expense assessments that would have become due during the six months immediately preceding an action to enforce the lien.3 On the national spectrum, West Virginia stands between statutory-cap states such as California—which limits regular and special assessments by percentage—and declaration-driven states where limits come almost entirely from the recorded declaration. West Virginia uses the UCIOA owner-veto model. The sections below detail the framework, the procedures in practice, and recent legislative and judicial activity.
Section 2: The assessment framework
2A. Authority to levy and allocate assessments
The authority to assess flows from W. Va. Code § 36B-3-115. Until the association makes its first common-expense assessment, the declarant pays all common expenses; after that, assessments must be made at least annually, based on a budget the association adopts at least annually.4 Chapter 36B is a single, comprehensive UCIOA statute covering condominiums, planned communities, and cooperatives, organized into four articles: Article 1 (General Provisions), Article 2 (Creation, Alteration and Termination), Article 3 (Management), and Article 4 (Protection of Purchasers).1 The chapter applies in full to common interest communities created in West Virginia after the July 1, 1986 effective date.5 Communities created before that date are subject to a defined subset of provisions, including the lien for assessments under § 36B-3-116, applied only to events and circumstances occurring after the effective date.6 The executive board sets the assessment by adopting the budget—no affirmative owner approval is required to do so.2 The declaration fixes the allocation formula: common expenses are assessed against all units in accordance with the allocated interests the declaration sets under § 36B-2-107, except for the limited-common-element and benefit-specific allocations § 36B-3-115 itself describes.4 The chapter does not apply to a planned community in which all units are restricted exclusively to nonresidential use unless the declaration provides that it does.7
2B. Limits on regular assessment increases
Regular increases face a process limit, not a numeric cap. Under W. Va. Code § 36B-3-103(c), within 30 days after adopting any proposed budget, the executive board must distribute a summary to all unit owners and set a date for a ratification meeting—not less than 14 nor more than 30 days after mailing the summary.2 Unless a majority of all unit owners, or any larger vote the declaration specifies, reject the budget at that meeting, the budget is ratified, whether or not a quorum is present.2 This is ratification by rejection: owner inaction ratifies the budget and any increase built into it. No statutory percentage cap exists on a regular increase. The only controls are the ratification process and any limit the declaration imposes—for example, a limited-expense planned community whose declaration caps the annual assessment. If owners do reject the proposed budget, the last ratified periodic budget continues until the owners ratify a subsequent budget the board proposes.2 A defective process—such as failure to distribute the summary or to hold the ratification meeting within the statutory window—exposes the increase to challenge, because ratification is the legal predicate for the new assessment level.
2C. Special assessments, the super-priority lien, and foreclosure
Special assessments draw their authority from the declaration and the assessment provisions of § 36B-3-115, which contemplates assessments beyond the ordinary annual budget. The association lien under W. Va. Code § 36B-3-116 attaches to a unit for any assessment levied against it from the time the assessment becomes due; if an assessment is payable in installments, the full amount becomes a lien from the time the first installment is due.3 The lien is generally prior to all other liens except (i) liens and encumbrances recorded before the declaration, (ii) a first security interest recorded before the assessment became delinquent, and (iii) liens for real estate taxes and other governmental charges.3 The super-priority carves out an exception to (ii): the lien also sits ahead of that first security interest to the extent of common-expense assessments based on the periodic budget that would have become due, absent acceleration, during the six months immediately preceding institution of an action to enforce the lien.3 A lien for unpaid assessments is extinguished unless enforcement proceedings begin within three years after the full amount becomes due.3 The lien applies to pre-1986 communities as one of the enumerated provisions that reach preexisting communities.6 To perfect and preserve the lien, the association gives statutory notice to the owner and records a notice of lien with the clerk of the county commission; upon payment, the association records a written release.3 The operational meaning for lenders is direct: six months of assessments sit ahead of an otherwise-first mortgage.
Section 3: Assessment limits and procedures in practice
A. Regular assessment increase procedure
The executive board adopts an annual budget, then within 30 days distributes a summary to all unit owners and sets a ratification meeting 14 to 30 days after mailing (§ 36B-3-103(c)).2 The increase embedded in the budget takes effect on ratification, which occurs unless a majority of all unit owners reject the budget (§ 36B-3-103(c)).2
B. Special assessment procedure
Special assessments derive from the declaration and the assessment authority of § 36B-3-115; the allocation follows the declaration's formula under § 36B-2-107.4 Whether a particular special assessment requires the budget-ratification process or a separate owner vote depends on the declaration, because Chapter 36B fixes no separate statutory cap (§ 36B-3-115).4
C. Caps, ceilings, and override mechanisms
West Virginia imposes no statutory percentage cap on regular or special assessments.4 The operative control is the ratification-by-rejection mechanism of § 36B-3-103(c), under which owners may veto a budget by majority vote.2 Any numeric ceiling is declaration-defined—such as the annual-assessment cap in a limited-expense liability planned community under § 36B-1-203, which the statute allows to adjust over time.8
D. Notice, documentation, and disclosure
The board must distribute a budget summary and ratification-meeting notice within the § 36B-3-103(c) timeline.2 Enforcement of the assessment lien requires statutory notice to the owner and a recorded notice of lien, with a recorded release upon payment (§ 36B-3-116).3 On request, the association must furnish a recordable statement of unpaid assessments within ten business days, binding on the association (§ 36B-3-116(g)).3 On resale, § 36B-4-109 requires a resale certificate disclosing assessment and financial information to a prospective purchaser.9
Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity
A. Recent bills
No bill enacted in the 2024, 2025, or 2026 regular sessions amended the assessment (§ 36B-3-115), budget-ratification (§ 36B-3-103), or lien (§ 36B-3-116) provisions of Chapter 36B. The official West Virginia Code bill history for each of these three sections shows enacting legislation only from 1980, 1984, and 1986.10 A 2025 measure, House Bill 3377, proposed a new Chapter 36C for "Infrastructure Only Common Ownership Associations" rather than changing Chapter 36B's assessment, budget, or lien sections; Chapter 36C does not appear in the current West Virginia Code chapter index.11 Because no bill in the past 24 months materially changed assessment authority, the budget-ratification process, or the super-priority lien, there is no qualifying bill to profile in this update.
B. Recent appellate rulings
Justice Holdings, LLC v. Glade Springs Village Property Owners Association, Inc.
The Supreme Court of Appeals held that Glade Springs Village is a common interest community fully subject to the UCIOA. The court reversed in part, vacated in part, and remanded the assessment judgment because the circuit court "made insufficient findings of fact and conclusions of law for us to conduct an adequate appellate review as to the underlying merits of its grant of summary judgment." The vacated judgment—entered by Raleigh County Circuit Judge Robert A. Burnside—totaled $6,073,692.18, representing total assessment liability on all lots and units within Glade Springs Village owned by and assessed in the name of Justice Holdings through August 31, 2021.[12]
| Property managers | Document budget adoption, the summary mailing, and the ratification meeting for every assessment year—assessment judgments can be vacated when the record does not show UCIOA procedure was followed. |
| HOA board members | Confirm the community is subject to the UCIOA and that assessments are levied against all units per the declaration's allocations before pursuing collection. |
| Community association attorneys | Build assessment-enforcement orders with detailed findings tied to §§ 36B-3-103(c), 36B-3-114, and 36B-3-115—deficient orders are subject to reversal or vacatur. |
| Homeowners | A developer or large owner is not exempt from assessments merely by prior agreement—the UCIOA governs once the community falls within it. |
State ex rel. Justice Holdings, LLC v. Hon. Todd A. Kirby
In the continuing Glade Springs dispute, the Court granted extraordinary relief "as moulded," issuing "a writ of mandamus directing the Circuit Court of Raleigh County to enter an order containing more detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law sufficient to allow this Court" to review its December 5, 2024 foreclosure ruling. The Court did not decide whether the assessment liens are valid and "decline[d] to address the priority of the liens as requested by United [Bank]."[13]
| Property managers | Lien-enforcement and foreclosure timelines can extend for years when orders are remanded for inadequate findings—budget for prolonged collection in contested cases. |
| HOA board members | Validity of the underlying declaration and proper creation of units remain live issues that can stall foreclosure on unpaid assessments. |
| Community association attorneys | Request and obtain orders with sufficient findings of fact and conclusions of law—mandamus may issue to compel them, and appellate review depends on them. |
| Homeowners | Lien-priority questions in West Virginia remain unsettled at the margins—the Court left the priority issue open in this proceeding. |
C. Active legislative debates
The recurring debate centers on whether the UCIOA should apply to preexisting and developer-controlled communities—an issue surfaced by failed measures such as 2023 House Bill 3558, which would have let planned communities opt out, and the 2025 infrastructure-association proposal. No current proposal would alter the six-month super-priority lien or impose a reserve mandate.11
Section 5: National positioning and related coverage
West Virginia sits in the middle of the national assessment-limit spectrum. At one end are statutory-cap states led by California, which under Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) bars boards from raising assessments without a member vote: the board "may not impose a regular assessment that is more than 20 percent greater than the regular assessment for the association's preceding fiscal year or impose special assessments which in the aggregate exceed 5 percent of the budgeted gross expenses of the association for that fiscal year."14 West Virginia belongs to the second group—the ratification-mechanism UCIOA states including Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Vermont, and Washington—which control increases through an owner veto on the board-adopted budget and most of which carry a super-priority assessment lien.15 At the far end are declaration-driven states such as Alabama, Arkansas, and Georgia, where limits come almost entirely from the recorded declaration. For multi-state operators and lenders, the practical implication is clear: a West Virginia budget is ratified unless owners affirmatively reject it, and six months of assessments sit ahead of a prior first mortgage. West Virginia is a comprehensive UCIOA state, and its intermediate appellate court is recent—the Intermediate Court of Appeals of West Virginia opened on July 1, 2022, created by Senate Bill 275 signed in 2021, with the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia serving as the state's highest court.16
- W. Va. Code Chapter 36B, Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, Article 1 (General Provisions) ↩
- W. Va. Code § 36B-3-103(c), Executive board members and officers (budget ratification) ↩
- W. Va. Code § 36B-3-116, Lien for assessments ↩
- W. Va. Code § 36B-3-115, Assessments for common expenses ↩
- W. Va. Code § 36B-1-201, Applicability to new common interest communities ↩
- W. Va. Code § 36B-1-204, Applicability to preexisting common interest communities ↩
- W. Va. Code § 36B-1-207, Applicability to nonresidential planned communities ↩
- W. Va. Code § 36B-1-203, Applicability; exception for small and limited expense liability planned communities ↩
- W. Va. Code § 36B-4-109, Resales of units ↩
- W. Va. Code § 36B-3-115, bill history (enacting bills 1980, 1984, 1986) ↩
- W. Va. Legislature, 2025 Regular Session, Committee Substitute for House Bill 3377 ↩
- Justice Holdings, LLC v. Glade Springs Village Property Owners Ass'n, Inc., 250 W. Va. 563, 906 S.E.2d 216 (2023) (No. 22-0002) ↩
- State ex rel. Justice Holdings, LLC v. Hon. Todd A. Kirby, No. 25-401 (W. Va. May 22, 2026) (memorandum decision) ↩
- Cal. Civ. Code § 5605, limitations on assessment increases ↩
- W. Va. Code § 36B-3-103(c), budget ratification (UCIOA owner-veto model) ↩
- Intermediate Court of Appeals of West Virginia, About the Court ↩