Virginia Community Association Law Blog : Virginia Condo & HOA Lawyers & Attorneys in Williamsburg & York & Newport News & Hampton VA / Property Management Issues

Find out by attending Southeastern Virginia CAI's professional luncheon: Sociopaths and Community Associations: Proceed with Caution! on January 31st and February 7th.

LeClairRyan's national Community Associations Team leader, Liz White, along with Dana Shotts-Neff, president of Chesapeake Bay Management, will speak about the real life dangers and pitfalls of dealing with sociopaths in community associations and practical and legal approaches to dealing with them. To learn more, click here.

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LeClairRyan attorneys Doug Cuthbertson and Nicole Pszczolkowski were recently selected to give a presentation at the upcoming 2012 Conference and Expo of the Washington Metro Chapter of CAI. Their presentation, entitled "We've Been Sued! Now What?" will feature a discussion of practical tips for board members, community managers, and others on how to avoid litigation and what to do if they find themselves in litigation.

The 2012 Conference and Expo will take place on March 31, 2012, from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. For more information about the Conference, please click here.

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Editor's Note: Guest blogger Steve Blaine, a LeClairRyan attorney practicing out of the firm's Charlottesville office, and focusing his practice on land use, zoning, and community association law, has contributed the following post.

 BMPs: How to avoid an amenity from becoming a headache.

We frequently counsel clients, community associations, developers and builders, on various issues involving that ubiquitous ‘amenity’ known as the stormwater detention pond, or “BMP” (short for “Best Management Practices”). This article will briefly discuss how to avoid some of the more common pitfalls facing homeowners whose community’s common areas/elements include these useful, even if at times burdensome, features. At the end of the article is a “glossary of key terms” related to BMPs.

Why do we have BMPs anyway?

BMPs are used to improve the quality of water runoff from roads, parking lots, developed land, including residential neighborhoods, and to reduce peak stormwater runoff flow by providing temporary storage during larger storm events. If the BMP in your subdivision was constructed early in the development process, it was probably used to trap sediment from construction activities in the tributary drainage area, which also can be a very effective way to collect and remove pollutants. Hopefully, the BMP in your neighborhood happens to provide other benefits such as passive recreation and open space in addition to reducing peak runoff rates and improving water quality.

It is essential for those responsible for maintaining these BMPs to understand their important role and what to do to assure their continued proper function.
 

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LeClairRyan attorney Will Sleeth was recently quoted in a Virginia Lawyers Weekly magazine article reporting on a Virginia state court case in which the trial judge awarded homeowners their attorney’s fees for prevailing in their suit against their property owners’ association. The article (subscription required) discussed how the ruling was a significant decision in interpreting the provision of the Virginia Property Owners’ Association Act that provides for an award of attorney’s fees in certain contexts. In the litigation, the association attempted to argue that the attorney’s fees provision of the Virginia Code only applies if an association sues an owner and loses (as opposed to if an owner sues an association). The judge ruled, however, that the provision can permit an award of attorney’s fees when an owner sues his association and prevails.

The article illustrates an important lesson that all associations should keep in mind: associations should be proactive in seeking out legal advice to ensure that they don’t become ensnared in potentially costly litigation in the first place.

Readers should be mindful that this ruling was a Virginia Circuit Court decision, and not a Virginia Supreme Court decision. Many community associations may likely continue to maintain that the Virginia Property Owners' Association Act does not provide for an award of attorney's fees to an owner in a situation similar to that at issue in this case.

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May your community association legally conduct meetings via webcast? Should it conduct meetings in that manner? What are some of the legal risks related to using emerging technology in the context of meetings? HOAleader recently interviewed LeClairRyan's Liz White on this topic. Check out the full article here.

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LeClairRyan attorneys Lori Schweller and Tara Boyd are assisting Habitat for Humanity with the legal work related to Habitat's Sunrise Park development in Charlottesville, Virginia.  Specifically, Schweller and Boyd are drafting the documents for the master property owners' association for the whole community as well as the condominium documents for the 4-story condominium building and its two subcondominiums.  The mixed-use condominium will be home to the legacy Sunrise Park residents, who will lease units, and will include units for sale at market rates.

To learn more about this valuable public-service project, and the exciting new development that will result, click here.

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Congratulations to Liz White for being recognized as one of Virginia's "most influential women"! Virginia Lawyers Media recently announced its list of "individuals who are making notable contributions to their chosen professions, their communities and society at large." We are proud to announce that on the list of impressive honorees was our very own "city attorney for private cities," Liz White. Liz received the award, along with 46 other accomplished women from across the Commonwealth, at the Annual "Influential Women of Virginia" gala at the Richmond Marriott on May 19, 2011.

Here is a photo of Liz at the awards ceremony with several other members of LeClairRyan's Community Association Industry Team  Debra Dowd, Pam Faber, Megan Scanlon, and Andrea Nixon.

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Today marked the first day of presentations at the Virginia Leadership Retreat, located at the Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia. LeClairRyan's Megan Scanlon delivered a presentation called "Aging-in-Place -- The Boomer Community", which described some of the challenges community associations will face as their populations age.

Participants listened to a wide-variety of presentations and heard from an array of industry-leaders. The following is a picture of the main lobby of the historic Homestead resort.

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Members of LeClairRyan's Community Association Industry Team will be blogging live from the Homestead this weekend, at the annual Virginia Leadership Retreat. The conference will run from July 29 -31, and will feature an array of networking events and presentations by some of the leaders of the community association industry in Virginia. LeClairRyan will be making the largest showing by any law firm in Virginia, with 8 of its attorneys attending.

If you're unable to make the retreat, be sure to check-in with the blog for updates on the events. If you're attending the retreat, feel free to check-in too!

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