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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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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The LeClairRyan Community Association Team has enjoyed a strong relationship with HOAleader.com, a web-based pulication devoted to the community association industry. The Team's attorneys are frequently quoted in the publication's articles. The subscription-based website, has just offered a free 30-day trial. If you would like to take advantage of that, click here.

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This weekend, several members of LeClairRyan's Community Association Industry Team attended the CAI National Law Conference in Las Vegas. The conference featured speeches, panel presentations, and educational sessions presented by a variety of industry speakers on topics ranging from the federal mortgage agencies, to new legislation affecting the industry, to cutting edge issues such as transfer-fee covenants.

One of the highlights of the conference featured a mention of this blog! During one of the first sessions of the conference, the speaker discussed recent trends in the industry, and commented that community associations were facing unique issues, including "rent a goat" issues. The speaker proceeded to mention the blog post on this very blog, which discussed the issue.

All in all, the conference was very informative. Below is a picture of St. Mark's square in the Venetian hotel (where the conference was held).

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How should your board respond to an accident? Who should you call first? Liz White was recently interviewed by HOAleader.com on this topic. In the interview, Liz explains how associations should always first contact their legal counsel. Check out the full article here.

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LeClairRyan's Liz White was recently featured in an article on Board Meetings that was featured by several national media outlets, including Forbes magazine, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the Baltimore Business Journal, the Business Journal of Phoenix, and the Cincinnati Business Courier. Locally, the article was featured by NBC12. To view the article, in which Liz discusses tips for an effective board meeting (and in which she shares some humorous tidbits about board meetings gone awry), click here.

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Do you think your fellow board members could use some training in the basics of community association law? Could the associations you manage benefit from several 1-hour teaching sessions? If so, then check out the LeClairRyan Community Association Team webinar library on the blog. With an ever-expanding array of webinars on topics ranging from board meeting minutes, to disclosure packets, to the Fair Housing Act, the webinar library can be accessed at any time and the webinars viewed at your convenience.

Also, stay tuned to the blog in the next few weeks for several announcements about new upcoming webinars.

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The second annual Virginia Leadership Retreat came to a successful conclusion on Sunday. The LeClairRyan Community Association team departed from the Homestead around noon, along with the other conference attendees. The team would like to thank all of the participants who stopped by the exhibit table, entered the prize drawing, or attended Liz's presentation.

We've now concluded our live blogging from the Retreat. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to check back with the blog regularly for a wide variety of posts on cutting-edge topics related to community associations, as well as announcements about upcoming speaking events, webinars, and other free resources.

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Day 2 of the Virginia Leadership Retreat featured a variety of presentations on topics related to Community Associations. Liz White of LeClairRyan delivered a presentation entitled "Setting the Standard for Board Meetings," during which she discussed strategies for proper and efficient meetings of boards of directors. The following is a picture of Liz delivering her presentation.

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Day 2 of the Virginia Leadership Retreat at the Homestead. At lunchtime on Saturday, in the exhibit room, the vendors set up their displays. LeClairRyan's Community Association Team spoke to the conference attendees about the firm's Community Association practice, and handed out a wide variety of prizes ranging from golf balls, to umbrellas, to leather travel mugs. Below, Pam Faber and Dan Quarles staff the exhibit table.

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Members of our LeClairRyan Community Association Industry Team have arrived at the 2nd Annual Virginia Leadership Retreat being hosted by the Community Associations Institute at The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia this weekend. Approximately 120 CAI members and their guests from around the state gathered this evening for the welcome reception. Pictured below are members of our Community Association Industry Team. From left to right: Lori Schweller, Pam Faber, Will Sleeth, Megan Scanlon, Dan Quarles, and Elizabeth White, our team leader.

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It's Friday afternoon, and the attendees are beginning to arrive to the Homestead for the annual Virginia Leadership Retreat conference. Under clear skies and cool weather, the participants get ready for the welcome reception. The following are some photos of the Homestead snapped by the LeClairRyan Communtiy Association Team.

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The LeClairRyan Community Association Team will be blogging throughout the weekend live from the Virginia Leadership Retreat at the Homestead. (For those of you unfamiliar with the Virginia Leadership Retreat, it's the annual Virginia weekend conference/event sponsored by CAI that is exclusively devoted to the Community Association industry).

For those of you unable to attend the event, feel free to check in frequently for updates. Even if you're attending the event, we encourage you to check in with the blog for the latest reporting from the LeClairRyan team.

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 A reader recently asked us to comment on members' rights to inspect their property owners’ association’s books and records, such as financial information and meeting minutes, pursuant to the Property Owners’ Association Act.

A member’s right to inspect records is not only governed by the provisions of the Property Owners’ Association Act, but also by the provisions contained within the Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act. The provisions of the two acts must be read in conjunction with each other, and therefore the interested member should review not only § 55-510 of the Property Owners’ Association Act in order to understand his rights, but also §§ 13.1-932 – 934 of the Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act as well.

This blog post is limited to a discussion of the provisions contained within the Property Owners’ Association Act, and at some future time we will likely make a post regarding the inspection provisions contained in the Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act.

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Have you signed up yet for the annual Virginia Leadership Retreat sponsored by CAI? This year's Retreat will be held on July 30, 2010 -- August 1st at The Homestead in Hot Springs.

The LeClairRyan Community Association Team will be blogging live from the Retreat with updates on all of the key events. If you can't attend the Retreat, be sure to check in regularly with the blog for timely posts on conference events and key speaker presentations.

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Editor's note: Liz White was recently quoted in the following article on HOAleader.com, concerning owners' ability to view draft meeting minutes.

A reader on the HOAleader.com discussion board asks: "A member requested a copy of the board meeting minutes prior to the approval. We conduct open board meetings, and [agendas] are posted in advance. Does a member have the right to these unapproved minutes?" Fellow HOAleader.com readers were split in their responses to our reader's quandary. Here, experts tell us how they'd approach the issue. 

The Simple Answer

 "That's a real sticky wicket," says Elizabeth White, a shareholder and head of the community associations practice at the law firm of LeClairRyan in Williamsburg, Va. White doesn't just mean the distribution of draft meeting minutes. Our reader's question brings together several difficult issues, including who's entitled to see minutes when and what should be in meeting minutes.

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If you serve on the board of directors of a property owners’ association or a condominium association, or are a property manager, you need to ensure that you are looking at the correct law – the Property Owners’ Association Act, or the Condominium Act, respectively. Although both acts contain many similar provisions that bear on issues common to both types of associations, on some key issues the provisions of the acts differ, and pose a potential stumbling block to the unwary.

The potential for confusion is especially pronounced among directors in a certain type of association who frequently discuss community association issues with friends who serve as directors of a different type of association (e.g., a director of a property owners’ association discussing issues with a director of a condominium association), as well as property managers who may manage several associations, a few of which may be property owners’ associations, and a few of which may be condominium associations.

For example, § 55.510(F) of the Property Owners’ Association Act provides that a property owners’ association’s “bylaws shall specify an officer or his agent who shall, at least 14 days in advance of any annual or regularly scheduled meeting [of the members]… send to each member notice of the time, place, and purposes of such meeting.”

§ 55.79-75(A) of the Condominium Act, on the other hand, provides that a condominium association’s “bylaws shall specify an officer or his agent who shall, at least 21 days in advance of any annual or regularly scheduled meeting [of the members]… send to each unit owner notice of the time, place, and purposes of such meeting.”

The two acts differ in their provisions relating to a variety of other issues as well, such as proxies (§ 55-79.77 of the Condominium Act contains detailed provisions concerning proxies that are not found in the Property Owners’ Association Act).

The lesson is that board members and property managers need to pay close attention to the provisions of the specific applicable act, and can not just assume that the provisions of one act apply to the other form of association. When in doubt, always make the safe choice of spending a few minutes to review the provisions of the applicable act. And if you’re ever confused by or unsure of the applicability of a certain provision, don’t hesitate to contact your legal counsel for clarification.

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On April 17, 2010, LeClairRyan's Community Association Team will be presenting a free seminar in Williamsburg, Virginia, entitled "Advanced Legal Aspects of Community Associations."

We invite you to join attorneys Liz White, Dan Quarles, Megan Scanlon, and Will Sleeth as they will discuss four topics that board members and managers frequently encounter as they govern and manage associations: 

• Leasing Restriction Amendments
• Enforcement and Collection of Assessments and Fines
• Board Meetings
• Rules and Regulations and Architectural Guidelines

Resource and reference materials will be provided free of charge on a cd.

Again, the seminar will take place on April 17th, from 9 A.M. to 1 P.M., at Jamestown High School in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Space is limited and registration is required, so please click here to register, if you have not already done so. We look forward to seeing you, and encourage you to contact us if you have any questions.

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This Wednesday, March 31st, LeClairRyan's Community Association Industry Team will be hosting a free webinar entitled "What You Need to Know About Property Owner Association Disclosure Packets."

On Wednesday from noon to 1 P.M. EST, attorneys Lori Schweller and Liz White will discuss the Virginia Property Owners' Association Act's requirements, including when disclosure packets are required, who is responsible for requesting and providing them, what they should include, the costs of producing them, and the ramifications of non-compliance.

If you haven't already registered for this free event, click here to register now.

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