How should a homeowners association or a condominium association deal with an owner who fails to pay his dues or assessments? There are three main remedies that associations have under Virginia law: (1) file a lawsuit against the owner, (2) file a memorandum of lien against the owner’s lot or unit, and (3) suspend an owner’s privilege to use certain portions of the common area or common element (we’ll address this third remedy in a future post).

Filing a Lawsuit

Associations have a right to file a lawsuit against delinquent owners, seeking a judgment for the delinquent amount. Many associations’ governing documents will also provide that the association is entitled to recover its court costs and attorneys’ fees too. In practice, some courts are occasionally reluctant to award associations the full amount of attorneys’ fees incurred in attempting to collect delinquent assessments, so the association may only be able to recover a certain dollar figure, or a certain percentage of the delinquent amount. While each court (and judge within that court) is different, it’s been our experience that in most situations, associations are usually able to recover most of the attorneys fees incurred in attempting to collect delinquent assessments.

Continue Reading Collections Options Regarding Owners Who Fail To Pay Their Assessments

Bills recently passed in the Virginia General Assembly extend the list of items for inclusion in property owners’ association disclosure packets and condominium association resale certificates, and also broaden non-association disclosure requirements.　 Effective July 1, 2013, disclosure packets may or must (depending on the item) include the following new items:

 Restrictions on Solar Panels (HB 2305): Disclosure statements for lots within property owners’ associations and resale certificates for condominiums must include a statement setting forth any restriction, limitation, or prohibition on the right of a unit owner or lot owner to install or use solar energy collection devices on the owner’s property or unit. Va. Code §§ 55-79.97(C)(17), 55-509.5(A)(12).

Further, Va. Code　 § 55-519(B)(9) provides that the disclosure form required under the Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act (a Virginia law that spells out, among other things, certain disclosures that most sellers of property must provide, regardless of whether the property is within a community association) must include language to notify purchasers that by delivering the residential property disclosure statement, the owner makes no representations with respect to any right to install or use solar energy collection devices on the property.

Of course, it is always incumbent on the purchaser to read the declaration, bylaws, and rules and regulations for a community association to determine whether the association has established any restrictions concerning the size, place, and manner of placement of solar energy collection devices; or, for an association with a restrictive covenant adopted prior to July 1, 2008, any restriction or prohibition on the installation or use of a solar collection device.　

Continue Reading Disclosure Packets and Resale Certificates Revisited: Recent Statutory Amendments

As any condominium association that has had to deal with one knows, the mechanic’s lien is a powerful hammer to force payment to a contractor. Once it is filed in the land records, a lien often makes it impossible for condominium unit owners to sell or refinance, costs the condominium association time and money (in legal fees) to defend, and generally embroils the condominium association in much unwanted litigation.

The good news is that removing a mechanic’s lien can be easier than you might think. Filing a lien, especially on a large condominium association, is not an easy task. The contractor has to conduct a title search and bring down for each condominium unit. And the Virginia mechanic’s lien statute is full of traps for the unwary. Because the Virginia courts view mechanic’s liens as "purely a creature of statute" and "in derogation of the common law," the mechanic’s lien statute is strictly construed. That is, it must be followed meticulously, or the lien will be invalid. Thus, painstaking analysis is required to ensure that the lien complies with Title 43 of the Virginia Code.

As a result, mechanic’s lien claims can be very defensible. Aside from the critical timing issues, which affect all mechanic’s liens (they must be filed within 90 days, and may only include work done within 150 days, of completion of the work), there are certain property identity and allocation issues that are specific to condominiums.

Here are some important points to remember:

Continue Reading Removing a Mechanic’s Lien (In the Condominium Context) May Be Easier Than You Think

 

When consulting with an attorney on behalf of a legal entity, such as a homeowners association or condominium unit owners association, or a developer that is a limited liability company or corporation, it is easy to lose track of who is being represented by the attorney. The attorney’s engagement letter should clearly state who the client is and, even better, will also state related parties whom the attorney will not be representing. Representation of an entity does not typically include representation of managers, individual officers, members, or shareholders of such entity unless such relationship is expressly or implicitly established.

If you are an officer, member, manager, director, or shareholder of a Declarant or Association, remember that, in your consultations with the attorney for such entity, you are acting as an agent of such entity, which is the client. Remembering that you personally are not the client will help you to avoid divulging confidences that are personal to you and that you may not want the others in the organization to know. In order to represent her Association or Declarant client diligently, the entity’s attorney may not be able to ethically keep your confidences from the client.

Recently, we had a reader ask whether a member of a homeowners association is legally permitted to review and inspect voting records relating to elections for the board of directors of the member’s HOA.

The short answer is that it depends on the nature of the records requested as well as other factors. Virginia Code Section 55-510 spells out when an owner can review certain records for a property owners’ association. If an owner (i) is in good standing with the association, and (ii) makes a records inspection request "for a proper purpose related to his membership in the association," then he is entitled to review association "books and records" that do not fall under any statutory exemptions. Section 55-510’s discussion of "books and records" needs to be read in conjunction with other provisions of the Virginia Code (and chiefly, the Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act) that elaborate on what exactly constitutes "books and records" (as not every document in an association’s possession constitutes a "book and record" as the term is defined in the Virginia Code). As a result, this analysis can sometimes be rather technical, and associations should consult with their legal counsel to ensure that they don’t provide for the inspection of any records that they’re not legally required to provide.

Under this analysis, assuming that the owner is in good standing with the association, and makes the request "for a proper purpose related to his membership in the association" (and does not, for example, submit the request for the purpose of attempting to pursue litigation against the association), then it would be appropriate for an association to provide the owner with a copy of the vote tally sheet that the association used to count all of the votes. Arguably, ballots and proxies do not constitute "books and records" as defined under Virginia law, and therefore should not be produced by the association. Moreover, if an association’s governing documents require or permit voting by secret ballot, producing ballots with names on them or directed proxies would essentially defeat the goals behind such.

Keep in mind that if the association has adopted a records inspection and copying policy, it could charge the owner a monetary fee for expenses related to searching for the records and copying them.

If your homeowners association has not yet adopted an owner complaint policy, it should move quickly. Recently, Virginia’s Common Interest Community Board promulgated regulations to implement a recent law (Virginia Code Section 55-530(E)) requiring all homeowners associations in Virginia to adopt a policy for receiving and reviewing owner complaints.

Under the regulations, all homeowners associations must adopt a policy by the end of this September. Associations will be required to certify, in their annual report to the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, that a policy has been adopted and is in effect. Moreover, associations are required to include the complaint policy in their disclosure packets. As the regulations contain some fairly detailed requirements as to what terms and conditions must be included in the policy, associations should ask their legal counsel for assistance in drafting a policy.

LeClairRyan Community Association Team member Brian Muse recently blogged about the time extension under the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) for compliance with pool lift requirements, something that every HOA with a pool should be aware of. Check out Brian’s post over at his new blog ADA Musings. While you’re there, you’ll find that his blog contains many other helpful articles that HOA community managers, board members, and developers should be aware of.

 

If your homeowners association has not yet adopted a records copying policy, it should move quickly. On July 1, 2012, a new law in Virginia goes into effect that requires boards of directors of associations to have adopted a cost schedule if the association wants to charge owners for the costs of copies and labor related to producing books and records for inspection, pursuant to records requests by owners. Under the current law, associations are not required to have adopted a formal cost schedule in order to impose such charges.

Section 55-510(D) states that the cost schedule must: (i) specify the charges for materials and labor, (ii) apply equally to all members in good standing, and (iii) be provided to such requesting member at the time the request is made. Because some owners make very broad records inspection records, and because some owners make frequent requests, every association should have a cost schedule in place in order to pass the costs (which can sometimes be substantial) along to the owners. If your association has not yet adopted such a policy, it should contact its attorney shortly so that it can put one it place as soon as possible.

The annual Virginia Leadership Retreat will take place this year from July 27 – July 29, 2012 at the Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia. This annual event has become the premier state-wide gathering for the community association industry in Virginia. Once again, LeClairRyan’s community association team will be well represented there. Like most years, we’ll be blogging live from the event. Also, this year we’ll be tweeting live! If you’re not currently following Will Sleeth (the Editor of the Virginia Community Association Law Blog) on Twitter, you can follow him @Will_Sleeth. For more information about the Leadership Retreat, click here.

On Thursday, February 16, 2012, LeClairRyan employment law attorney and Community Association Team member Brian Muse will present a one-hour webinar on the Fair Credit Report Act.

This webinar will provide practical advice to employers on what they need to know to conduct background checks and employee investigations without running afoul of the FCRA. It will address the types of notice that employers must provide prior to background checks and the required procedures for compliance. It will also offer practical advice to employers to avoid legal trouble in this constantly evolving area of the law.

For more information, and to register for this event, click here.