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.

 

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.

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.
 

Continue Reading Community Associations and Stormwater Detention Pond Maintenance (“BMP”) Responsibilities

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.

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.

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.

 

 

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!

 

 

The Fee Simple law journal (the journal of the Virginia State Bar’s Real Property Section) recently published an article by LeClairRyan‘s Will Sleeth related to developer transition issues. The article, titled "The Transition from Developer-Control of a Property Owners’ Association and the 2002 Attorney General’s Opinion," examined whether Virginia law imposes a time-limit on when a developer must transition control of the board of directors of a property owners’ association to the owners, if there is not a specific provision requiring such in the association’s governing documents. The article examines the current state of the law, with a special focus on a controversial opinion issued by the Virginia Attorney General in 2002. To read a copy of the article, click here.

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.