Virginia Code 55.1-1934: Amendment of condominium instruments
A. If there is no unit owner other than the declarant, the declarant may unilaterally amend the condominium instruments, and an amendment signed by the declarant is effective upon recordation. This section shall not be construed to nullify, limit, or otherwise affect the validity of enforceability of any agreement renouncing or to renounce, in whole or in part, the right hereby conferred.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 55.1-1934
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Common elements: means all portions of the condominium other than the units. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
- Common expenses: means all expenditures lawfully made or incurred by or on behalf of the unit owners' association, together with all funds lawfully assessed for the creation or maintenance of reserves pursuant to the provisions of the condominium instruments. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
- Condominium: means real property, and any incidents to or interests in such real property, lawfully subject to this chapter by the recordation of condominium instruments pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
- Condominium instruments: means , collectively, the declaration, bylaws, and plats and plans recorded pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
- Declarant: means any person, or group of persons acting in concert, that (i) offers to dispose of its interest in a condominium unit not previously disposed of, including an institutional lender that may not have succeeded to or accepted any special declarant rights pursuant to § 55. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
- Executive board: means an executive and administrative entity, by whatever name denominated, designated in the condominium instruments as the governing body of the unit owners' association. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
- Officer: means any member of the executive board or official of the unit owners' association. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
- Unit: means a portion of the condominium designed and intended for individual ownership and use. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
- Unit owner: includes any purchaser of a condominium unit at a foreclosure sale, regardless of whether the deed is recorded in the land records where the unit is located. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
B. If any of the units in the condominium is restricted exclusively to residential use and there is any unit owner other than the declarant, the condominium instruments shall be amended only by agreement of unit owners of units to which two-thirds of the votes in the unit owners’ association appertain, or such larger majority as the condominium instruments may specify, except in cases for which this chapter provides different methods of amendment. If none of the units in the condominium is restricted exclusively to residential use, the condominium instruments may specify a majority smaller than the minimum specified in the preceding sentence.
C. An action to challenge the validity of an amendment adopted by the unit owners’ association pursuant to this section may not be brought more than one year after the amendment is recorded.
D. Agreement of the required majority of unit owners to any amendment of the condominium instruments shall be evidenced by their execution of the amendment, or ratifications of such amendment, and the same is effective when a copy of the amendment is recorded together with a certification, signed by the principal officer of the unit owners’ association or by such other officer as the condominium instruments may specify, that the requisite majority of the unit owners signed the amendment or ratifications of such amendment.
E. Except to the extent expressly permitted or expressly required by other provisions of this chapter or agreed to by 100 percent of the unit owners, no amendment to the condominium instruments shall change (i) the boundaries of any unit, (ii) the undivided interest in the common elements, (iii) the liability for common expenses, or (iv) the number of votes in the unit owners’ association that appertains to any unit.
F. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the declarant may unilaterally execute and record a corrective amendment or supplement to the condominium instruments to correct a mathematical mistake, an inconsistency, or a scrivener’s error or clarify an ambiguity in the condominium instruments with respect to an objectively verifiable fact, including recalculating the undivided interest in the common elements, the liability for common expenses or the number of votes in the unit owners’ association appertaining to a unit, within five years after the recordation of the condominium instrument containing or creating such mistake, inconsistency, error, or ambiguity. No such amendment or supplement may materially reduce what the obligations of the declarant would have been if the mistake, inconsistency, error, or ambiguity had not occurred. Regardless of the date of recordation of the condominium instruments, the principal officer of the unit owners’ association may also unilaterally execute and record such a corrective amendment or supplement upon a vote of two-thirds of the members of the executive board. All corrective amendments and supplements recorded prior to July 1, 1986, are hereby validated to the extent that such corrective amendments and supplements would have been permitted by this subsection.
1974, c. 416, § 55-79.71; 1993, c. 667; 2019, c. 712.