Virginia Code 55.1-1949: Meetings of unit owners’ association and executive board
A. 1. Meetings of the unit owners’ association shall be held in accordance with the provisions of the condominium instruments at least once each year after the formation of the association. The bylaws shall specify an officer or his agent who shall, at least 21 days in advance of any annual or regularly scheduled meeting and at least seven days in advance of any other meeting, send to each unit owner notice of the time, place, and purposes of such meeting. In the event of cancellation of any annual meeting of the unit owners’ association at which directors are elected, the seven-day notice of any subsequent meeting scheduled to elect such directors shall include a statement that the meeting is scheduled for the purpose of the election of directors.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 55.1-1949
- 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
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Electronic means: means any form of communication, not directly involving the physical transmission of paper, that creates a record that may be retained, retrieved, and reviewed by a recipient of such communication. 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
- Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
- in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- Officer: means any member of the executive board or official of the unit owners' association. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
- Person: means a natural person, corporation, partnership, association, trust, or other entity capable of holding title to real property, or any combination thereof. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- 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
- United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
2. Notice shall be sent by United States mail to all unit owners of record at the address of their respective units, unless the unit owner has provided to such officer or his agent an address other than the address of the unit, or notice may be hand delivered by the officer or his agent, provided that the officer or his agent certifies in writing that notice was delivered to the person of the unit owner.
3. In lieu of delivering notice as specified in subdivision 2, such officer or his agent may send notice by electronic means if consented to by the unit owner to whom the notice is given, provided that the officer or his agent certifies in writing that notice was sent and, if such electronic mail was returned as undeliverable, notice was subsequently sent by United States mail.
B. 1. Except as otherwise provided in the condominium instruments, the provisions of this subsection shall apply to executive board meetings at which business of the unit owners’ association is transacted or discussed. All meetings of the unit owners’ association or the executive board, including any subcommittee or other committee of such association or board, shall be open to all unit owners of record. The executive board shall not use work sessions or other informal gatherings of the executive board to circumvent the open meeting requirements of this section. Minutes of the meetings of the executive board shall be recorded and shall be available as provided in § 55.1-1945.
2. Notice of the time, date, and place of each meeting of the executive board or of any subcommittee or other committee of the executive board, and of each meeting of a subcommittee or other committee of the unit owners’ association, shall be published where it is reasonably calculated to be available to a majority of the unit owners.
A unit owner may make a request to be notified on a continual basis of any such meetings, which request shall be made at least once a year in writing and include the unit owners’ name, address, zip code, and any email address as appropriate. Notice of the time, date, and place shall be sent to any unit owner requesting notice (i) by first-class mail or email in the case of meetings of the executive board or (ii) by email in the case of meetings of any subcommittee or other committee of the executive board or of a subcommittee or other committee of the unit owners’ association.
Notice, reasonable under the circumstances, of special or emergency meetings shall be given contemporaneously with the notice provided to members of the (i) executive board or any subcommittee or other committee of such board or (ii) subcommittee or other committee of the unit owners’ association conducting the meeting.
3. Unless otherwise exempt as relating to an executive session pursuant to subsection C, at least one copy of all agenda packets and materials furnished to members of the executive board or subcommittee or other committee of the executive board for a meeting shall be made available for inspection by the membership of the unit owners’ association at the same time such documents are furnished to the members of the executive board.
4. Any unit owner may record any portion of a meeting required to be open. The executive board or subcommittee or other committee of the executive board conducting the meeting may adopt rules (i) governing the placement and use of equipment necessary for recording a meeting to prevent interference with the proceedings and (ii) requiring the unit owner recording the meeting to provide notice that the meeting is being recorded.
5. Voting by secret or written ballot in an open meeting is a violation of this chapter except for the election of officers.
C. The executive board or any subcommittee or other committee of the executive board may convene in executive session to consider personnel matters; consult with legal counsel; discuss and consider contracts, probable or pending litigation, and matters involving violations of the condominium instruments or rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to such condominium instruments for which a unit owner, his family members, tenants, guests, or other invitees are responsible; or discuss and consider the personal liability of unit owners to the unit owners’ association, upon the affirmative vote in an open meeting to assemble in executive session. The motion shall state specifically the purpose for the executive session. Reference to the motion and the stated purpose for the executive session shall be included in the minutes. The executive board shall restrict the consideration of matters during such portions of meetings to only those purposes specifically exempted and stated in the motion. No contract, motion, or other action adopted, passed, or agreed to in executive session shall become effective unless the executive board or subcommittee or other committee of the executive board, following the executive session, reconvenes in open meeting and takes a vote on such contract, motion, or other action, which shall have its substance reasonably identified in the open meeting. The requirements of this section do not require the disclosure of information in violation of law.
D. Subject to reasonable rules adopted by the executive board, the executive board shall provide a designated period during each meeting to allow unit owners an opportunity to comment on any matter relating to the unit owners’ association. During a meeting at which the agenda is limited to specific topics or at a special meeting, the executive board may limit the comments of unit owners to the topics listed on the meeting agenda.
1974, c. 416, § 55-79.75; 1978, c. 363; 1989, c. 58; 1990, c. 662; 1992, c. 72; 2000, c. 906; 2001, c. 715; 2003, cc. 404, 405, 442; 2005, c. 353; 2007, c. 675; 2013, c. 275; 2019, c. 712; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 9, 494.