POAA or the Virginia Condominium Act: Which One Governs Your Association

Quick Answer

Virginia governs community associations under two separate statutes, and which one applies to you moves your meeting notice from 14 days to 21, your default quorum from 10 percent to more than one-third, and your proxy from an 11-month appointment to one that expires when the meeting ends.

Two things follow. The acts are not interchangeable: a condominium board on a 14-day notice calendar has sent short notice, and a property owners' association that assumes a one-third quorum has invented a threshold its act never imposed. Neither act tells you how to elect directors — both defer that to your bylaws, and set only the outer boundaries.

vote.direct runs the ballot, the roster and the record for either kind of Virginia association, from $4.99 for up to 50 voters. Software cannot make an election legally binding or guarantee compliance with either act; it can send notice on the right clock, keep the record, and count.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Statutes change and your governing documents may impose stricter rules. Confirm the current text and consult a Virginia attorney about your community.

Which Act Governs Your Association

Your declaration should say. If it does not, the test is what an owner actually owns.

A condominium can sit inside a master association, and then both acts run at once: the Condominium Act over the unit owners' association for the building, the POAA over the master it belongs to as a member. Different notice clocks, different quorum rules, one calendar — which is exactly how a board sends 14-day notice for a 21-day meeting.

The applicability rules have dates and exceptions in them. Section 55.1-1801 sets out which developments the POAA reaches. Read it rather than reasoning from your association's name, and write the answer into the board handbook so the next directors inherit it.

For the voting rules under either act, electronic voting, proxy limits, quorum and secret ballots, the main guide is Virginia HOA voting laws. For the regulator side, the Common Interest Community Board, the Ombudsman, and the written complaint procedure your association must have, see who regulates HOAs in Virginia.

Notice: 14 Days or 21, and Nothing in Between

Under the POAA, §55.1-1815 requires notice at least 14 days before any annual or regularly scheduled meeting and seven days before any other, stating the time, place, and purposes.

Under the Condominium Act, §55.1-1949 puts the duty on the officer or agent the bylaws designate and sets the clock at 21 days for an annual or regularly scheduled meeting, seven for anything else. What the notice must contain is routed through the bylaws.

Both acts let notice travel electronically: §55.1-1832 and §55.1-1935 each allow any required notice to be sent by electronic means unless the declaration or the condominium instruments expressly prohibit it.

The practical rule is to pick the longer clock. Send 21 days for everything and you are compliant under both acts. Boards that run the minimum are the ones who discover on the day that the meeting was regularly scheduled after all.

Quorum: The Widest Gap Between the Two Acts

The POAA contains no quorum percentage at all. Quorum comes from your bylaws, and where they are silent the Nonstock Corporation Act supplies the default: members holding one-tenth of the votes entitled to be cast, in person or by proxy, constitute a quorum (§13.1-849). Ten percent is among the lowest defaults in the country, and it is why small Virginia associations can do business at all.

The Condominium Act does the opposite. Under §55.1-1952(A), unless the condominium instruments otherwise provide, a quorum is deemed present throughout any meeting of the unit owners' association until adjourned if persons entitled to cast more than one-third of the votes are present at the beginning. The bylaws may set a larger percentage, or a smaller one, but never below 10 percent. The executive board has its own number: one-half of the votes in that body (§55.1-1952(B)).

Two details there earn their keep.

Quorum is measured at the beginning, and then it holds. A faction that walks out mid-meeting does not break quorum in a Virginia condominium — a different rule from the states where quorum must be continuously maintained, and worth knowing before someone stages an exit.

Absentee and proxy voters count toward it. Both acts deem a member voting by absentee ballot or by proxy present at the meeting for all purposes (§55.1-1815; §55.1-1953(E)). That phrase is what makes a remote ballot count toward quorum rather than merely count in the tally.

If quorum is what stops your association doing business, the fix is reach rather than law: see how to reach quorum and when an annual meeting fails quorum.

Proxies: An 11-Month Appointment, or a One-Meeting Appointment

This is the difference that catches experienced condominium managers, because the Condominium Act imposes a limit the POAA does not have anywhere.

Under the POAA, §55.1-1815 lets a member vote in person, by proxy, or by absentee ballot unless the governing documents expressly prohibit it. The act says nothing about how long a proxy lasts, what it must look like, or how it is revoked. Those come from the bylaws, and where the bylaws are silent, from §13.1-847: a proxy is appointed by signing an appointment form or by an electronic transmission, runs for the term stated in it and for 11 months if none is stated, and is revocable unless stated to be irrevocable and coupled with an interest.

Under the Condominium Act, §55.1-1953(D) is far more prescriptive:

• A proxy is void if unsigned by or on behalf of the unit owner, and void if undated.
• It terminates after the first meeting held on or after the date of that proxy, or any recess or adjournment of it. There is no 11-month proxy in a Virginia condominium. One proxy, one meeting.
• It is revocable only by actual notice to the person presiding over the meeting.
• Where a unit has more than one owner, any co-owner may object at or before the meeting, and the proxy is then deemed revoked.

The failure mode is a condominium that keeps a drawer of signed proxies and reuses them next year, or treats last spring's proxy as covering a special meeting in the fall. Under §55.1-1953(D) those are spent, and a challenger holding the statute needs no lawyer to make the point.

There is a broader argument for retiring proxies wherever your documents allow: a proxy hands a member's vote to someone else's judgment, while an absentee or electronic ballot keeps it with the owner — and since both acts deem that voter present for all purposes, the quorum arithmetic is unchanged. See proxy voting explained and how HOA proxy voting goes wrong.

Electronic Voting Under Both Acts

Both acts authorize it — §55.1-1815 for a property owners' association, §55.1-1953(E) for a condominium — and both make it conditional the same way: voting may take place by electronic means provided that the board has adopted guidelines for it. The board of directors under the POAA, the executive board under the Condominium Act. That phrase carries the whole obligation, and an association that opens an online ballot without a recorded resolution adopting guidelines has skipped the only precondition the statute states.

The technology sections, §55.1-1832 and §55.1-1935, are near-identical twins and set out what the method has to do:

• 1It is available unless your own documents shut it off. Any notice, signature, vote, consent, or approval may be handled electronically unless the declaration or the condominium instruments expressly prohibit it.

• 2A record of the vote must be created and kept, for as long as it would have to be kept in non-electronic form — the audit trail requirement, stated as a retention rule.

• 3A secret ballot stays secret. Where the vote must be taken by secret ballot, the electronic means must protect the voter's identity — and where it cannot, another method has to be used.

• 4Nobody is locked out, at the association's expense. Where a person lacks the capability or the desire to conduct business electronically, the association must make a reasonable alternative available at its own expense.

One nearby rule is often misread. Section 55.1-1816(A) and §55.1-1949(B)(5) both make voting by secret or written ballot in an open meeting a violation, except for the election of officers. That governs the board's own meetings, where directors should be seen voting. It is not a prohibition on secret ballots in the membership's election of directors, and neither act imposes a blanket secret ballot requirement the way California does — so where your bylaws call for one, they are the source. See HOA secret ballot rules by state, electronic voting for HOAs by state, and — for assessment votes, board removal and records under each Virginia act — Virginia HOA voting laws and Virginia HOA voting rules.

An Association With No Board

Neither the POAA nor the Condominium Act has a rescue procedure for an association whose directors have all resigned and whose members will not stand. The answers sit in the Nonstock Corporation Act, and there are three of them.

Your directors may still be in office. Under §13.1-857, despite the expiration of a director's term a director continues to serve until a successor is elected and qualifies, or until the number of directors is decreased. Many associations that believe they have no board legally have a holdover board that has simply stopped meeting. Check the last recorded election before concluding the seats are vacant.

Members can force a meeting. Under §13.1-839, where the articles or bylaws do not authorize someone else to call one, members holding one-twentieth of the votes entitled to be cast may demand a special meeting by signed demand delivered to the secretary, with all demands arriving within 60 days of the earliest. Five percent is a low bar in a small association.

A court can order one. Under §13.1-840, a circuit court may summarily order a meeting on a member's petition if no annual meeting was held within 15 months after the last, or if notice of a demanded special meeting was not given within 30 days after the demand reached the secretary.

The quorum arithmetic is what makes this solvable: 10 percent of a 60-lot association is six owners, and absentee and electronic ballots count toward it.

What to Do Before Your Next Meeting

• Write down which act governs you, with the citation, in the board handbook
• Send notice on the longer clock: 21 days for anything annual or regularly scheduled is safe under both acts
• Check whether the bylaws state a quorum. Silent and a POA: 10 percent (§13.1-849). Silent and a condominium: more than one-third (§55.1-1952(A))
• If you are a condominium, date-check every proxy against §55.1-1953(D) and discard anything already used
• Adopt electronic voting guidelines by resolution before you open a ballot, and publish the reasonable alternative you will pay for
• File the annual report with the CIC Board (§55.1-1835 for a POA, §55.1-1980 for a condominium)
• Keep the record: notice sent and when, the frozen roster, timestamped ballots, and the tally

FAQ

Q: What is the POAA?

The Virginia Property Owners' Association Act, at Code of Virginia §55.1-1800 and following. It governs property owners' associations — subdivisions and planned communities where a recorded declaration obliges lot owners to belong to an association — covering meetings, notice, records, assessments and voting, and deferring heavily to the bylaws. It does not govern condominiums; the Condominium Act at §55.1-1900 and following does.

Q: Which Virginia statute governs my HOA?

If you own a unit with an undivided interest in common elements, the Condominium Act. If you own a lot subject to a recorded declaration obliging association membership, the POAA. A condominium inside a master association is governed by both at once, on different clocks. Section 55.1-1801 has exceptions in it, so read it rather than reasoning from your association's name.

Q: Who governs HOAs in Virginia?

Your governing documents and one of the two statutes above. The Common Interest Community Board at DPOR licenses managers and receives association annual reports; the Common Interest Community Ombudsman takes complaints that survive the association's own procedure.

Q: How much notice does a Virginia HOA have to give for its annual meeting?

At least 14 days for a property owners' association (§55.1-1815) and at least 21 days for a condominium (§55.1-1949). Both require at least seven days for any other meeting. Sending 21 days for everything keeps you compliant under either act.

Q: What is the quorum for a Virginia HOA meeting?

The POAA sets no quorum, so the bylaws govern; if silent, the default is one-tenth of the votes entitled to be cast (§13.1-849). A condominium is different: §55.1-1952(A) sets it at more than one-third unless the condominium instruments provide otherwise, and the bylaws may not go below 10 percent. Absentee and proxy voters are deemed present for all purposes under both acts.

Q: How long is a proxy valid in Virginia?

It depends on the act. In a condominium a proxy terminates after the first meeting held on or after its date, or any recess or adjournment of it — one proxy, one meeting — and it is void if unsigned or undated (§55.1-1953(D)). The POAA is silent, so the bylaws govern; where they too are silent, a proxy runs 11 months unless it states a shorter term (§13.1-847).

Q: Is electronic voting legal for Virginia associations?

Yes, for both. A property owners' association votes electronically under §55.1-1815 once the board has adopted guidelines, a condominium under §55.1-1953(E) once the executive board has. Sections 55.1-1832 and 55.1-1935 add the conditions: a record of the vote kept as long as a paper record would be, a secret ballot that protects the voter's identity, and a reasonable alternative at the association's expense for anyone who will not vote electronically.

Q: What can Virginia owners do if the association has no board?

Start with §13.1-857 — a director serves until a successor is elected and qualifies, so the board may legally still exist. If the seats really are vacant, members holding one-twentieth of the votes can demand a special meeting under §13.1-839. If no annual meeting has been held within 15 months, or notice of a demanded special meeting was not given within 30 days, a member may petition the circuit court (§13.1-840).

The Bottom Line

Virginia is not a hard state to comply with. It is a state where almost every election question begins with which act governs you, and boards that never settle that keep getting the second half wrong.

Settle it once, in writing. Put the two numbers that follow — your notice period and your quorum — on the calendar and in the summary every new director reads. Adopt electronic voting guidelines by resolution before you need them. If you are a condominium, treat every proxy as expiring with the meeting it was written for, because it does.

The rest is record-keeping, and that is the part a board can hand off. vote.direct sends the notice, chases the members who have not voted, tracks turnout live against whatever quorum your bylaws set, and exports the audit trail, from $4.99 for up to 50 voters — or $199 if you would rather we ran the whole thing, for a digital election of up to 100 voters. We need 10 days before ballots open, inside any 21-day notice period.

Sources — all citations are to the Code of Virginia:

• 1§55.1-1815: POAA meetings, notice, voting

• 2§55.1-1816: Board of directors meetings

• 3§55.1-1826: POAA reserve study

• 4§55.1-1832: Use of technology (POAA)

• 5§55.1-1835: Annual report by association

• 6§55.1-1935: Use of technology (condominium)

• 7§55.1-1949: Condominium meetings, notice

• 8§55.1-1952: Condominium quorums

• 9§55.1-1953: Unit owner voting; proxies

• 10§55.1-1965: Condominium reserve study

• 11§55.1-1980: Annual report by unit owners' association

• 12§13.1-839: Special meetings

• 13§13.1-840: Court-ordered meeting

• 14§13.1-847: Proxies

• 15§13.1-849: Quorum and voting

• 16§13.1-857: Terms of directors