Last year we informed you that effective October 1, 2019 the Virginia General Assembly reorganized Chapter 55 of the Code of Virginia. Chapter 55 includes the Condominium Act, the Property Owners Association (POA) Act and the Real Estate Cooperative Act. This reorganization did not amend the content of these Code Sections but did change the Code Section numbers. Prior to October, 2019 the Condominium Act was comprised of Sections 55-75.45 through 55.79.85. The Condominium Act is now comprised of Sections 55.1-1907 through 55.1-1969. Prior to October, 2019 the POA Act was comprised of Sections 55-508 through 55.516.2. The POA Act is now comprised of Sections 55.1-1801 through Sections 55.1-1836. Fortunately, a conversion table is available which makes it easy to correct form documents containing Code section citations. That chart can be found at https://www.vsb.org/docs/sections/realproperty/appendixb.pdf.

Associations routinely provide documents and forms to members and prospective purchasers that contain Code sections including, among others, resale certificates, association complaint procedures, violation letters and proxies. We have seen instances where the legality of association documents has been challenged when they contain an incorrect Code section. Therefore, we want to remind association boards and managers to review all documents and forms utilized by the association to ensure that they contain the correct Code sections. It is not necessary to amend declarations and bylaws for the sole purpose of updating code sections because the courts will consider the fact that the Code section numbers were changed after the creation of the document.

Quite frankly this change in Code section numbers is going to cause confusion and inconvenience to users of these Acts for a couple of years until adjustment is achieved. We hope that this memo will help you to be less confused as you deal with various documents going forward.