Published By: Michael A. Inman, Jeanne S. Lauer, Gregory J. Montero, Robert V. Timms, Jr., Matthew J. Weinberg

For the average person, these words are usually harbingers of doom. But for common interest communities and the professionals associated with them, they are simply an annual chore. For a number of years the law has required residential condominiums and homeowners associations to file annually with the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. Recent changes to the law have added professional management companies as entities required to file as well. The online link to verify compliance can be visited here. The same link allows you to check the status of many professionals, including contractors doing work at your home, and is a terrific source of information.

Mike Inman has been selected to join an exclusive group of attorneys evaluated by other attorneys who are long time practitioners of community association law and members of the Community Association Institute (CAI). Attorneys selected for the College are those who have spent considerable time writing articles and giving presentations on community association law topics over a period of years.  Mike has been presenting in seminars on Community Association topics for over 20 years and has been a presenter for the Virginia State Bar on the topic of Creating Condominiums in Virginia. He has also written a chapter on community association law for a Virginia State Bar Continuing Legal Education publication: Real Estate Transactions in Virginia. He serves on the Virginia Legislative Action Committee for the Community Associations Institute.

IS BOARD MEMBER EMAILING A VIOLATION OF THE OPEN MEETING REQUIREMENTS?

        With more frequency I am being asked whether, and to what extent, Board Members are entitled to communicate with each other by email.  A typical questions that is asked is: "After a solicitation of bids, we received a couple of bids for a major project in the community and the board members have been given a copy of the proposals.  There then ensued an email exchange amongst the board members analyzing and discussing the bid packages.  In order to get the project going before the next board meeting which is three weeks away, the President wishes to poll the board members on which contract to accept in order to move forward with the project.  is this permissible?"    

        The answer is clearly no, but the subsidiary question is, if that is the case, how much discussion can be held by board members via email (or telephone conference call, for that matter) without violating the open meeting requirements?

Continue Reading Board Member Emailing

The community association law team provides a wide array of legal services at a reasonable cost for community associations drawing upon a great deal of experience in dealing with these types of issues:

  • assisting you in enforcing your covenants and rules in a responsible way which will gain compliance but not at the price of alienating your members
  • interpreting and amending your declaration, bylaws and rules drafted by your developer or previous boards which are proving problematic
  • drafting of new enforceable rules at the request of the board
  • conducting work sessions to educate new board members or the board at large on their responsibilities under the law and the documents
  • giving good practical advice on such topics as architectural guidelines, insurance provisions, leasing restrictions and common area liability
  • analyzing claims you may have against your developer for construction defects