RICHMOND — Legislation that would give more power to homeowners associations cleared the Virginia Senate Tuesday. It has already passed the House in a slightly different form and seems headed for final passage. House Bill 791 would let homeowner and condominium association boards levy fines against property owners who run afoul of association rules, even if the power to issue those fines isn’t written into the association’s controlling documents.
Associations have been doing this for years, but a recent court decision said they can’t unless their charter spells out the power, according to the Community Associations Institute, an industry trade association. “They’ve been doing it in practice for decades,” said Dawn Bauman, the institute’s senior vice president for government affairs.
Critics said the bill change would vest too much power in the small elected boards that head these associations, since a community-wide vote no longer would be needed to change the association charter and add the power to levy fines. The fines could eventually lead to tax liens and foreclosures. Many associations already have this power written into their charters, but not all of them. Read more: