MEETING RULES: VIRGINIA
Virginia meeting rules,
between elections.
Virginia opens every board and committee meeting to the owners, gives them a comment period at each one, and lets any owner record it.
The Property Owners’ Association Act and the Condominium Act say nearly the same things in two places, with one difference a secretary trips on: 14 days of notice for a property owners’ association annual meeting, 21 for a condominium.
Our reading, to support your review, not legal advice.
Confirm with your attorney before the board acts.
Reviewed on Oct 12, 2026
NOTICE
Notice for the annual meeting in Virginia
Days below are counted back from the meeting date. Where the statute sets a ceiling as well as a floor, the notice has to land inside the window, not simply before it.
Property owners’ association
Virginia Property Owners’ Association Act
| Notice | The rule | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Annual or regularly scheduled meeting | At least 14 days beforeThe bylaws name an officer who sends each member notice of the time, place and purposes at least 14 days before an annual or regularly scheduled meeting. The association has to meet at least once a year.How it travels: United States mail to the lot address or another address the member gave. Hand delivery with a written certification, or email where the member chose email, with mail as the fallback when the email bounces. | Va. Code §55.1-1815(G) |
| Any other meeting | At least 7 days beforeEvery other meeting of the members takes at least seven days. If an annual meeting that was going to elect directors is cancelled, the seven-day notice of the replacement meeting has to say that it is being held to elect directors.How it travels: The same three methods as the annual meeting notice. | Va. Code §55.1-1815(G) |
Condominium
Virginia Condominium Act
| Notice | The rule | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Annual or regularly scheduled meeting | At least 21 days beforeA condominium takes a week longer than a property owners’ association: at least 21 days before an annual or regularly scheduled meeting of the unit owners, stating the time, place and purposes.How it travels: United States mail to the unit address or another address the owner gave, or hand delivery with a written certification. Electronic means only where the unit owner consented, with mail as the fallback when the email bounces. | Va. Code §55.1-1949(A) |
| Any other meeting | At least 7 days beforeAny other meeting of the unit owners takes at least seven days, and a replacement for a cancelled election meeting has to say in its notice that directors will be elected.How it travels: The same methods as the annual meeting notice. | Va. Code §55.1-1949(A) |
Worked example: a meeting on Dec 1, 2026
- Property owners’ association, annual or regularly scheduled meeting: for a meeting on Dec 1, 2026, notice goes out by Nov 17, 2026.
- Property owners’ association, any other meeting: for a meeting on Dec 1, 2026, notice goes out by Nov 24, 2026.
- Condominium, annual or regularly scheduled meeting: for a meeting on Dec 1, 2026, notice goes out by Nov 10, 2026.
- Condominium, any other meeting: for a meeting on Dec 1, 2026, notice goes out by Nov 24, 2026.
That is arithmetic on the day counts above, nothing more. Your bylaws may ask for longer, weekends and holidays are not adjusted for, and a date is not a ruling on your meeting.
BOARD MEETINGS
Board meetings in Virginia
Open to members
Every meeting of the board, and of any subcommittee or committee of it, where association business is discussed or transacted is open to all members of record. The board may not use work sessions or informal gatherings to get around that. In a condominium the rule applies unless the condominium instruments provide otherwise.
Owners may comment
Under reasonable rules the board adopts, each meeting has to set aside a designated period for owners to comment on any matter relating to the association. At a special meeting, or one whose agenda is limited to specific topics, the board may hold comments to those topics.
Executive session
The board closes a meeting only by an affirmative vote taken in the open meeting, on a motion that states the purpose. The purposes are personnel matters, consulting legal counsel, contracts, pending or probable litigation, violations of the governing documents or rules, and the personal liability of owners to the association. The motion and its purpose go into the minutes, and nothing agreed behind the door takes effect until the board reconvenes in open meeting and votes on it.
Recording, and no secret ballots
Any owner may record any part of a meeting that has to be open. The board may set rules on where the equipment goes and may require the owner to say that the meeting is being recorded. Except for the election of officers, voting by secret or written ballot in an open board meeting is a violation of the act.
Agenda packets
At least one copy of every agenda packet and of the materials given to the directors for a meeting has to be available for the membership to inspect at the same time the directors receive it. Material for an executive session is the exception.
Every association
Property owners’ associations and condominiums
| Notice | The rule | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Board or committee meeting | No day count in the statuteVirginia counts no days for a board meeting. Notice of the time, date and place is published where it is reasonably calculated to reach a majority of the owners, and an owner who asks in writing each year is sent it directly. A special or emergency meeting takes notice that is reasonable in the circumstances, given at the same moment the directors get theirs. Any number of days comes from your bylaws.How it travels: Published where a majority of the owners can reasonably be expected to see it. First-class mail or email to any owner who asks in writing, once a year, to be notified. | Va. Code §55.1-1816(B); §55.1-1949(B) |
MINUTES AND RECORDS
Minutes and records in Virginia
Five or ten business days
Books and records are open to examination and copying by a member in good standing, or the member’s agent, for a proper purpose related to membership. The member gives written notice naming the purpose and the specific records: five business days where a common interest community manager runs the association, ten business days where the association manages itself.
What a copy costs
The association may charge the reasonable cost of materials and labor and no more, and only under a cost schedule the board has adopted. The schedule has to state the charges, apply equally to every owner in good standing, and be handed to the owner when the request is made.
What may be withheld
The Property Owners’ Association Act lists nine categories: personnel matters and medical records, contracts under negotiation, pending or probable litigation, enforcement proceedings before a tribunal, privileged communications with counsel, anything whose disclosure would violate law, executive session minutes, material compiled for an executive session, and another owner’s individual file. A record is withheld whole only where the exclusion covers all of it. Otherwise the board redacts the excluded part and releases the rest.
Draft minutes, 60 days
Board minutes have to be recorded. Draft minutes of a property owners’ association board are open for inspection and copying within 60 days of the end of the meeting, or when they are sent to the directors in the agenda package for the next meeting, whichever comes first. Executive session minutes are the exception.
What the association keeps
The association keeps detailed records of receipts and expenditures under generally accepted accounting practices, an assessment account record for each owner, and a record of any recorded lien for at least as long as the lien remains effective. The section sets no other retention period, so the schedule for everything else is yours to adopt with your attorney.
PROXIES AND QUORUM
Proxies and quorum in Virginia
Proxies and absentee ballots are present
Unless the governing documents expressly prohibit it, an owner may vote at a meeting in person, by proxy or by absentee ballot. An owner who votes by absentee ballot or proxy is deemed present at the meeting for all purposes, and the quorum is one of those purposes.
Condominium quorum
Unless the condominium instruments say otherwise, a unit owners’ meeting has a quorum from start to adjournment if persons entitled to cast more than one-third of the votes are present at the beginning. The bylaws may set a larger share, or a smaller one that is not under 10 percent. The executive board has a quorum when persons holding half its votes are present at the beginning, unless the instruments set more.
What a condominium proxy needs
A condominium proxy has to be dated and signed by or for the unit owner. It ends after the first meeting held on or after its date, counting any recess or adjournment of that meeting, and it has to carry a brief explanation of what happens if it is left uninstructed.
Three years without a quorum
Where a condominium has tried in good faith for three successive years to hold its annual meeting and failed each time for want of a quorum, the association or any unit owner entitled to vote may petition the circuit court to order a meeting to elect the executive board, and the court may set the quorum for it. An owner who files gives the executive board a copy of the petition at least 10 business days beforehand.
REMOTE MEETINGS
Meeting by phone or screen in Virginia
Entirely or partly electronic
Any meeting of the association, the board or a committee may be held entirely or partially by electronic means, provided the board has adopted guidelines that make sure the people accessing the meeting are authorized to and that those entitled to participate have the opportunity. The board decides which meetings. For anyone without the capability or the desire to use electronic means, the association has to offer a reasonable alternative at its own expense.
NEXT
What to do with this.
This page adds what the election page does not: The open-meeting and comment-period duties, the executive session motion, the five and ten business day records clock, the 60-day rule for draft minutes and the court-ordered meeting after three failed quorums. The ballot rules for Virginia stay where they already are, on vote.direct, and that page is linked below.
Reading a statute is not the same as running a meeting. Send us your roster and we set your community up on the phone, in one sitting. Call or text (512) 222-8191.
THE OTHER STATES
Meeting rules we have read elsewhere.
Same treatment on each: a primary source per fact, a link per citation, and the date the reading happened.
Arizona
Annual meeting notice: 10 to 50 days
California
Annual meeting notice: 10 to 90 days
Colorado
Annual meeting notice: 10 to 50 days
Florida
Annual meeting notice: At least 14 days
Nevada
Annual meeting notice: 15 to 60 days
Texas
Annual meeting notice: 10 to 60 days
Maryland
Annual meeting notice: No day count in the statute
Washington
Annual meeting notice: 14 to 50 days
New York
Annual meeting notice: 10 to 50 days
North Carolina
Annual meeting notice: 10 to 60 days
Pennsylvania
Annual meeting notice: 10 to 60 days
Michigan
Annual meeting notice: 10 to 60 days
South Carolina
Annual meeting notice: 10 to 60 days
Connecticut
Annual meeting notice: 10 to 60 days
Idaho
Annual meeting notice: 10 to 60 days
Wisconsin
Annual meeting notice: At least 10 days
Illinois
Annual meeting notice: 10 to 30 days
QUESTIONS
Virginia board questions, answered
How much notice does a Virginia association have to give for the annual meeting?
The bylaws name an officer who sends each member notice of the time, place and purposes at least 14 days before an annual or regularly scheduled meeting. The association has to meet at least once a year. For a meeting on Dec 1, 2026, that puts the notice by nov 17, 2026. That is arithmetic on the statute, not a ruling on your meeting. Va. Code §55.1-1815(G). Our reading, to support your review, not legal advice. Confirm with your attorney before the board acts.
Are Virginia HOA board meetings open to homeowners?
Every meeting of the board, and of any subcommittee or committee of it, where association business is discussed or transacted is open to all members of record. The board may not use work sessions or informal gatherings to get around that. In a condominium the rule applies unless the condominium instruments provide otherwise. Va. Code §55.1-1816(A); §55.1-1949(B). Our reading, to support your review, not legal advice. Confirm with your attorney before the board acts.
Can an owner speak at a Virginia board meeting?
Under reasonable rules the board adopts, each meeting has to set aside a designated period for owners to comment on any matter relating to the association. At a special meeting, or one whose agenda is limited to specific topics, the board may hold comments to those topics. Va. Code §55.1-1816(D); §55.1-1949(D). Our reading, to support your review, not legal advice. Confirm with your attorney before the board acts.
How much notice does a Virginia board meeting need?
Virginia counts no days for a board meeting. Notice of the time, date and place is published where it is reasonably calculated to reach a majority of the owners, and an owner who asks in writing each year is sent it directly. A special or emergency meeting takes notice that is reasonable in the circumstances, given at the same moment the directors get theirs. Any number of days comes from your bylaws. Va. Code §55.1-1816(B); §55.1-1949(B). Our reading, to support your review, not legal advice. Confirm with your attorney before the board acts.
How fast does a Virginia association have to answer a records request?
Books and records are open to examination and copying by a member in good standing, or the member’s agent, for a proper purpose related to membership. The member gives written notice naming the purpose and the specific records: five business days where a common interest community manager runs the association, ten business days where the association manages itself. Va. Code §55.1-1815(B); §55.1-1945(B). Our reading, to support your review, not legal advice. Confirm with your attorney before the board acts.
How long does a Virginia association have to keep its records?
The association keeps detailed records of receipts and expenditures under generally accepted accounting practices, an assessment account record for each owner, and a record of any recorded lien for at least as long as the lien remains effective. The section sets no other retention period, so the schedule for everything else is yours to adopt with your attorney. Va. Code §55.1-1815(A); §55.1-1945(A). Our reading, to support your review, not legal advice. Confirm with your attorney before the board acts.
Can a Virginia association hold its meeting online?
Any meeting of the association, the board or a committee may be held entirely or partially by electronic means, provided the board has adopted guidelines that make sure the people accessing the meeting are authorized to and that those entitled to participate have the opportunity. The board decides which meetings. For anyone without the capability or the desire to use electronic means, the association has to offer a reasonable alternative at its own expense. Va. Code §55.1-1832(F), (G); §55.1-1935(F), (G). Our reading, to support your review, not legal advice. Confirm with your attorney before the board acts.
Do proxies count toward a quorum in Virginia?
Unless the governing documents expressly prohibit it, an owner may vote at a meeting in person, by proxy or by absentee ballot. An owner who votes by absentee ballot or proxy is deemed present at the meeting for all purposes, and the quorum is one of those purposes. Va. Code §55.1-1815(H); §55.1-1953(E). Our reading, to support your review, not legal advice. Confirm with your attorney before the board acts.
Does governance.center tell us our Virginia meeting was properly noticed?
No, and it never will. We show you the statute, the date the arithmetic produces and the section it came from, so your board and your attorney can check our work. Your bylaws may set a longer period than the state does, and where they do, the bylaws govern. We never tell a board that it is compliant.
Our reading, to support your review, not legal advice.
Confirm with your attorney before the board acts.
Your bylaws may ask for a longer period than the state does, and where they do, the bylaws govern. We never tell a board that it is compliant. If something here does not match what your attorney reads, call (512) 222-8191 and tell us. We will correct it.