Virginia HOA Law Updates 2026-2027: What a Buyer Gets at Resale

In Virginia, an association has 14 days after a written request to deliver the resale certificate. If the contract sets no cancellation period, a buyer has three days to cancel, counted from the day the contract is fully signed (ratification) when the certificate arrived first and from the day the buyer receives it when it arrived later.

If you are buying a condo, a townhome or a house in a homeowners' association in Virginia, one document decides how much you know about the association before you are committed to it: the resale certificate. The seller has to get it from the association, on the association's timetable. A buyer or agent who knows the deadlines can use the days that remain, and a buyer who does not can let the right to cancel lapse at settlement.

The rules sit in Virginia's Resale Disclosure Act, which starts at Va. Code 55.1-2307. Its sections date from 2023 and were amended in 2024 and 2025. This guide covers what the Act gives a buyer in a condominium or a property owners' association, what an association can charge, what changed in 2025 and 2026, and what is already scheduled for 2027. Our post on a Virginia court decision about assessment provisions covers a different question and is not repeated here.

What Virginia Requires the Seller to Get You

The seller must obtain the resale certificate from the association and hand it to the buyer, and a contract cannot waive that duty.

Under Va. Code 55.1-2309, the seller or the seller's agent "shall obtain the resale certificate from the association and provide such resale certificate to the purchaser or the purchaser's agent," and that requirement "shall not be waived or changed by agreement." The association has 14 days after a written request to deliver it. If it does not, the certificate "shall be deemed unavailable," which matters for the cancellation right below. Days in this Act are calendar days. Since 2025 an association also cannot require the buyer's name before it prepares the certificate, so a seller does not have to wait for a buyer to order it.

What is inside the certificate

The certificate is a standard form from the Common Interest Community Board plus supporting documents in a set order. Va. Code 55.1-2310(A) lists 30 items. These are the ones a buyer should read first, with the item number so you can find each one in the packet.

Item 12 is the current reserve study "or a summary of such study," so a summary satisfies the statute. Our guides to reading a reserve study and to what a good percent funded looks like cover how to judge the numbers in items 9 to 12.

Which sales and which associations

The Act does not reach every community or every sale. It covers condominiums and property owners' associations subject to the Virginia Property Owners' Association Act (its definitions also reach real estate cooperatives and horizontal property regimes, an older condominium-style form of ownership; this guide does not cover them separately), per its definitions in 55.1-2307. That Act applies under 55.1-1801(A) to developments whose declaration (the recorded document that creates the community) was first recorded after January 1, 1959, to associations organized after that date, and to subdivisions created under the older Subdivided Land Sales Act (an earlier Virginia law for subdivisions). Some sales need no certificate at all: the six exemptions in 55.1-2317 include gifts, foreclosures, court-ordered sales if the court so directs, and certain auction sales.

What to do with this: ask the seller's agent for the date the certificate was requested in writing and the issue date printed on it. Those two dates tell you whether the 14 days have run and how old the numbers are. If the community is very old or the sale is a foreclosure, gift or auction, ask the seller's agent or an attorney whether a certificate is required at all.

How Long You Have to Cancel

Unless the contract sets its own period, a Virginia buyer has three days to cancel, and the start date depends on when the certificate arrived.

Va. Code 55.1-2312 ties the buyer's right to cancel to the certificate, or to a notice that the certificate is unavailable. There are three cases, and which one you are in depends on the order of events.

Ratification means the date the contract is fully signed by all parties, which is how Virginia's Residential Property Disclosure Act defines the word for its own chapter: "the full execution of a real estate purchase contract by all parties." The Resale Disclosure Act does not define it separately, so read how the contract you sign defines the date of ratification.

The right also has an end date. Va. Code 55.1-2308 requires the contract to disclose that "the purchaser's right to receive the resale certificate and the right to cancel the contract are waived conclusively if not exercised before settlement." If the contract leaves out the required disclosures, "the purchaser's sole remedy is to cancel the contract prior to settlement."

Three mechanics in 55.1-2312 are easy to miss. Notice must be written and follow the contract's own notice terms, and the buyer has "the burden to demonstrate delivery of the notice of cancellation." If a unit is governed by more than one association, the window runs from delivery of the last certificate. Cancellation is "without penalty," and the seller must see that any deposit or escrowed funds are returned promptly. A buyer can also ask for an updated certificate under 55.1-2311, available when a certificate was issued more than 30 days but less than 12 months before settlement, and the association must deliver it within 10 days of a written request.

What to do with this: ask your agent to write the ratification date, the certificate delivery date and the last day to cancel on one line of the transaction timeline.

What the Certificate Costs and Who Pays

The seller pays for the certificate, the Common Interest Community Board caps the fees, and a buyer may owe a post-closing fee at settlement.

Va. Code 55.1-2316 says "the seller shall be responsible for all fees associated with the preparation and delivery of the resale certificate, including any fees for inspection of the unit." The party who requests an updated certificate pays for it. A settlement agent or other requesting party may pay up front and ask to be reimbursed by the seller. The statute leaves the dollar amounts to the Board, which publishes the ceilings below.

The figures come from the Board's Maximum Allowable Preparation Fees sheet (dated January 12, 2023, amended July 1, 2023) and are the most an association may charge. The statute says the maximums must be adjusted "no less than every five years," and the sheet says the next adjustment will occur in 2028.

An association may collect these fees only if it meets four conditions in 55.1-2316(F): it is registered with the Common Interest Community Board, current in its annual report and fee, current in any Board assessment, and it offers the certificate electronically. The certificate must carry the annual report filing number (item 30 above), and the Board's sheet points to the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation's license lookup for checking an association's registration. For fees at closing in other states, see our guide to HOA transfer fees and hidden closing costs.

What to do with this: ask the seller's agent for the association's invoice for the certificate and compare it with the table.

What Changed in 2025 and 2026, and What Is Set for 2027

The 2025 session changed two resale-certificate details. The 2026 session left the three main Acts alone, and HB 444 is set for July 1, 2027.

Under Virginia's Constitution, laws enacted at a regular session take effect on the first day of July after adjournment unless the act sets another date, which dates the 2025 changes below.

The name rule comes from Chapter 247 of the 2025 Acts of Assembly, approved March 21, 2025. For the insurance item, compare that chapter's text with today's 55.1-2310(A)(14): the older wording stops after the coverage "recommended or required to be obtained by the owners," and the current item adds the deductible statement. The section's history line cites chapters 14, 16 and 247 of the 2025 Acts.

For 2026, the legislature's list of Title 55.1 sections updated in 2026 contains no section in chapter 18, 19 or 23.1, the chapters that hold those three Acts. That describes the Code as it stood on October 21, 2026, and it can change when the 2027 session convenes.

HB 444 is one of several 2026 laws that start July 1, 2027. Of those, it is the one a buyer whose seller is in a collections suit might ask about. In the Code, section 8.01-465.26 is marked "Effective July 1, 2027," and its source is 2026 Acts chapter 395. It is a definitions section for the new default-judgment rules (a default judgment is a win by a creditor when the person sued does not respond) in suits to collect a "consumer debt," which it defines as an obligation of an individual that arises from a transaction "primarily for a personal, family, or household purpose." A Virginia law firm that tracks association law, Woods Rogers, lists it among the 2026 changes for associations. The section does not say whether a suit over an association assessment counts, so whether it reaches a given suit is a question for a Virginia attorney.

What to do with this: if item 13 lists a pending suit, ask your attorney whether anything scheduled for 2027 would change how it proceeds.

Two More Rules a Buyer Meets Before Closing

Virginia sets a five-year rhythm for reserve studies and a filing window for assessment liens, and both show up in the packet.

Reserve studies. A Virginia condominium board must have a reserve study done at least every five years unless the condominium's own governing documents say otherwise. The statute's words: under the Virginia Condominium Act, a condominium's executive board must, "except to the extent otherwise provided in the condominium instruments," conduct a study "at least once every five years" of the reserves needed to repair and replace capital components, under Va. Code 55.1-1965. A property owners' association board has the same five-year duty under 55.1-1826, and that text has no "except" opening. Both sections also say the board has discretion to meet repair and replacement needs "through replacement reserves, additional assessments, or borrowed funds." In plain terms, the statute requires a study every five years and leaves the size of the reserve fund to the board.

Lien filing windows. To make its claim for unpaid assessments stick against the unit, an association must file a memorandum with the circuit court clerk. A condominium association must file "before the expiration of 90 days from the time the first such assessment became due and payable," under 55.1-1966(C). A property owners' association must file "before the expiration of 12 months from the time the first such assessment became due and payable," under 55.1-1833(B). The windows differ by type of community, so confirm which Act governs yours.

What to do with this: check the study date in item 12 against the five-year interval, and ask the title company whether any memorandum of lien is on file against the unit.

Questions to Ask Before You Let Any Deadline Pass

These eight questions turn the statute into a checklist you can run from the contract, the certificate and the closing statement.

• The contract. What is the ratification date, and does the contract set its own cancellation period?
• The request. When did the seller request the certificate in writing, and have the 14 days passed?
• The issue date. Is the certificate more than 30 days old at settlement? If so, ask for an updated one.
• The registration. Does item 30 carry a current Board filing number?
• The money. Do items 4 and 7 show a special assessment, and is the seller current?
• The reserve study. How old is the study behind item 12, and how much is saved against it?
• The insurance. What does item 14 say about the deductible?
• The fees. Who paid for the certificate, and is the charge within the Board's maximum?

If you want a second set of eyes on the packet before you call an attorney, our free tools for CC&Rs, reserve studies and meeting minutes point to the pages behind each finding. For specific questions about your contract, a deadline or a certificate, a Virginia real estate attorney can read the documents and advise on your situation.