West Virginia HOA and Condo Laws, in Plain English

Governs condominiums in West Virginia that were created before the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act took effect in 1986, and it remains in force for those existing condominiums. It sets out how a condominium is created through a declaration and plan, how units may be sold, mortgaged, or leased, and how the unit owners association is administered, including assessments, liens, and taxation. It does not impose a comprehensive resale disclosure requirement, though it does give a purchaser the right to a statement of unpaid assessments before a sale closes.

• W. Va. Code 36A-7-5 (Unpaid assessments at sale of unit)

  Under the Unit Property Act, which governs condominiums created before the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act's 1986 effective date, a purchaser is jointly and severally liable with the seller for unpaid assessments charged against the unit at the sale, but a person who has signed a written agreement to purchase may obtain from the treasurer a written statement of the unpaid assessments, and neither the purchaser nor the unit is liable beyond the amount it shows; any excess is reassessed to all owners as a common expense. No fee or deadline is stated. For a resale, 36B-1-204 applies the chapter 36B resale certificate (4-109) and lien statement (3-116) to these condominiums as well.

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Governs condominiums, planned communities, and cooperatives created in West Virginia on or after the act's 1986 effective date. It is a comprehensive act covering the creation and governance of a common interest community, the powers and duties of the owners association, assessments and liens, financial and membership records, and owner rights. It also requires that a resale certificate disclosing key association and financial information be given to a purchaser before the sale of a unit.

• W. Va. Code 36B-4-109 (Resales of units)

  Unless a public offering statement is required or the sale is exempt under 4-101(b), a unit owner furnishes the purchaser, before any contract for sale or otherwise before conveyance, the declaration (without plats and plans), the bylaws, the rules, and a certificate with fourteen items: restraints on alienation; the monthly common expense assessment and any unpaid common or special assessment due from the seller; other fees; capital expenditures anticipated for the current and next two fiscal years; reserves and their designated portions; the most recent balance sheet and income and expense statement; the current operating budget; unsatisfied judgments and pending suits in which the association is a defendant; insurance for the benefit of unit owners; whether the executive board knows of alterations violating the declaration; whether it knows of health or building code violations; any leasehold term; any declaration restrictions on what an owner may receive on sale, condemnation, casualty, or termination; and, in a cooperative, any accountant's statement on the deductibility of real estate taxes and interest. The association furnishes the certificate within 10 days after the unit owner's request; no fee is stated. The purchaser is not liable beyond the amounts set forth; the seller is not liable for the association's errors or delay, but the contract is voidable by the purchaser until the certificate is provided and for five days after, or until conveyance. Exempt under 4-101(b): gratuitous, court-ordered, governmental, foreclosure, dealer, and freely cancellable dispositions, and planned communities whose declaration caps the annual assessment at $500 as indexed. Applies to communities created before 1986 as well, for later events (1-204).

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• W. Va. Code 36B-3-116 (Lien for assessments; statement of unpaid assessments)

  Gives the association a lien on a unit for assessments from the time they become due, with the Uniform Act's priority and enforcement rules. On written request the association must furnish a unit owner a statement of the unpaid assessments against the unit within 10 business days, in recordable form where the owner's interest is real estate, binding on the association, the executive board, and every unit owner. No fee is stated. Applies to communities created before the chapter's 1986 effective date as well, for later events (1-204).

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• W. Va. Code 36B-1-203 (Exception for small planned communities)

  A planned community of no more than 12 units that is not subject to development rights, or one whose declaration caps the average annual residential common expense liability at $300 as indexed under 1-114, is subject only to sections 1-105, 1-106, and 1-107 unless its declaration adopts the whole chapter; 1-205 gives the same exception to cooperatives and planned communities of 12 or fewer units created before 1986 unless they amend in under 1-206. Such a community has no statutory resale certificate or statement of unpaid assessments and issues under its governing documents.

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