§ 55.1-1934 — Amendment of condominium instruments

Virginia § 55.1-1934

• Jurisdiction: Virginia
• Title 55.1: Property and Conveyances
• Subtitle IV: Common Interest Communities
• Ch. 19: Virginia Condominium Act
• Art. 2: Creation, Alteration, and Termination of Condominiums

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A. If there is no unit owner other than the declarant, the declarant may unilaterally amend the condominium instruments, and an amendment signed by the declarant is effective upon recordation. This section shall not be construed to nullify, limit, or otherwise affect the validity of enforceability of any agreement renouncing or to renounce, in whole or in part, the right hereby conferred.

B. If any of the units in the condominium is restricted exclusively to residential use and there is any unit owner other than the declarant, the condominium instruments shall be amended only by agreement of unit owners of units to which two-thirds of the votes in the unit owners' association appertain, or such larger majority as the condominium instruments may specify, except in cases for which this chapter provides different methods of amendment. If none of the units in the condominium is restricted exclusively to residential use, the condominium instruments may specify a majority smaller than the minimum specified in the preceding sentence.

C. An action to challenge the validity of an amendment adopted by the unit owners' association pursuant to this section may not be brought more than one year after the amendment is recorded.

D. Agreement of the required majority of unit owners to any amendment of the condominium instruments shall be evidenced by their execution of the amendment, or ratifications of such amendment, and the same is effective when a copy of the amendment is recorded together with a certification, signed by the principal officer of the unit owners' association or by such other officer as the condominium instruments may specify, that the requisite majority of the unit owners signed the amendment or ratifications of such amendment.

E. Except to the extent expressly permitted or expressly required by other provisions of this chapter or agreed to by 100 percent of the unit owners, no amendment to the condominium instruments shall change (i) the boundaries of any unit, (ii) the undivided interest in the common elements, (iii) the liability for common expenses, or (iv) the number of votes in the unit owners' association that appertains to any unit.

F. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the declarant may unilaterally execute and record a corrective amendment or supplement to the condominium instruments to correct a mathematical mistake, an inconsistency, or a scrivener's error or clarify an ambiguity in the condominium instruments with respect to an objectively verifiable fact, including recalculating the undivided interest in the common elements, the liability for common expenses or the number of votes in the unit owners' association appertaining to a unit, within five years after the recordation of the condominium instrument containing or creating such mistake, inconsistency, error, or ambiguity. No such amendment or supplement may materially reduce what the obligations of the declarant would have been if the mistake, inconsistency, error, or ambiguity had not occurred. Regardless of the date of recordation of the condominium instruments, the principal officer of the unit owners' association may also unilaterally execute and record such a corrective amendment or supplement upon a vote of two-thirds of the members of the executive board. All corrective amendments and supplements recorded prior to July 1, 1986, are hereby validated to the extent that such corrective amendments and supplements would have been permitted by this subsection.

Legislative History

1974, c. 416, § 55-79.71; 1993, c. 667; 2019, c. 712.