West Virginia HOA Laws: What Homeowners Need to Know in 2026

West Virginia governs condos and planned communities through one statute, the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (chapter 36B, enacted 1986). Newer communities get the full act, small planned communities excepted; older ones, a short list of sections. The association’s lien beats a first mortgage for six months of budgeted assessments.

Built before or after the 1986 act: how chapter 36B sorts West Virginia communities

Chapter 36B reaches any “common interest community,” meaning real estate where owning a unit obligates you “to pay for real estate taxes, insurance premiums, maintenance or improvement of other real estate described in a declaration” (§ 36B-1-103). The definition has two carve-outs: a resort owner who, before the chapter took effect, began developing a resort and charging owners for roads, common areas, services and the like may charge later buyers the same fees “without creating a common interest community,” and a leasehold of less than twenty years, renewal options included, is not “ownership of a unit.” A “planned community” is one “that is not a condominium or a cooperative.” The Legislature’s bill history traces the applicability sections to 1986 Senate Bill 102.

Under § 36B-1-201, the chapter “applies to all common interest communities created within this state after the effective date of this chapter,” with two carve-outs (small co-ops have a third, in § 1-202):

• A planned community with no more than twelve units and no development rights, or whose declaration caps the annual average common expense liability of its residential units, not counting optional user fees and insurance premiums the association pays, at $300 as adjusted under § 1-114, gets only §§ 1-105, 1-106 and 1-107 unless the declaration adopts the whole chapter (§ 1-203, last amended by 2011 Senate Bill 569).
• An all-nonresidential planned community is outside the chapter unless its declaration says otherwise (§ 1-207).

Under § 1-114 that $300 can change on July 1, only in ten-percent steps, with the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (December 1979 base: 230).

Communities created earlier are covered only by the sections in § 36B-1-204(a), for events after that date and without invalidating existing declarations, bylaws, plats or plans: §§ 1-105, 1-106, 1-107, 2-103, 2-104, 2-121, 3-102(a)(1)–(6) and (11)–(16), 3-111, 3-116, 3-118, 4-109 and 4-117, plus the § 1-103 definitions needed to read them. An older co-op or planned community of twelve units or fewer with no development rights drops to §§ 1-105 through 1-107, unless it amends its declaration under § 1-206, in which case the whole § 1-204 list applies (§ 1-205).

Condos created before chapter 36B took effect may also sit under the Unit Property Act, chapter 36A (1963 session), which covers only property submitted to it “by a duly recorded declaration” (§ 36A-1-3); the 1963 act does not apply to communities created after that date (§ 1-204(b)). Section 1-204(d) makes chapter 36B apply wherever it conflicts with chapter 153 of the 1963 Acts, without modifying rights created by the declarations, bylaws, plats or plans of condos that predate 36B.

deed-restriction-the-association-cannot-rewrite-on-its-own">A deed restriction the association cannot rewrite on its own

Under § 36B-2-103(e), a declaration or bylaws “may not change or alter a restrictive covenant in a deed,” and covenants in force when you bought cannot be changed as to you, or your assign, heir or beneficiary, unless you agree in writing. Two exceptions: changes to homeowner fees that “do not exceed the sum of $100 a year,” and covenants that themselves authorize amendment, when that amendment procedure is duly followed. It binds pre-1986 communities too.

Budget ratification, an 18 percent interest cap and “reasonable” fines

Late assessments bear interest at the association’s rate, “not exceeding eighteen percent per year” (§ 36B-3-115). Owners get a budget summary within thirty days after the board adopts it, and a ratification meeting 14 to 30 days after that mailing; only a no vote by a majority of all unit owners, or a bigger threshold in the declaration, sinks it, quorum or not (§ 3-103(c)). Neither section is on the pre-1986 list.

Section 3-102(a)(11) lets the association impose late charges and, “after notice and an opportunity to be heard, levy reasonable fines” for violations. No dollar ceiling appears there.

Six months of priority, a three-year clock and a recorded notice: the § 36B-3-116 lien

The association has a lien for assessments and fines from the moment each falls due. It is prior to all other liens except (i) liens recorded before the declaration (and, in a co-op, liens the association creates, assumes or takes subject to); (ii) a first security interest recorded before the assessment became delinquent (in a co-op, one perfected before then and encumbering only the owner’s interest); and (iii) real estate taxes and other governmental charges. Even over that lender, six months of regular budget assessments come first: those that would have fallen due, without acceleration, in the six months before “institution of an action to enforce the lien.” The subsection “does not affect the priority of mechanics’ or materialmen’s liens, or the priority of liens for other assessments made by the association.”

Two more rules. To perfect and preserve the lien, the association must notify the owner under § 56-2-1 or by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested; and the lien is discharged as to later purchasers for value without notice unless a notice of lien, giving the unit description, owner names, amounts with due dates and recording date, is recorded with the clerk of the county commission “wherein any part of the condominium is located” (the statute’s word). On payment the association must record a release at its own expense.

A lien is extinguished unless proceedings to enforce it start within three years after the full assessment comes due. An owner’s written request gets a binding statement of unpaid assessments within ten business days, and a judgment under the section includes costs and reasonable attorney’s fees for the winner.

Annual meeting, removing a director, and the owner’s right to see records

In a post-1986 community (§ 3-108 is not on the older list), the association meets at least once a year, with notice delivered by hand or prepaid mail ten to sixty days ahead naming the time, place and agenda items; owners holding twenty percent of the votes, or a lower bylaw figure, can call a special meeting. A two-thirds vote of those present, with a quorum, removes any director the declarant did not appoint (§ 3-103(g)).

Records: § 3-118 says “all financial and other records must be made reasonably available for examination by any unit owner and his authorized agents.” It sets no day count, and it lists nothing the board may keep back.

Resale certificate: ten days to produce, five days for the buyer to walk

Before the contract is signed or otherwise before conveyance, a reselling owner owes the buyer copies of the declaration (minus plats and plans), bylaws and rules plus a certificate carrying the fourteen statements in § 36B-4-109(a). The association must supply it within ten days after the owner asks; for the fee, chapter 36B says only that the association may impose “reasonable charges” for resale certificates (§ 3-102(a)(12)). The buyer owes no unpaid assessment beyond the certificate’s figure and may void the contract until it is delivered and for five days afterward, or until conveyance, whichever comes first. Section 4-109 reaches pre-1986 communities too.

The duty drops away where a public offering statement is required instead, and for the seven kinds of disposition exempted in § 36B-4-101(b).

See also selling a home in an HOA, West Virginia closing costs, the HOA glossary and the West Virginia hub.

What West Virginia owners and buyers ask

Our subdivision dates from the 1970s. Does chapter 36B apply?

Only in part: the § 1-204 list, which includes the lien, records and resale-certificate sections, for events after the act took effect. With twelve units or fewer and no development rights, just §§ 1-105 to 1-107, unless the declaration is amended to opt in.

Is there a dollar limit on HOA fines in West Virginia?

The fine power in § 3-102(a)(11) names no dollar amount. It requires that fines be “reasonable” and come “after notice and an opportunity to be heard.”

Can the HOA tighten the restrictions in my deed by amending the declaration?

Not as to you without your written consent, under § 2-103(e), unless the change is to homeowner fees of $100 a year or less or your covenants carry their own amendment clause and it is followed.