Special Assessments in a Richmond Condo or Townhome: Who Votes, Who Pays, and How to See One Coming

A special assessment is the bill nobody budgets for: a one-time charge on top of your dues, levied because the roof, the siding or the elevator cannot wait for the reserve fund. In Virginia the board usually has the power to levy one without asking the membership. Here is how that works, how the cost splits mid-transaction, and what you can read in advance.

1. What a special assessment is, and why it is not a dues increase

Your regular assessment funds the operating budget and the reserve contribution. A special or additional assessment is a separate charge levied because the association needs money the budget does not have, usually for a capital component: roofing, siding, windows, paving, elevators, or an envelope repair found during an inspection.

Two points matter more than the label. A dues increase is permanent and spread forward; a special assessment is a defined sum divided among current owners, and it follows the unit. And in a condominium, expenses tied to a limited common element are handled separately: under Virginia Code § 55.1-1964, unless the condominium instruments say otherwise, the cost of repairing a limited common element is specially assessed against the unit it was assigned to. If your balcony is a limited common element, that repair can be your bill alone.

New to this? Our guide to moving from a Richmond house to a condo or townhome covers the rest.

2. Who votes: board authority under the statute, and where your documents take it back

This is the part most buyers get wrong. Virginia does not make a special assessment a membership question. It makes it a board question, then lets your governing documents add more.

Both statutes also let the board borrow instead of assessing, for capital components and for funding recommended reserves, unless the governing documents give greater or lesser authority. See § 55.1-1825. That is why two buildings facing the same $1.2 million roof present differently: one levies $9,000 a unit, the other borrows and raises dues by $140 a month for ten years.

So when someone says “the owners have to approve it,” ask which document says so and get the section number and the threshold. If the answer is “the state requires it,” the answer is wrong.

3. Reserve studies: what Virginia actually requires

Virginia does require a reserve study, and it is more modest than most buyers assume. Under § 55.1-1965 for condominiums and § 55.1-1826 for property owners’ associations, the board must:

• conduct a study at least once every five years to determine the necessity and amount of reserves needed to repair, replace and restore capital components;
• review the results of that study at least annually to decide whether reserves are sufficient; and
• make any adjustments to the annual budget and annual assessment it deems necessary.

Where the study shows a need to budget for reserves, the budget must show the estimated replacement cost, remaining life and useful life of the capital components, the accumulated cash reserves at the start of the fiscal year, the expected contribution, the procedures used, and the amount the study recommended next to the cash actually on hand. That last pairing is the most useful number in the packet.

Two caveats. The condominium version opens with “except to the extent otherwise provided in the condominium instruments,” so an older declaration can vary it. And both statutes give the board discretion to meet repair needs through reserves, additional assessments or borrowed funds. A fully compliant association can still be one vote away from a five-figure bill.

4. The warning signs you can read before you write the offer

Almost all of it is in the resale certificate, now a single instrument under the Resale Disclosure Act at Va. Code §§ 55.1-2307 through 55.1-2317, covering condominiums, cooperatives, horizontal property regimes and property owners’ associations alike. Our companion post on the Virginia condominium resale certificate covers delivery mechanics. Here is what to look for once it arrives.

• Reserves against the study’s recommendation. Section 55.1-2310 requires the certificate to include the current reserve study or a summary, plus the amount of reserves and any portions designated for specific projects. Divide cash on hand by the recommended figure.
• Approved but unbilled work. The certificate must state any approved additional or special assessment and any capital expenditures approved for the current and succeeding fiscal years. An approved $2 million facade project with no assessment attached is a bill in transit.
• Deferred roof, siding or elevator work. Read the six months of board minutes the certificate must include. Repeated motions to “obtain another bid” on the same component are the tell.
• A jump in the insurance deductible. The certificate must describe coverage and state that the governing documents may make an owner responsible for all or part of the deductible. A deductible that moved from $10,000 to $100,000 shifts real money onto owners.
• Pending litigation and unsatisfied judgments. The certificate must disclose unsatisfied judgments and any pending action that could have a material impact. Construction defect suits tend to end in assessments regardless of who wins.
• Delinquencies. Ask for the rate. A lender-grade benchmark: Fannie Mae’s full project review rejects projects where more than 15 percent of units are 60 days or more past due, and expects at least 10 percent of the budget in replacement reserves.
• Secondary-market approvals. The certificate must state any known project approvals in effect from secondary mortgage market agencies. If those lapsed, your buyer pool narrows before any assessment lands. See our post on FHA and VA approval for Richmond condos.

Richmond context: this comes up most in the mid-century elevator buildings near the Museum District, the warehouse conversions in Manchester and Shockoe Bottom, where envelope and roof systems age on one schedule, and the newer townhome associations in Short Pump, where the first full paving and siding cycle lands 12 to 15 years after build-out. Our guide to what to read before you sign in a Richmond HOA covers the documents.

5. Who pays when the assessment lands between contract and closing

There is no statutory default that says “seller pays.” Allocation is a contract term. What Virginia law fixes is what the association can charge you.

Under § 55.1-2313, a purchaser is not liable for any unpaid assessment or fee greater than the amount set out in the resale certificate, the updated certificate or the financial update, and the association is bound by those figures as to current assessments, including approved special assessments, unless the purchaser had actual knowledge the certificate was wrong. That is why the certificate date matters.

Three timing tools sit underneath it. A certificate issued more than 30 days but less than 12 months before settlement can be refreshed, and the updated certificate must be delivered within 10 days of a written request. A settlement agent can request a financial update, due within three business days. And the seller or seller’s agent must obtain and deliver the certificate in the first place within 14 days of a written request, a requirement that cannot be waived by agreement.

The pattern that holds up in Richmond contracts: an assessment approved and disclosed before ratification is a known cost, negotiated openly and most often paid or credited in full by the seller at closing. One approved after ratification causes the fights, and the answer comes from your contract language plus the updated certificate. For installments, the usual split is seller through closing and buyer after, but only if the contract says so. Write it down.

You also keep a cancellation right. Under § 55.1-2312, if the contract names no period, the purchaser has three days from ratification, or three days from receiving the certificate if it arrives later, to cancel. If the certificate is never delivered, the purchaser can cancel any time before settlement, without penalty, with the deposit returned.

6. What recourse an owner has once the assessment is levied

Less than owners hope, but not nothing.

• Records. Virginia’s statements of owner rights, § 55.1-1939 for condominium units and § 55.1-1807 for lots, give a member in good standing access to all books and records kept by or for the association, including all financial transactions. Ask for the bids, the study and the reserve ledger.
• Meetings and votes. The same sections give notice of board meetings, the right to record one, and the right to vote in proportion to your ownership interest unless the declaration says otherwise.
• Timing. For condominiums, the 90-day floor on a lump-sum assessment is statutory and not negotiable downward by the board.
• Regulator. Managers and registered associations answer to the Common Interest Community Board at DPOR, and the Common Interest Community Ombudsman handles association complaints. Neither overturns a properly adopted assessment, but both are the right first call on a process failure.
• Election. The durable remedy is a board seat.

What does not work is withholding payment. The lien attaches, and a property owners’ association may cut off common-area access, though never access to your own lot.

7. Where this shows up in the Richmond market right now

Supply here is still tight, so a late-disclosed assessment is rarely a deal-killer for the seller and is usually a cost the buyer absorbs by default. Negotiate early, not at the walkthrough.

In the attached-home bracket, our post on Richmond condos and townhomes between $300K and $350K is the companion piece; filter live inventory on our property search or browse our Richmond communities guide.

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