Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Virginia lets the board impose special assessments without an owner vote, and any limited common element cost must be specially assessed only to the units it serves.
Key statute: Va. Code § 55.1-1964 (Virginia Condominium Act, budget; assessments for common expenses); reserve provisions at Va. Code § 55.1-1965
How Virginia lets an association approve it
Virginia’s Condominium Act does not require unit owners to ratify a special assessment tied to a limited common element or a general capital need; it is treated as a matter for the executive board. Under § 55.1-1964(A), “…any common expenses associated with the maintenance, repair, renovation, restoration, or replacement of any limited common element shall be specially assessed…” to the units that limited common element serves. Section 55.1-1965 gives the board discretion over how to fund repairs and replacements: “[the executive board] shall have the discretion to meet repair and replacement requirements through replacement reserves, additional assessments, or borrowed funds.” Neither section sets a supermajority owner-vote requirement for a board-imposed special assessment; any such requirement would have to come from the declaration or bylaws.
The notice you’re owed
Virginia does require written notice. Under § 55.1-1964(E), “The executive board shall give written notice to the unit owners stating the amount of, the reasons for, and the due date for payment” of an assessment. For an additional (special) assessment, the due date must be set “no earlier than 90 days after delivery or mailing of the notice.”
Paying it: plan, interest, and late fees
Virginia’s statute does not create a formal installment-plan right for owners. The 90-day minimum gap between notice and due date under § 55.1-1964(E) functions as a built-in payment runway, but any further installment structure would have to come from the declaration or bylaws. If payment is not made within 60 days of the due date, § 55.1-1964(H) allows the association to charge a late fee, capped at the penalty amount set by § 58.1-3915, the state’s real-estate tax penalty statute, rather than a number written directly into the condo law.
Virginia’s lien and foreclosure rules for unpaid assessments sit in a separate Code section, likely § 55.1-1966, that was not part of this research and so isn’t confirmed here.
Does Virginia require a reserve study?
Yes. Va. Code § 55.1-1965 requires the association to “[c]onduct a study at least once every five years to determine the necessity and amount of reserves required to repair, replace, and restore the capital components” and to “[r]eview the results of that study at least annually to determine if reserves are sufficient.” When that study shows a funding need, the annual budget materials given to owners must disclose the replacement cost and remaining life of capital components, reserves on hand at the start of the fiscal year, how reserves are estimated and accumulated, and both the recommended and current funding levels. Virginia sets no minimum dollar or percentage reserve-funding target; the board can meet the need through reserves, an additional assessment, or borrowing.
Honest gaps
The lien and foreclosure statute wasn’t fetched or quoted this session, and the detail about a 2024 amendment adding a formal definition of “reserve study” to the Act comes from a secondary legal summary rather than the session law itself, so treat that specific point as unconfirmed.
Source note. Read from https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter19/section55.1-1964/ ; https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter19/section55.1-1965/ on September 4, 2026.
Related: HOA rules in a 55+ community · how a special-assessment foreclosure actually works · lump sum vs. a payment plan.
General information drawn from each state’s own statutes as read at its official legislature or code-publisher site (or a verbatim codified mirror where noted), not legal advice. Special-assessment law is state law, and every association’s own declaration and bylaws add rules on top of the statutory floor described here. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice.