Attending HOA Meetings in West Virginia

The decisions that affect your home — budgets, rules, assessments — often get made at meetings. In West Virginia, the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (W. Va. Code Ch. 36B) addresses meetings of the association and the notice owners are entitled to. For your specific situation, a licensed West Virginia attorney is the right resource. This is general information, not legal advice.

How much meeting notice must a West Virginia HOA give owners?

Between 10 and 60 days before any association meeting. Under W. Va. Code §36B-3-108, notice must be hand-delivered or mailed prepaid to each unit owner and must state the time, place and agenda, including the general nature of any proposed declaration or bylaw amendment, any budget changes, and any proposal to remove an officer or board member.

Section 36B-3-108 governs meetings of the association, including the notice that must go to unit owners. It sets concrete minimums. The association must hold a meeting "at least once each year." And notice must arrive in a defined window: "[n]ot less than ten nor more than sixty days in advance of any meeting," the secretary or other officer "shall cause notice to be hand-delivered or sent prepaid by United States mail" to each unit owner's mailing address.

The notice also has to say what the meeting is about. The statute requires that it "state the time and place of the meeting and the items on the agenda, including the general nature of any proposed amendment to the declaration or bylaws, any budget changes, and any proposal to remove an officer or member of the executive board." That agenda-disclosure rule is what keeps a board from springing a major change on owners who had no warning. The declaration and bylaws fill in the rest — format, and how owners can speak — but they have to be consistent with the statute.

Why notice is the leverage point

When a rule, a budget, or an assessment increase is taken up at an association meeting that members were never properly noticed of, the lack of notice is often the first thing a homeowner or attorney examines. A decision reached without the 10-to-60-day notice §36B-3-108 requires — or without an agenda flagging the change — may be vulnerable to challenge.

The corporate layer

Most West Virginia associations are also incorporated as nonprofits under the West Virginia Nonprofit Corporation Act (Ch. 31E), which supplies its own rules for member meetings, voting, and minutes. Those sit alongside Chapter 36B. See Which West Virginia Laws Govern Your HOA?.

Can I get HOA meeting minutes in West Virginia?

Generally, yes. West Virginia's Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, W. Va. Code §36B-3-118, says "[a]ll financial and other records must be made reasonably available for examination by any unit owner," and meeting minutes are part of the association's records. Requesting them is a common move when a board action seems to have appeared from nowhere.

For an owner who couldn't attend, the minutes show what happened. See Getting Your HOA's Records in West Virginia.

If meetings are closed or unnoticed

When an owner believes a meeting was held without the notice the statute or documents require, the options include raising it with the board in writing, requesting the records that would show what happened, and consulting a licensed West Virginia attorney about whether §36B-3-108 and the bylaws were followed.

Sources

• W. Va. Code §36B-3-108 — Meetings
• W. Va. Code §36B-3-118 — Association records
• W. Va. Code §36B-3-102 — Powers of unit owners' association
• W. Va. Code Chapter 31E — West Virginia Nonprofit Corporation Act