General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2003>Property and Conveyances

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Property and Conveyances

Passed

P HB1694

Virginia Condominium and Property Owners' Association Acts; meetings. Provides that a unit owner or lot owner may record any portion of a meeting of the executive organ or board of directors.
Patron - McQuigg

P HB1722

Condominium Act; meetings of subcommittees of executive organ; distribution of informational material by unit owners. Provides that meetings of any subcommittee or other committee of the executive organ or the unit owners' association shall be open to members of the unit owners' association. The bill also provides that except as otherwise provided in the condominium instruments, no executive organ shall require prior approval of the dissemination or content of any material regarding any matter concerning the unit owners' association.
Patron - Callahan

P HB1746

Virginia Real Estate Cooperative Act; taxation. Provides that amendments enacted by the 2002 Session of the General Assembly are declaratory of existing law. The 2002 amendments to the Virginia Real Estate Cooperative Act provide (i) that owners of cooperative interests in a cooperative shall not be deemed to be a business for any state and local purposes and (ii) that any tangible personal property owned by a residential cooperative association that would be considered household goods and personal effects if owned and used by an individual or by a family or household incident to maintaining an abode shall be considered household goods and personal effects owned and used by an individual or by a family or household incident to maintaining an abode for purposes of § 58.1-3504 and any local ordinance authorized thereby.
Patron - Suit

P HB1836

Recording certificate of satisfaction. Provides that a civil penalty for not recording a certificate of satisfaction may be incurred if recordation is not accomplished within 30 days, rather than the current time period of 10 days, of receipt by the circuit court clerk. This extended period will sunset on July 1, 2004. Current staffing shortages and budget cuts have made the 10-day recordation requirement impracticable for many clerks' offices.
Patron - Reese

P HB1939

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; access to cable and other television facilities. Authorizes a landlord to enter into a service agreement with a television service provider to provide marketing and other service to the television service provider and to receive compensation for the services. Compensation under such service agreement may also include the reasonable value of the landlord's property that is used by the television service provider. This bill is identical to SB 822 and SB 1188.
Patron - Drake

P HB1942

Condominium Act; quorum requirements. Reduces the minimum requirements that condominium bylaws may specify for a quorum from 25 percent to 10 percent.
Patron - Drake

P HB1945

Ratio utility billing systems for commercial and residential rental units. Defines the term "ratio utility billing systems" and provides that ratio utility billing systems are permitted in commercial and residential buildings in addition to submetering or energy allocation, provided the landlord and tenant so state in a rental agreement or lease. The bill also eliminates the two dollar cap on the monthly administrative charges and replaces it with the actual cost being charged by the third-party provider of billing and administrative services.
Patron - Drake

P HB1951

Virginia Residential Landlord Tenant Act; application fees. Raises the amount of the application fee that a landlord may charge from $20 to $32.
Patron - Drake

P HB2034

Virginia Property Owners' Association Act; amendment to declaration. Allows the declaration of a property owners' association recorded prior to July 1, 1999, to be amended by agreement of two-thirds vote of the lot owners if the declaration is silent on how it may be amended. This bill is identical to SB 1122.
Patron - McDougle

P HB2213

Condominium Act; responsibility for insurance deductibles. Provides that except to the extent otherwise provided in the condominium instruments, any insurance deductible under the master casualty policy shall be paid by the unit owners' association as a common expense if the cause of the damage to or destruction of any portion of the condominium originated in or through the common elements. However, a unit owner shall pay such deductible if the cause of any damage to or destruction of any portion of the condominium originated in or through a unit or any component thereof without regard to whether the unit owner was negligent.
Patron - Suit

P HB2216

Condominium Act; authority to levy additional assessments. Authorizes the executive organ to levy additional assessments if the executive organ determines that the assessments levied by the unit owners' association are insufficient to cover the common expenses of the unit owners' association. The bill provides for written notice of the imposition of an additional assessment and provides that the unit owners' association may rescind or reduce the additional assessment. The bill is generally analogous to provisions in the Property Owners' Association Act that authorize the board of directors to levy special assessments and the association to rescind or reduce the special assessment.
Patron - Suit

P HB2217

Property Owners' Association Act; applicability. Removes the $150 threshold for determining whether an association is subject to the Property Owners' Association Act (POAA). The bill defines when an association packet is not available.
Patron - Suit

P HB2335

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; terms of rental agreements. Authorizes the inclusion in a rental agreement of a provision for the automatic renewal of the rental agreement and requirements for notice of intent to vacate or terminate the rental agreement.
Patron - Reese

P HB2340

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; definition of prepaid rent. Clarifies that prepaid rent means rent paid more than one month in advance of the rent due date.
Patron - Drake

P HB2341

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; confidentiality of tenant records. Prohibits a landlord or managing agent from releasing information about a tenant or prospective tenant except where: (i) the tenant or prospective tenant has given prior written consent; (ii) the information is a matter of public record as defined in § 2.2-3701; (iii) the information is a summary of the tenant's rent payment record, including the amount of the tenant's periodic rent payment; (iv) the information is a copy of a material noncompliance notice that has not been remedied or termination notice given to the tenant under § 55-248.31 and the tenant did not remain in the premises thereafter; (v) the information is requested by a local, state, or federal law-enforcement or public safety official in the performance of his duties; or (vi) the information is otherwise provided in the case of an emergency.
Patron - Drake

P HB2342

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; acceptance of rent with reservation. Clarifies the responsibilities of a landlord to the tenant regarding the landlord's acceptance of rent with reservation. The bill provides that the landlord does not waive his right to terminate a tenancy when he accepts rent with reservation as to material noncompliance by the tenant that occurs during the pendency of any legal action by the landlord. This bill incorporates HB 2576.
Patron - Drake

P HB2343

Writs of possession; unlawful detainer. Clarifies that a sheriff shall evict, pursuant to a writ of possession, tenants named in the writ of possession and their authorized occupants, guests or invitees, and any trespassers in the premises.
Patron - Drake

P HB2344

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; bonds in lieu of security deposits. Allows a landlord to accept both a bond and security deposit from a tenant as long as the total of the security deposit and the bond or insurance premium does not exceed the amount of two months' periodic rent.
Patron - Drake

P HB2392

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; award of attorneys' fees. Provides that a landlord shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorneys' fees unless the tenant proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the failure of the tenant to pay rent or vacate the premises was reasonable. Currently, a landlord can recover attorneys' fees if the tenant's noncompliance was willful. The bill also allows a tenant to recover reasonable attorneys' fees unless the landlord can prove his actions were reasonable.
Patron - Albo

P HB2462

Unclaimed property; demutualization proceeds. Provides that unclaimed property that became payable or distributable in the course of the demutualization of an insurance company is presumed to be abandoned five years after the earlier of (i) the date of last contact with the policyholder or (ii) the date the property became payable or distributable. The annual report due November 1, 2003, shall include such information for the five years preceding 2003. This bill is identical to SB 1133.
Patron - Hargrove

P HB2497

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; security deposits and interest thereon. Clarifies that the amount of the security deposit plus interest owed by a landlord to a tenant shall be offset by any amount due the landlord from the tenant. The bill also sets out a schedule of the interest rates since July 1975 to make it easier for landlords to calculate interest owed on security deposits.
Patron - Bolvin

P HB2498

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; definition of rental application. Adds a definition of "rental application," which means the written application or similar document used by a landlord to determine if a prospective tenant is qualified to become a tenant of a dwelling unit. The bill also authorizes a landlord to charge an application fee and to request a prospective tenant to provide information that will enable the landlord to make such determination. The landlord may photocopy each applicant's driver's license or other similar photo identification, containing either the applicant's social security number or control number issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles pursuant to § 46.2-342. The landlord may require that each applicant provide a social security number issued by the U.S. Social Security Administration or an individual taxpayer identification number issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, for the purpose of determining whether each applicant is eligible to become a tenant in the landlord's dwelling unit.
Patron - Bolvin

P HB2634

Condominium unit owners' associations; electronic voting and transmission of notices. Authorizes notices of meetings of a condominium's unit owners' association to be sent by electronic transmission if consented to by the unit owner and permitted by the condominium instruments or rules. Votes and proxies also may be submitted by electronic transmission if authorized by the unit owner or the unit owner's proxy. An electronic transmission includes any form of communication, not directly involving the physical transmission of paper, that creates a record that may be retained, retrieved, and reviewed by a recipient thereof, and that may be directly reproduced in paper form by such a recipient through an automated process. Other changes (i) allow agents for officers of the association to send out meeting notices and (ii) eliminate the requirement that signatures of unit owners on proxies be witnessed.
Patron - Plum

P HB2653

Assignment of penalty for failure to properly release a deed of trust. Provides that neither a settlement agent nor an attorney may take an assignment of the $500 statutory penalty provided to the lien obligor for the failure of the lien creditor to properly file a release of a deed of trust or other lien against property.
Patron - Albo

P SB882

P SB997

Mortgages; priority. Provides that a subordinate mortgage that secures a promissory note payable to a locality or any agency, authority or political subdivision of the Commonwealth, which mortgage is financed pursuant to an affordable dwelling unit ordinance or a program for low- and moderate-income persons or households and contains a statement that it shall not be subordinated upon the refinancing of a prior mortgage without the secured party's consent, is not subject to the general provision that the refinancing of a prior mortgage on a single-family home does not change the priority of a subordinate mortgage.
Patron - Mims

P SB1122

Virginia Property Owners' Association Act; amendment to declaration. Allows the declaration of a property owners' association recorded prior to July 1, 1999, to be amended by a two-thirds vote of the lot owners if the declaration is silent on how it may be amended. This bill is identical to HB 2034.
Patron - Norment

P SB1133

Unclaimed property; demutualization proceeds. Provides that unclaimed property that became payable or distributable in the course of the demutualization of an insurance company is presumed to be abandoned five years after the earlier of (i) the date of last contact with the policyholder or (ii) the date the property became payable or distributable. The annual report due November 1, 2003, shall include information for the five years preceding 2003. This bill is identical to HB 2462.
Patron - Norment

P SB1188

P SB1274

Easements; definition of enjoyment. Provides that unless the terms of the easement specifically provide otherwise, the owner of a dominant estate shall not use an easement in any way that is not reasonably consistent with the uses contemplated by the grant of the easement and the owner of the servient estate shall not engage in any activity or cause to be present any objects upon the burdened land that interfere with the enjoyment of the easement by the owner of the dominant estate. A violation of this section may be deemed a private nuisance.
Patron - Norment

P SB1354

Date and time stamp required to be affixed to recorded documents. Requires the clerk to install a time stamp machine that shall affix the current date and time to every instrument -- except certificates of satisfaction or partial satisfaction or assignments of deeds of trust that are not hand-delivered -- delivered to the clerk's office for recording that is not immediately recorded and is not immediately entered into the general or daily index. The bill also defines the term "from the time it is duly admitted to record" to be the date and time affixed by the time stamp machine unless the clerk determines that the applicable requirements for recordation of the instrument have not been satisfied.
Patron - Quayle

Failed

F HB1846

Deeds of trusts or mortgages; settlement agent certifications. Requires settlement agents, other than those licensed as attorneys in the Commonwealth of Virginia, to certify under oath, on instruments refinancing or modifying debt, the amount of the original deed of trust or mortgage and the nature of the instrument. The bill establishes financial penalties for false certifications.
Patron - Reese

F HB2253

Warranties on new dwellings. Expands a buyer's rights under a warranty on a new dwelling. The vendor is required to commence repair of any defects within 30 days of receipt of notice and complete such repair within 45 days of receipt of notice. If the vendor does not correct the defect, if the same nonconformity has been subject to repair three or more times or if the nonconformity is a serious safety defect, the buyer has the right to reconvey the dwelling to the vendor, in which event the vendor shall refund to the vendee and any lienholder the contract price, plus collateral charges and incidental damages, less a reasonable allowance for the vendee's use of the dwelling prior to the first notice of nonconformity.
Patron - Watts

F HB2576

F HB2608

Rent-to-own contracts. Provides that every rent-to-own contract for the purchase of a dwelling unit located in Virginia shall contain a legal description of the property offered for sale or disposition, together with the name and address of the seller. Such contract shall also have an escrow agreement companion document. The bill also provides that prior to executing any rent-to-own contract, the owner of the subject dwelling unit shall (i) cause the local building official of the jurisdiction in which such unit is located to inspect the premises for compliance with the Uniform Statewide Building Code and (ii) provide a copy of the inspection report to the prospective tenant. If, following the inspection, repairs or improvements are required to bring the subject premises into compliance with the Building Code, such repairs or improvements shall be completed prior to execution of the rent-to-own contract. The bill defines rent-to-own contracts.
Patron - Bryant

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General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2003>Property and Conveyances

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