Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 54.1 > Subtitle II > Chapter 23.3 - Common Interest Communities

• Administrator: means the Director of the Department of Housing and Community Development or his designee. See Virginia Code 36-85.3
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Association: includes condominium, cooperative, or property owners' associations. See Virginia Code 54.1-2345
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Board: means the Common Interest Community Board. See Virginia Code 54.1-2345
• Board: means the Virginia Waste Management Board. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Claimant: means , upon proper application to the Director, a receiver for a common interest community manager appointed pursuant to § Virginia Code 54.1-2354.1
• Common interest community: means real estate subject to a declaration containing lots, at least some of which are residential or occupied for recreational purposes, and common areas to which a person, by virtue of the person's ownership of a lot subject to that declaration, is a member of the association and is obligated to pay assessments of common expenses, provided that for the purposes of this chapter only, a common interest community does not include any time-share project registered pursuant to the Virginia Real Estate Time-Share Act (§ Virginia Code 54.1-2345
• Common interest community manager: means a person or business entity, including a partnership, association, corporation, or limited liability company, that, for compensation or valuable consideration, provides management services to a common interest community. See Virginia Code 54.1-2345
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Declaration: includes any amendment or supplement to the instruments described in this definition. See Virginia Code 54.1-2345
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Housing and Community Development. See Virginia Code 36-85.3
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. See Virginia Code 54.1-2354.1
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Distributor: means any person who takes title to products or packaging purchased for resale. See Virginia Code 10.1-1425.21
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Federal Act: means the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 as amended (Virginia Code 36-85.3
• Federal Regulations: means the Federal Manufactured Home Procedural and Enforcement Regulations. See Virginia Code 36-85.3
• Federal Standards: means the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards. See Virginia Code 36-85.3
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Governing board: means the governing board of an association, including the executive organ of a condominium unit owners' association, the executive board of a cooperative proprietary lessees' association, and the board of directors or other governing body of a property owners' association. See Virginia Code 54.1-2345
• HUD: means the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. See Virginia Code 36-85.3
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Judgement: The official decision of a court finally determining the respective rights and claims of the parties to a suit.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lot: means (i) any plot or parcel of land designated for separate ownership or occupancy shown on a recorded subdivision plat for a development or the boundaries of which are described in the declaration or in a recorded instrument referred to or expressly contemplated by the declaration, other than a common area, and (ii) a unit in a condominium association or a unit in a real estate cooperative. See Virginia Code 54.1-2345
• Management services: means (i) acting with the authority of an association in its business, legal, financial, or other transactions with association members and nonmembers; (ii) executing the resolutions and decisions of an association or, with the authority of the association, enforcing the rights of the association secured by statute, contract, covenant, rule, or bylaw; (iii) collecting, disbursing, or otherwise exercising dominion or control over money or other property belonging to an association; (iv) preparing budgets, financial statements, or other financial reports for an association; (v) arranging, conducting, or coordinating meetings of an association or the governing body of an association; (vi) negotiating contracts or otherwise coordinating or arranging for services or the purchase of property and goods for or on behalf of an association; or (vii) offering or soliciting to perform any of the aforesaid acts or services on behalf of an association. See Virginia Code 54.1-2345
• Manufactured home: means a structure subject to federal regulation, which is transportable in one or more sections; is eight body feet or more in width and forty body feet or more in length in the traveling mode, or is 320 or more square feet when erected on site; is built on a permanent chassis; is designed to be used as a single-family dwelling, with or without a permanent foundation, when connected to the required utilities; and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained in the structure. See Virginia Code 36-85.3
• Manufacturer: means any person that produces products, packages, packaging, or components of products or packaging. See Virginia Code 10.1-1425.21
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• Package: means any container which provides a means of marketing, protecting, or handling a product, including a unit package, intermediate package, or a shipping container, as defined in the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) specification D996. See Virginia Code 10.1-1425.21
• Packaging component: means any individual assembled part of a package, including, but not limited to, interior and exterior blocking, bracing, cushioning, weatherproofing, exterior strapping, coatings, closures, inks, and labels. See Virginia Code 10.1-1425.21
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: shall include individuals, a trust, an estate, a partnership, an association, an order, a corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity;

  6. See Virginia Code 8.01-2

• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal representative: includes the executor of a will or the administrator of the estate of a decedent, the administrator of such estate with the will annexed, the administrator of such estate unadministered by a former representative, whether there is a will or not, any person who is under the order of a circuit court to take into his possession the estate of a decedent for administration, and every other curator of a decedent's estate, for or against whom suits may be brought for causes of action that accrued to or against the decedent. See Virginia Code 1-234
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• SAA: means the Department of Housing and Community Development which is responsible for the administration and enforcement of this law throughout Virginia and of the plan authorized by § Virginia Code 36-85.3
• Secretary: means the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. See Virginia Code 36-85.3
• Sheriff: shall include deputy sheriffs and such other persons designated in § Virginia Code 8.01-2
• Solid waste: means any garbage, refuse, sludge, and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material, resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, or community activities, but does not include (i) solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage; (ii) solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows or in industrial discharges that are sources subject to a permit from the State Water Control Board; (iii) source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended; or (iv) post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks that are (a) processed at an advanced recycling facility or (b) held at or held for the purpose of conversion at such advanced recycling facility prior to conversion. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• this law: means the Virginia Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Law as embraced in this chapter. See Virginia Code 36-85.3
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.