Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 8.9A > Part 5 > Part 2 - Duties and Operation of Filing Office

• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• 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.
• Articles of incorporation: means all documents constituting, at any particular time, the charter of a corporation. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Authorized shares: means the shares of all classes a domestic or foreign corporation is authorized to issue. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• 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.
• Beneficial shareholder: means a person that owns the beneficial interest in shares, which may be a record shareholder or a person on whose behalf shares are registered in the name of an intermediary as nominee. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Capital components: means those items, whether or not a part of the common elements, for which the unit owners' association has the obligation for repair, replacement, or restoration and for which the executive board determines funding is necessary. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission of Virginia. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Common elements: means all portions of the condominium other than the units. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Common expenses: means all expenditures lawfully made or incurred by or on behalf of the unit owners' association, together with all funds lawfully assessed for the creation or maintenance of reserves pursuant to the provisions of the condominium instruments. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Common interest community manager: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Condominium: means real property, and any incidents to or interests in such real property, lawfully subject to this chapter by the recordation of condominium instruments pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Condominium instruments: means , collectively, the declaration, bylaws, and plats and plans recorded pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Condominium unit: means a unit together with the undivided interest in the common elements appertaining to that unit. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Conspicuous: means so written, displayed, or presented that a reasonable person against whom the writing is to operate should have noticed it. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Contractable condominium: means a condominium from which one or more portions of the submitted land may be withdrawn in accordance with the provisions of the declaration and of this chapter. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Conversion condominium: means a condominium containing structures that before the recording of the declaration were wholly or partially occupied by persons other than those who have contracted for the purchase of condominium units and those who occupy with the consent of such purchasers. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Convertible land: means a portion of the common elements within which additional units or limited common elements may be created in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Convertible space: means a portion of a structure within the condominium that a declarant may convert into one or more units or common elements, including limited common elements, in accordance with the provisions of the declaration and this chapter. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Declarant: means any person, or group of persons acting in concert, that (i) offers to dispose of its interest in a condominium unit not previously disposed of, including an institutional lender that may not have succeeded to or accepted any special declarant rights pursuant to § Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• delivery: means any method of delivery used in conventional commercial practice, including delivery by hand, mail, commercial delivery, and, if authorized in accordance with § Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Disinterested director: means , except with respect to Article 14 (§ Virginia Code 13.1-603
• disposition: refers to any voluntary transfer of a legal or equitable interest in a condominium unit to a purchaser, but does not include the transfer or release of security for a debt. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Distribution: means a direct or indirect transfer of cash or other property, except the corporation's own shares, or incurrence of indebtedness by a corporation to or for the benefit of its shareholders in respect of any of its shares. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Document: means (i) any tangible medium on which information is inscribed, and includes handwritten, typed, printed, or similar instruments and copies of such instruments, or (ii) an electronic record. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• domestic corporation: means a corporation authorized by law to issue shares, irrespective of the nature of the business to be transacted, organized under this chapter or existing pursuant to the laws of the Commonwealth on January 1, 1986, or which, by virtue of articles of incorporation, amendment, or merger, has become a domestic corporation of the Commonwealth, even though also being a corporation organized under laws other than the laws of the Commonwealth, or that has become a domestic corporation of the Commonwealth pursuant to Article 12. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Domestic partnership: means an association of two or more persons to carry on as co-owners a business for profit formed under § Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Electronic means: means 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 of such communication. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Electronic record: means information that is stored in an electronic or other nontangible medium and is retrievable in paper form through an automated process used in conventional commercial practice, unless otherwise authorized in accordance with subdivision A 10 of § Virginia Code 13.1-603
• electronically transmitted: means any form or process of communication, not directly involving the physical transfer of paper or another tangible medium, that (i) is suitable for the retention, retrieval, and reproduction of information by the recipient, and (ii) is retrievable in paper form by the recipient through an automated process used in conventional commercial practice, unless otherwise authorized in accordance with subdivision A 10 of § Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Eligible entity: means a domestic or foreign unincorporated entity or a domestic or foreign nonstock corporation. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Employee: includes , unless otherwise provided in the bylaws, an officer but not a director. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Entity: includes any domestic or foreign corporation; any domestic or foreign nonstock corporation; any domestic or foreign unincorporated entity; any estate or trust; and any state, the United States and any foreign government. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Executive board: means an executive and administrative entity, by whatever name denominated, designated in the condominium instruments as the governing body of the unit owners' association. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
• Expandable condominium: means a condominium to which additional land may be added in accordance with the provisions of the declaration and this chapter. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Expenses: means reasonable expenses of any kind that are incurred in connection with a matter. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• 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}
• Foreign corporation: means a corporation authorized by law to issue shares, organized under laws other than the laws of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Foreign nonstock corporation: means a corporation that is incorporated under a law other than the law of the Commonwealth and would, based on its public organic record, be a nonstock corporation if incorporated under the law of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Foreign partnership: means an association of two or more persons to carry on as co-owners of a business for profit formed under the laws of any state or jurisdiction other than the Commonwealth, and includes, for all purposes of the laws of the Commonwealth, a foreign registered limited liability partnership. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Foreign unincorporated entity: means a foreign partnership, foreign limited liability company, foreign limited partnership, or foreign business trust. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Individual: means a natural person. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Institutional lender: means one or more commercial or savings banks, savings and loan associations, trust companies, credit unions, industrial loan associations, insurance companies, pension funds, or business trusts, including real estate investment trusts, any other lender regularly engaged in financing the purchase, construction, or improvement of real estate, or any assignee of loans made by such a lender, or any combination of any of the foregoing entities. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• Interest: means either or both of the following rights under the organic law governing an unincorporated entity:

  1. See Virginia Code 13.1-603

• Interest holder: means a person who holds of record an interest. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Interest holder liability: means :

  1. See Virginia Code 13.1-603

• Land: is a three-dimensional concept and includes parcels with upper or lower boundaries, or both upper and lower boundaries, as well as parcels extending ab solo usque ad coelum. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Limited common element: means a portion of the common elements reserved for the exclusive use of those entitled to the use of one or more, but less than all, of the units. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Membership: means the rights of a member in a domestic or foreign nonstock corporation or limited liability company. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Merger: means a transaction pursuant to § Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Nonbinding reservation agreement: means an agreement between the declarant and a prospective purchaser that is in no way binding on the prospective purchaser and that may be canceled without penalty at the sole discretion of the prospective purchaser. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Notary: means notary public. See Virginia Code 1-226
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oath: includes affirmation. See Virginia Code 1-228
• Offer: means any inducement, solicitation, or attempt to encourage any person to acquire any legal or equitable interest in a condominium unit, except as security for a debt. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Officer: means any member of the executive board or official of the unit owners' association. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Organic law: means the statute governing the internal affairs of a domestic or foreign corporation or eligible entity. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Organic rules: means the public organic record and private organic rules of a domestic or foreign corporation or eligible entity. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Person: includes an individual and an entity. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Person: means a natural person, corporation, partnership, association, trust, or other entity capable of holding title to real property, or any combination thereof. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• person: means the beneficiary of the trust rather than the trust or the trustee. See Virginia Code 55.1-2100
• 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.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Principal office: means the office, in or out of the Commonwealth, where the principal executive offices of a domestic or foreign corporation are located, or, if there are no such offices, the office, in or out of the Commonwealth, so designated by the board of directors. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Private organic rules: means (i) the bylaws of a domestic or foreign corporation or nonstock corporation or (ii) the rules, regardless of whether in writing, that govern the internal affairs of an unincorporated entity, are binding on all its interest holders, and are not part of its public organic record. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Proceeding: includes civil suit and criminal, administrative, and investigatory action. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Public corporation: means a corporation that has shares listed on a national securities exchange or regularly traded in a market maintained by one or more members of a national or affiliated securities association. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Public organic record: means (i) the articles of incorporation of a domestic or foreign corporation or nonstock corporation or (ii) the document, the filing of which is required to create an unincorporated entity. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Purchaser: means any person, other than a declarant, that acquires by means of a voluntary transfer a legal or equitable interest in a condominium unit, other than (i) a leasehold interest, including renewal options, of less than 20 years or (ii) as security for a debt. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Real estate: includes (i) parcels with or without upper or lower boundaries and (ii) spaces that may be filled with air or water. See Virginia Code 55.1-2100
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Record date: means the date fixed for determining the identity of the corporation's shareholders and their shareholdings for purposes of this chapter. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Record shareholder: means (i) the person in whose name shares are registered in the records of the corporation or (ii) the person identified as the beneficial owner of shares in a beneficial ownership certificate pursuant to § Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Reserve study: means a capital budget planning tool used to determine the physical status and estimated repair or replacement cost of capital components and an analysis of association funding capacity to maintain, repair, and replace capital components. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Right of rescission: Right to cancel, within three business days, a contract that uses the home of a person as collateral, except in the case of a first mortgage loan. There is no fee to the borrower, who receives a full refund of all fees paid. The right of rescission is guaranteed by the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). ^{Source: OCC}
• Secretary: means the corporate officer or other individual to whom the board of directors has delegated responsibility under subsection C of § Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Security interest: includes a mortgage, deed of trust, trust deed, security deed, contract for deed, land sales contract, lease intended as security, assignment of lease or rents intended as security, pledge of an ownership interest in an association, and any other consensual lien or title retention contract intended as security for an obligation. See Virginia Code 55.1-2100
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Share exchange: means a transaction pursuant to § Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Shareholder: means a record shareholder. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Shares: means the units into which the proprietary interests in a corporation are divided. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• signature: means , with present intent to authenticate or adopt a document: (i) to execute or adopt a tangible symbol to a document, and includes any manual, facsimile, or conformed signature; or (ii) to attach to or logically associate with an electronic transmission an electronic sound, symbol, or process, and includes an electronic signature in an electronic transmission. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Size: means the number of cubic feet, or the number of square feet of ground or floor space, within each unit as computed by reference to the plat and plans and rounded to the nearest whole number. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Special declarant rights: means any right reserved for the benefit of a declarant, or of a person or group of persons that becomes a declarant, to (i) expand an expandable condominium; (ii) contract a contractable condominium; (iii) convert convertible land or convertible space or both; (iv) appoint or remove any officers of the unit owners' association or the executive board pursuant to subsection A of § Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subscriber: means a person who subscribes for shares in a corporation, whether before or after incorporation. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Unit: means a portion of the condominium designed and intended for individual ownership and use. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• United States: includes district, authority, bureau, commission, department, and any other agency of the United States. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Unrestricted voting trust beneficial owner: means , with respect to any shareholder rights, a voting trust beneficial owner whose entitlement to exercise the shareholder right in question is not inconsistent with the voting trust agreement. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
• Voting group: means all shares of one or more classes or series that under the articles of incorporation or this chapter are entitled to vote and be counted together collectively on a matter at a meeting of shareholders. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Voting power: means the current power to vote in the election of directors. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Voting trust beneficial owner: means an owner of a beneficial interest in shares of the corporation held in a voting trust established pursuant to subsection A of § Virginia Code 13.1-603
• written: means any information in the form of a document. See Virginia Code 13.1-603