Board power in a post-Act West Virginia community runs through a meeting statute with real, specific teeth. W. Va. Code § 36B-3-108 requires the association to meet at least once each year, and lets a special meeting be called by the president, a majority of the executive board, or unit owners holding twenty percent of the votes in the association (or a lower percentage if the bylaws set one). Notice has to go out not less than ten nor more than sixty days before any meeting, hand-delivered or mailed prepaid to each unit's address (or another address an owner designates in writing), and it must state the time and place and the items on the agenda, including the general nature of any proposed declaration or bylaw amendment, any budget changes, and any proposal to remove an officer or executive-board member. That last item is a real, specific check: a board can't quietly vote out a dissenting member or ram through a change without flagging it on the agenda first.
What the statute doesn't do is set a quorum threshold or govern proxies and absentee voting. Chapter 36B leaves those mechanics to your own bylaws entirely. If a board claims a contested vote was valid, don't assume state law backstops the quorum or the proxy handling, read your bylaws directly, because the statutory floor here stops at meeting frequency, who can call one, the notice window, and what the agenda has to disclose.
A gap worth knowing: legacy condos aren't automatically covered
Here's the honest part. The reach-back list in § 36B-1-204(a), which pulls the fining power, the assessment lien, and the records right forward onto condos created under the older Unit Property Act (Chapter 36A), does not include § 36B-3-108. That means a legacy 36A condo is not guaranteed this annual-meeting, notice-window, or agenda-disclosure protection by statute the way a post-Act condo, cooperative, or planned community (HOA) is, and Chapter 36A itself never carried an equivalent meeting-notice requirement of its own. If you're in a legacy condo, your meeting and notice rights, if any beyond the general fiduciary duties of the board, come from your own declaration and bylaws. Confirm which chapter, and which era, actually governs your community before you build a challenge on § 36B-3-108.
The authority
The statutes behind this
Cited by name as authority, for your own reading. Informational only, not legal advice.
W. Va. Code § 36B-3-108
Requires at least one annual association meeting, sets call-thresholds for special meetings, a ten-to-sixty-day notice window, and required agenda content including proposed amendments, budget changes, and officer-removal proposals.
W. Va. Code § 36B-1-201
Applies Chapter 36B, including the meeting statute, automatically to common interest communities created after the Act's effective date.
W. Va. Code § 36B-1-204
The reach-back list applying specific 36B sections to pre-existing Chapter 36A condos; § 36B-3-108 is notably absent from that list.
Step by step
How to assert your meeting and notice rights in West Virginia
Steps to check a West Virginia association's meeting notice and agenda content against § 36B-3-108, and to know when that section doesn't automatically apply.
- 01
Confirm your community's chapter and era
Determine whether you're in a post-Act condo, cooperative, or planned community (governed by § 36B-3-108) or a legacy condo created under the older Chapter 36A (not on the § 36B-1-204 reach-back list for this section).
- 02
Check the notice window and delivery method
Confirm notice went out not less than ten nor more than sixty days before the meeting, hand-delivered or mailed prepaid to your unit's address or one you designated in writing.
- 03
Check the agenda disclosure
Confirm the notice stated the general nature of any proposed amendment, budget change, or officer/board-member removal. A vote on an item never flagged this way is vulnerable under § 36B-3-108.
- 04
Map your actual quorum and proxy rules
Since state law is silent on quorum and proxies, read your bylaws directly before accepting that a contested vote had the numbers or that a proxy was properly handled.
- 05
Object in writing and ask for the minutes to reflect it
If notice or agenda content was defective, raise it in writing before or at the meeting and ask that the objection be recorded. Escalate to counsel if the board proceeds on a defective notice regardless.
Straight answers
Common questions
Does my West Virginia HOA or condo have to hold an annual meeting?
Yes, if Chapter 36B governs your community. § 36B-3-108 requires at least one association meeting each year. Whether that requirement reaches a legacy pre-36B condo depends on § 36B-1-204's reach-back list, which does not include this section.
How much notice am I owed before a meeting?
Not less than ten nor more than sixty days, under § 36B-3-108, hand-delivered or mailed prepaid to your unit's address or another address you've designated in writing.
Can the board vote to remove a board member without any warning?
Not properly. § 36B-3-108 requires the meeting notice to state the general nature of any proposal to remove an officer or executive-board member, so a surprise removal vote never flagged on the agenda is vulnerable to challenge.
Does West Virginia law set quorum or proxy rules for my association?
Not under state law. § 36B-3-108 covers meeting frequency, call-thresholds, notice timing, and agenda content, but it doesn't set a quorum percentage or govern proxies. Those mechanics come from your own bylaws.