White v. Boundary Association, Inc.

Ralph and Mary White (plaintiffs) owned one of nine condominium units in the Boundary Condominiums. The Whites owned their unit in fee simple, and there was a common area. The declaration for the condominium defined the common area as “all real property owned by Boundary Association for the common use and enjoyment of the owners,” and it gave each owner a right of easement of enjoyment in the common area appurtenant to the title to every lot, and this right of easement of enjoyment was subject to change only upon a vote of 65 percent of the unit owners. The Virginia Property Owner’s Association Act (POAA) authorized condominium associations to regulate common areas unless the declaration expressly reserved the common areas to the members. The association’s board of directors (the association) (defendant) issued two parking regulations for the condominium’s common area, giving two parking spaces of the total 18 to each unit owner and permitting each unit owner to have vehicles towed from the owner’s designated parking spaces. The Whites sued the association immediately after it issued these parking policies, alleging that they were void and unenforceable because they allocated portions of the common area to the exclusive use of specific unit owners in violation of the condominium’s declaration and the POAA. The trial court ruled for the association, and the Whites appealed.