Chad Rinard

Chad Rinard

PARTNER
FALLS CHURCH
T: 703.280.3380
F: 703.280.9132

Mr. Rinard has been an attorney and counselor at law for property owners’ associations and condominiums in Virginia for more than 20 years. Given his preference, Mr. Rinard emphasizes education and listening any time resolution of a legal issue is apparent. He has also litigated enough to, on one hand, try matters effectively for his client associations, and, on the other hand, avoid the costs and time to try matters whenever settlement is possible. His knowledge of the Virginia court system is distinct having appeared before the Supreme Court of Virginia and Virginia’s Circuit and General District Courts in the Northern Virginia, Fredericksburg, Richmond and Williamsburg areas.    
   
Mr. Rinard understands that he best represents associations by explaining his role as an association’s attorney and then working with an association’s board of directors, presiding officer and members within his role to recommend actions consistent with the law or when the law is not precise on how a court may rule in his opinion. He has also written for managers, directors and members of associations several programs that have been accredited by Virginia’s Common Interest Community Board (the “CICB”) and/or the Community Association Managers International Certification Board.  As the law is continually updated, he remains an avid reader of the treatises, journals and newsletters about property owners’ associations and condominiums in Virginia and elsewhere.

Mr. Rinard is a member of the Common Interest Community Subcommittee of the Real Estate Section of the Virginia State Bar, and a member of both Education Committees for the Washington Metropolitan and the Central Virginia Chapters of the Community Associations Institute. He is published annually, the titles of which are noted elsewhere. He has also been appointed by the CICB to the committee to review Virginia’s regulations for Virginia’s Common Interest Community Ombudsman. For leisure, Mr. Rinard competes in triathlons and half-marathons throughout Virginia, and he has toured many historical sites in the Commonwealth too, including the homes still standing of Virginia’s Signers of the Declaration.    
 

Memberships & Activities

  • Member of the Washington Metropolitan Chapter Community Associations Institute
  • Member of the Real Estate Section of the Virginia State Bar
  • Member of  Whiteford, Taylor & Preston’s Community Associations section
  • Co-chair of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston’s Tidewater subcommittee (serving the Fredericksburg, Richmond and Virginia Beach areas)
  • Member of the Virginia Creditors’ Bar Association

Community Associations

  • Experienced representation of professionally managed and self-managed community associations in Virginia with clients in the Northern Virginia and the Fredericksburg areas, and referrals from several of the local management companies there.
 

Counsel to Boards of Directors

  • Diverse business and governing advice for boards of directors from compliance with the Virginia Property Owners’ Association Act, the Condominium Act, the Nonstock Corporation Act and other Virginia Code and Virginia Administrative Code sections, to remedying violations of the covenants or bylaws, and the authority to adopt rules and regulations for common elements and common areas including architectural design guidelines. 
 

Contract Negotiation and Dispute Resolutions

  • Negotiated agreements for all types of vendors that associations use including management contracts, landscaping, snow removal, general contractors holding Class A, B or C licenses, cable services and clubhouse rentals.  Settled and/or litigated claims made by these vendors against associations in either arbitration or the courts.    
 

Interpretation/Amendment of Governing Documents

  • Interpreted associations’ governing documents using a wide range of authority including opinions by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Fair Housing, the federal District Courts, the Virginia Supreme Court, Circuit Courts, Attorney General and Common Interest Community Ombudsman, and Robert’s Rules of Order.
  • Drafted restatements or amendments of declarations or and/bylaws while assisting associations obtain the required votes or signatures.
 

RUles and Covenants  Enforcement

  • Litigates matters seeking injunctive relief for violations of the covenants
  • Before filing a lawsuit, drafting notices of violations and opportunities to cure; notices of an opportunity to be heard and hearing results letters. 
 

Community Associations Litigation

  • Represents associations in all types of litigation, including covenants enforcement, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of warranty claims, foreclosures, and violations of the Virginia Code.   
 

Delinquent Assessment Collection

  • Cost-effective collections of delinquent assessments and other debts.  Quickly uses post-judgment collections to obtain payments from current owners including out-of-state landlords, and former owners too.    
  • Provides clients detailed status reports on collections, and financial history reports showing amounts collected in the current fiscal year.
  • Trains debt collectors to ensure compliance with the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
INSIGHTS

Author, Yet Another Reason to Read Your Association’s Covenants Before Inspecting Lotsin CVC-CAI's Consensus News Journal, Summer 2023

Co-presenter, Efficiently Conducting the Business of an Association Electronically at the Community Associations Institute Central Virginia Chapter’s (CVC) CA Day Tradeshow and Expo, on April 14, 2023
 
Co-presenter, Playing Your Cards Right – Staying Out of Hot Water at the Community Associations Institute Southeastern Virginia Chapter’s (SEVA) Trade Show and Educational Expo, on March 18, 2023
 
Author, Post-Pandemic Management: Conducting Business a Different Way, in CVC-CAI's Consensus News Journal, January 2023

Author, Associations’ Use of Electronic Voting to Conduct their Members’ Business in the DMV, in the Community Associations Institute Washington Metro Chapter’s (WMCCAI) Quorum Magazine, August 2022

Author, Ombudsman’s Determination of Common Interest Community Law Made during the Pandemic, in The Fee Simple – The Journal of the Virginia State Bar Real Property Section, June 22, 2022

Co-presenter, Association Feud! Surveys of the Ombudsman’s Determinations of Final Adverse Decisions made by Boards of Directors at SEVA’s Trade Show and Educational Expo on March 12, 2022, and at the Virginia Leadership Retreat (VLR) on August 7, 2021

Co-presenter, Legal Jeopardy, What to Avoid when Covenants and Law Conflict at VLR on July 27, 2019

Co-presenter, Legislative Update – 2019 on June 4, 2019

Co-presenter, Booze, Movie Night, Roads & Bingo! at VLR on July 28, 2018

Presenter, Storm Water Management, Whose Responsibility Is It? on October 19, 2016

ARTICLES

Client Alert: Significant Court of Appeals Decisions Impact Association Authority

Two recent decisions from the Court of Appeals of Virginia underscore the need to closely review an association’s governing documents for recorded covenants, either monetary or nonmonetary, that association boards wish to enforce. In particular, the Court of Appeals has now addressed boards spending associations’ assessments on services unrelated to common areas (or presumptively common elements), and assigning parking spaces to unit owners using revocable licenses. 

How a Property Owners' Association Might Recover a Debt Against a Virginia Contractor

The approval of expensive work on the common area of a Virginia Property Owners’ Association (“POA”) can be a daunting decision for a Board to make, especially when an Association’s reserves must be used to pay for that work.  There is always an element of trust by a Board that the work will be done well by its chosen contractor.  But, when that work is not done well by a contractor licensed in Virginia, and far worse, that contractor is also insolvent or simply “gone,” the chances are bleak that a POA will actually recover its money from that contractor.  Fortunately, there is a fund administered by the Board of Contractors for Virginia’s Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation for a POA to make a claim.  While making a claim may be document intensive, a properly prepared claim may be a POA’s last and best hope for recovery.  This article details the use of the Virginia Contractor Transaction Recovery Act, Virginia Code Ann. § 55.1-1118, et seq., by POAs.

Pithy Title Needed: Lawyers Discussing Stormwater Management by Associations…in Depth

An SMP, or “Stormwater Management Plan,” is the broad term for an association’s documented plan for complying with local ordinances regarding stormwater management. A BMP, or “Best Management Practice,” is a type of SMP that includes those activities, prohibited practices, and maintenance that an association has adopted to prevent or at least reduce the pollution of surface waters on its property.

Client Alert: Virginia's Uniform Electronic Transaction Act: Conducting Association Business Electronically During and Post COVID-19 Pandemic

The pandemic has foisted upon us a reality in which a virtual meeting is a necessary expediency to conduct the business of community associations. The Governor’s Executive Orders have waived the statutory requirement that board meetings have at least two of an association’s directors physically present at the place of the meeting. When the pandemic mercifully subsides and consequently the Governor’s Executive Orders expire, his waiver of the physical presence requirement is due to expire too. However, several useful parts of a virtual meeting, as we now know them, will remain.

Is That a "Residential Purpose"? Using Virginia Statutes and Municipal Ordinances to Clarify Restrictive Covenants on Non-Residential Uses

Almost invariably, a limitation on use of units or lots for “residential purposes only” is one of the first covenants found in governing documents.  But, where should one look to in determining what qualifies as permissible “residential purposes” when your association’s restrictive covenants say nothing more?  Virginia courts do not favor restrictions on the use of real property and construe restrictive covenants strictly, resolving substantial doubt or ambiguity in favor of the free use of property and against restrictions.

Protections Afforded to Your Neighbors in the Military: The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act for Community Associations

Community associations, as a general rule, have greater success in collecting delinquent assessments if they act promptly to collect such amounts from the delinquent owner.  Federal law, however, makes this more difficult and time consuming when the delinquent owner is a military service member.  The same law can delay any lawsuit involving a service member, including those brought for covenant enforcement.  Associations are not without enforcement options when dealing with service member owners, but should prepare themselves for legal proceedings to take longer and involve greater cost.  To avoid or reduce these difficulties, associations should consider using their internal procedures to resolve delinquencies and covenant disputes with service members before proceeding with a lawsuit.

To Foreclose or Not To Foreclose? What To Consider When That Is The Question

Foreclosure is a matter of last resort. Whether an owner is unable to or neglectful in paying assessments owed to an association, the last remedy that should be considered to get paid is foreclosure. A foreclosure takes time, it is costly, and it is designed to displace an association member who cannot or will not fulfill his or her obligation to pay assessments like the other members do. On the other hand, a foreclosure against a property that has sufficient equity in it (meaning the value of the property exceeds the amount of debt owed on it) can be a complete remedy that recovers unpaid assessments, the cost of foreclosure, and eliminates the ongoing hassle for an association by replacing a nonpaying owner with (hopefully) a paying one.


What Happens When Local Ordinances Conflict with your Governing Documents? – A Survey of the Conflict of Law Provisions for the Northern Virginia & Fredericksburg Areas

Every city or county in Virginia has published ordinances that restrict their residents’ home construction and lot use in a subdivision. Authorized by Virginia Code[1], a city or county may adopt the ordinances it needs to perform its obligations. To assure the orderly subdivision of land in the city or county, achieve the goals of a comprehensive development plan, or implement the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, subdivisions have been the subject of countless ordinances. Not surprisingly, so many ordinances cover a wide range of topics, and each is accompanied by a remedy for the local government to ensure compliance, often via an agency that will receive and investigate complaints.

The Decision to Serve Alcohol Will Never Be Dry: Things to Consider Before Serving Alcohol at Your Next Community Event

With spring upon us, community gatherings are popular events for associations to introduce neighbors to each other, conduct annual meetings, or pass that amendment to governing documents that requires the presence of members who may be otherwise difficult to assemble.  As a neighbor and homeowner myself, the answer on whether to serve alcohol at a social gathering is a resounding: “Yes, please.”  As a lawyer, however, it is much easier to object: “Perhaps not.”  On one hand, there is no doubt that the safest course for an association is simply to resist the service of alcohol.  No alcohol, no liability.  On the other hand, the appeal of serving a cold beer or a glass of wine can be a well-deserved complement when there is a desire to bring neighbors together or build community spirit.  The option to serve alcohol, coupled with a willingness to do so, does not need to be dismissed entirely however, and can be navigated to mitigate the risk of liability for those associations that find the consumption of alcohol, in moderation, a desirable complement to their gatherings.

NEWSLETTERS

Piedmont & Tidewater Committee Newsletter - February 2020

Editor's Note

Meet the Piedmont & Tidewater Committee

Is That a "Residential Purpose"? Using Virginia Statutes and Municipal Ordinances to Clarify Restrictive Covenants on Non-Residential Uses

Protections Afforded to Your Neighbors in the Military: The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act for Community Associations

PRESENTATIONS

NEWS