WHAT IS CAI?

Welcome to the CAI Corner!  CAI, or the Community Association Institute, is a global organization with over 64 local chapters, whose membership includes thousands of community association stakeholders, including homeowners, managers, and business partners.  CAI offers its membership a variety of educational, professional development, and networking resources. To learn more about CAI and how to become a member, you can find that information on www.caionline.org.  Once you join CAI, you are assigned a chapter.  RB has memberships with the DC Metro Chapter (https://www.caidc.org/), the Chesapeake Chapter (https://www.caimdches.org/) and the Central Virginia Chapter (https://www.cvc-cai.org/).


This page is dedicated to providing updates on CAI’s latest initiatives and communications that we consider important to our association clients.

 

UPDATES

WMCCAI Virginia Legislative Committee, Legislative Update, Wednesday, October 16, 2024, 4:00pm

Join WMCCAI's Virginia Legislative Committee and members of CAI's Virginia Legislative Action Committee to learn about new laws and regulations in Virginia. Ask your questions and get information to bring back to your community to ensure your compliance with the new laws. Hear how you can get involved and make a difference.

The session will include a networking hour following the presentation.

Event details:

Legal Update Series: Virginia | Community Associations Institute - Washington Metropolitan Chapter on Glue Up

ACT NOW - Lend Your Voice, Tell Housing Commission No New Landscaping Rules, Sept 12th 2024

The Community Associations Institute Virginia Legislative Action Committee (VALAC) needs your help! The Virginia Housing Commission is meeting on August 20th to continue discussions started in the General Assembly on HB 528 - Property Owners' Assoc. Act; managed conservation landscaping, unreasonable restrictions prohibited this past legislative session. This legislation would have prohibited associations from restricting owners from installing managed conservation landscaping, unless explicitly stated in the declaration. We need you to sign our petition to let the Commission know that HB 528’s language, as currently written, is harmfully vague, and that associations should have the authority to reasonably regulate landscaping practices and preserve community aesthetics and property values!

The LAC opposed this bill as originally drafted when discussed in the General Assembly earlier this year, as it would override freely negotiated private covenants. Most covenants, even the modern ones, do not address managed conservation features or plans (to permit or prohibit), because this is a newly defined concept/term under the Virginia Code - the bill needs to clarify the protection of existing covenants and allow for flexibility on association rule making authority. 

Additionally, there is a lack of meaningful ability to reasonably interpret and approve or enforce landscaping guidelines by volunteer board/committee members. Volunteer boards and committees will greatly struggle to review requests and enact/enforce rules related to these features because the definition of the conservation plan and what are “unreasonable rules” are defined too broadly in the bill. 

This bill is another example of an attempt to impose a one-size-fits-all approach to regulating community associations. Because this law would apply to all communities, small and large lots, densely populated or not, urban and rural, associations must have flexibility to independently and reasonably evaluate what they consider to be appropriate rules for their community.

Please, join the LAC in expressing concerns about the language of HB 528, and sign our petition today!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN OUR PETITION!

 

 

Tell Congress - Exempt Community Associations from the Corporate Transparency Act Now, Sept 12th 2024

Click Here to Contact Your Member of Congress Today

 
The Community Associations Institute needs your help! On July 15, 2024, Representative Richard McCormick (R-GA-6) introduced H.R. 9045 - To amend title 31, United States Code, to exempt entities subject to taxation under section 528 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 from certain beneficial ownership reporting requirements. H.R. 9045 would exempt community associations from the requirements of the Corporate Transparency Act, codifying a needed protection for you and your community. It is imperative that Members of the House agree to Co-Sponsor H.R. 9045, and that the Senate introduce a companion bill. Please reach out to your Member of Congress, even if you have done so already about the Corporate Transparency Act!
 
 
 
 
 
About the Corporate Transparency Act
The Corporate Transparency Act’s current filing deadline for existing corporations is January 1, 2025, and your community association is currently required to file annually the following information to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN):
  • Business name.
  • Legal name of board members, birthdate, home address, an identifying number from a driver’s license, state ID, or passport.
  • Individual with substantial control. The same information (name, birthdate, home address, identifying number) of person (s) who exercise substantial control over financial reporting for the community association corporation. It is unclear whether a community manager and/or management company qualify as an individual with substantial control. This is yet to be confirmed. CAI will continue to evaluate this and provide guidance accordingly.
  • Changes, corrections, and additions to the filing must occur within 30 days of when you become aware of the change (i.e., board member moves, is replaced, etc.).
Noncompliance of filing could result in civil penalties of $500 per day and criminal penalties of up to $10,000 and up to 24 months in prison. We need your help to get community associations exempted from the Corporate Transparency Act’s filing requirements! 
 
The intent of the legislation was to help detect and report suspicious activity related to money laundering and terrorist finance, to facilitate tracking money that has been sourced through criminal or terrorist activity to safeguard the national security and the financial system of the U.S. This law applies to corporations that have less than $5 million in gross receipts or sales, fewer than 20 employees, and don’t otherwise meet broad exemptions like banks, credit unions, investment companies, venture capital, securities exchange or clearing agency, insurance companies, public utilities, accounting firms, tax-exempt organizations as qualified and determined with status by the IRS, i.e. 501c4 organizations, large operating companies, and inactive entities. 
 
The consensus by community association lawyers is community associations incorporated at the state level will be impacted by this new law and will have a responsibility to file information with FinCEN through the Beneficial Ownership Information reporting requirements. 
 
The legislation explicitly outlines 23 exemptions from reporting requirements (with power reserved for additional exemptions via regulatory action), and one exemption is granted to IRS tax-exempt organizations. Community associations operate like tax-exempt entities—with many small assessments and constrained expenditures. We assert that our members should be extended the same exemption afforded to tax-exempt organizations as outlined in the law. The legislation also explicitly exempts entities that exercise governmental authority. Community associations, while private, exist primarily to govern common interest communities. They are providers of essential services similar to local governments. 
 
Please, take time today to reach out to your representatives in Congress and ask them to support H.R. 9045, and to share this important request with your neighbors!