Virginia HOA & condo associations in court: the numbers

Virginia on the map

115 of the 275 communities with court records (rings, coloured by their most common case type) have an address or ZIP in the record and are drawn here; the rest have no location in any record and are not on the map, but stay searchable. Click a pin for the community's report, or open the full-screen map.

HOA Spy indexes 7,219 Virginia homeowner and condominium associations. 275 of them appear in 4,786 court records — 4,544 from county and state trial courts, 69 from appellate courts and 173 from federal dockets. Virginia ranks 6th of the 15 states with the most court records on HOA Spy. Every number on this page is computed from official court and county records; data as of 2026-10-02.

The facts

• Ten associations account for 72% of all Virginia court records on file. At the other end, 175 of the 275 communities with any record appear in exactly one case.
• Associations are usually the ones suing: they were the plaintiff in 4,580 records and the defendant in 117 — 98% of the cases with a known side were brought by the association, typically to collect assessments.
• The busiest year on file was 2018, with 468 records. The last full year, 2025, had 462 — up 40% on 2020 (330).
• Collections cases make up 85% of the records (4,068): assessment, debt and contract claims. Next come Other cases (591).
• 4,544 records come (95%) from county and state trial courts, 69 from appellate courts and 173 from federal dockets.
• 33 records are fair-housing, disability-accommodation or other civil-rights suits — the kind of case a buyer with a service animal or an accessibility request should know about.

What the cases are about

Each court record is labelled by its nature of suit the way the map colours it. Virginia's 4,786 records break down as:

• Collections4,068 · 85%
• Other591 · 12%
• Appellate69 · 1%
• Civil Rights33 · 1%
• Insurance11 · 0%
• Property6 · 0%
• Foreclosure4 · 0%
• Eviction2 · 0%
• Labor2 · 0%

Collections: assessment, debt and contract claims · Other: dockets that carry no nature of suit or one outside these groups (county civil dockets often say only "civil") · Appellate: decisions of the state's appellate courts · Civil Rights: fair-housing, disability-accommodation and other civil-rights claims · Insurance: coverage disputes with an insurer · Property: property and condominium disputes · Foreclosure: the association foreclosing its lien, or named in a lender's foreclosure · Eviction: eviction and unlawful-detainer actions · Labor: employment and labor claims

Who is suing whom

The side comes from the role the court recorded for the association where the docket gives one, otherwise from which side of the “v.” the association's name sits. Appeals, petitions and association-versus-association captions stay undetermined.

Filings by year

court records · 2026 is partial

The oldest records on file date from 1989. Years reflect the filing date on the docket (the decision date for appellate opinions); records with no date are left out. Coverage grows as courts are added, so part of any rise is HOA Spy reaching more dockets — see the sources below.

Where the cases are

The county is the community's own (from its registration or ZIP), not the court's. Courts with the most Virginia records: Virginia Beach General District Court (1,000); Caroline General District Court (771); Loudoun General District Court (760); Prince William General District Court (723); Fairfax County General District Court (635); Fluvanna General District Court (419); Stafford General District Court (157); District Court, E.D. Virginia (140).

Associations with the most court records

A long record is not by itself a verdict on a community: a large association collecting assessments through the courts can have hundreds of small-claims entries. Open the profile to see what the cases are and who brought them.

How Virginia compares

The states with the most court records on HOA Spy. The share column is the part of each state's indexed communities that appear in at least one case; it depends on which courts are indexed there as much as on the communities themselves.

Where this data comes from

• Federal dockets and state appellate opinions: CourtListener (RECAP archive and bulk data, snapshot 2026-09-30)
• Association roster: Virginia DPOR — registered condominiums (192 records)
• IRS roster: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File (182 records)
• Not collected: SCC corporate bulk — paid
• Not collected: circuit-court land records — paid per-clerk Secure Remote Access

Most HOA litigation happens in state trial courts, which have no national index; HOA Spy reads the portals it can. A Virginia community outside the indexed courts can have cases this page does not count. Names are matched conservatively, so an ambiguous match is left out rather than guessed. Sources & methodology.

Questions people ask

How many HOA lawsuits are filed in Virginia each year?

In 2025, the last full year, 462 court records naming a Virginia community association were filed in the courts HOA Spy indexes; the five-year average is 394 a year. The busiest year on file is 2018 with 468.

Which Virginia associations have the most court cases?

By records on file: SUGARLAND RUN HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION INC (658); MONTCLAIR PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION INC. (519); CAMPUS EAST COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION INC (446). Most of these are suits the associations brought themselves, typically to collect assessments.

Do Virginia HOAs sue homeowners more than they get sued?

In the records with a known side, the association was the plaintiff 4,580 times and the defendant 117 times. Suits brought by associations are typically assessment collection and lien enforcement; suits against them typically come from owners, insurers or lenders.

How do I check a specific Virginia HOA?

Search it by name on HOA Spy: the report lists every lien, case and complaint on file with a link to the official record, and says which sources were checked. Communities with records also have a profile page under the Virginia directory. Data as of 2026-10-02.