Chad Rinard

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, Chad 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. Chad’s 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. Chad 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, Chad 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, Chad 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 & the Central Virginia Chapter of the Community Associations Institute & their Education Committees
• Member of the Real Estate Section of the Virginia State Bar
• Member of the Virginia Creditors’ Bar Association
• Member of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston’s Community Associations section

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.

Co-Author, What Did I Do Wrong?  for Washington Metropolitan Chapter Community Associations Institute, November 2025

Moderator and Co-presenter, Common Interest Community Law in Virginia, for Virginia CLE, on May 20, 2025

Co-presenter, You Said What? Handling, In the Moment, Interruptions, Disruptions, and Other Heated Discussions at Community Association Meetings, for the Community Associations Institute Washington Metro Chapter (WMC-CAI), on March 7, 2025

Presenter, Your Architectural Guideline Refresh: Reasons to Make the Review of Your Association’s Architectural Guidelines Part of Your Association’s Annual Maintenance, for the Community Associations Institute Central Virginia Chapter (CVC-CAI), on February 27, 2025

Co-presenter, The Corporate Transparency Act: What You Need to Know, for WMC-CAI, on October 25, 2024

Co-presenter, Virginia Common Interest Community Law & Regulation Updates, for CVC-CAI, on September 19, 2024

Co-author, Design Control in Common Interest Communities - Model Restrictions, in The Fee Simple – The Journal of the Virginia State Bar Real Property Section (The Fee Simple), Spring 2024

Co-presenter, CMCA Study Group, for CVC-CAI, on May 21, 2024, and May 10, 2023

Co-presenter, Board Leader Certificate Course, for CVC-CAI, on April 18, 2024, and for WMC-CAI, on October 14, 2023

Co-author, Suggestions for Orienting a Board, in WMC-CAI’s Quorum Magazine, February 2024

Co-presenter, Insurance Chaos, Just Another Hard Market or the New Norm?, a virtual webinar  for CVC-CAI, on October 26, 2023

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

Co-presenter, Efficiently Conducting the Business of an Association Electronically at the CVC-CAI’s 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-CAI) 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 WMC-CAI’s Quorum Magazine, August 2022

Author, Ombudsman’s Determination of Common Interest Community Law Made during the Pandemic, in The Fee Simple, June 22, 2022

Co-presenter, Association Feud! Surveys of the Ombudsman’s Determinations of Final Adverse Decisions made by Boards of Directors at SEVA-CAI’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