Virginia HOA not meeting for years

I'm in a small (~25 home) HOA in Virginia. Trying to get ahold of my HOA rules but hoping there is someone who can point to general laws regarding actions of HOAs.

The HOA has not advertised the required annual meeting in 5-6 years. Elections are to happen then so the assumption is that there are no longer any valid officers. HOA is managed by a private firm whom I'm asking for copies of the covenants. HOA owns no community property, county maintains the roads, dues only cover residential trash removal.

Covenants are very restrictive regarding things like mail boxes, fencing, etc. that border on the petty (not worth the time going into details here).

Bottom line is can we remove ourselves, or is there a time limit in law that I can use to have the county or State declare the entire HOA dissolved?

Sorry, professional HOA management company handles receipt of dues and payment of all fees, management of the disposal contract, and supposed to file annual reports with the State, etc. HOA hasn't had their annual meeting in over 2 years so there shouldn't be any valid officers anymore, HOA hasn't followed the law regarding notification of meetings, etc. I just want out of the HOA altogether and be able to manage my own property. Looking for a default on the HOA to declare it dissolved.

I'm going to check with the State Corp Commission on Monday to see if the management company has been filing annual reports, and if so, how they were approved since all officers terms of office have lapsed.

Stephen,

You initially said 5-6 years, then later said 2 years without an annual meeting ... can you clarify?

Why do you want to dissolve the HOA?

Stephen,

Regarding applicable statutes in Virginia:

VA Property Owners' Association Act applicable if in an HOA

VA Condominium Act applicable if in a Condominium complex

Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act applicable if the Association is incorporated as a not-for-profit (most are, but check to be sure)

Office of the Common Interest Community Ombudsman applicable to all COAs and HOAs in Virginia

Depending when you purchased, a copy of all governing documents should have been provided at that time.

A copy of the covenants can be found at the courthouse or property records office for your County.
A copy of the articles of incorporation might be found through the State corporation commission.
A copy of the Bylaws will need to be gotten from the Association
A copy of any resolutions (including the architectural guidelines) will need to be gotten from the Association.

If your Association is incorporated, the officers will be identified in the annual report (if they have been filed).

First, identify the corporate number for the Association by doing a name search on the site:
SCC eFile Business Entity Search

Then use that number to view the actual corporate reports:
View Corporate Annual Reports Online

No meeting notices have gone out in over 5 years, no communication from the Board to the homeowners, or at least to my home. Required (I believe) to send meeting notices via US mail, required by covenants to hold general homeowners meeting at least annually.

Second post was after i finally made contact with the President, who stated there have not been meetings at all in two years because no one has responded to meeting RSVPs.

Wife and I want to make some reasonable improvements to our property, but the existing covenants are outdated (fences required to be split-rail, etc.) since the area went from being out lying country to suburbia in the last 4-5 years . If there are no meetings to be able to address the covenants, then why is there even an HOA?

Even early on, annual meetings would barely have enough people show up to fill the officer positions, many times not even that. I was hoping for a relatively quick way to end this useless body. Perhaps I'll have to take a seat on the Board again, if it ever meets, and propose updating the covenants or disbanding the association.

Ah, Stephen, but some love the look of the split rail fences ... my neighborhood had them and kept them as Fairfax closed in around the neighborhood :-)