Why Sellers Should Deliver the HOA or Condo Resale Package at Ratification in DC, Maryland, and Virginia

Written by Marc Cormier, Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES), Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty.

The short answer: In the Washington metro area, the buyer's right to cancel after reading the HOA or condo package starts when the package is delivered, not when the contract is ratified. A seller who has the complete resale package in hand at ratification can start that statutory clock on day one. A seller who waits hands the buyer's agent a free exit that can run for days, or until settlement if the package never arrives.

This is a seller strategy post for listing agents and owners in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. It is not legal advice. Confirm the property type, the form set, and the current statute before you rely on a deadline.

Key takeaways

• Order the resale package before you list, not after you ratify. Associations often have 10 to 20 days to produce it.
• Delivery at ratification starts the buyer's review clock immediately. Late delivery starts it later, and missing delivery can keep a cancellation right open until settlement.
• Maryland and the District of Columbia do not let the buyer waive the statutory review right in the contract. Virginia lets the parties set a different number of days, but a missing certificate still lets the buyer cancel before settlement.
• On GCAAR, MAR, and NVAR contracts, the day the buyer receives the package is day zero. Day 1 is the next day.
• "End of the day" is not the same in every contract: GCAAR ends at 6:00 p.m., NVAR at 9:00 p.m., and the Maryland Association of Realtors contract at 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time.

Why should a seller have the resale package ready at ratification?

The buyer's cancellation right is a clock that runs from delivery. If the package is already in the seller's hands, the listing side can deliver it with the ratified contract and make delivery the same event as ratification.

That does three things.

• It starts the review period on the earliest lawful day.
• It removes the "documents never arrived" cancellation right that survives until settlement in every jurisdiction covered here.
• It stops the buyer's agent from using a slow association as an extra contingency.

Listing agents who order the package at listing, pay the association fee, and keep a dated copy ready are the ones who control this timeline. Agents who order it the morning after ratification are waiting on a third party they do not control.

What are the resale timelines in DC, Maryland, and Virginia?

These are the statutory defaults for a resale by an owner who is not the developer. New construction uses different clocks, covered in the next section.

A buyer who cancels inside the window does not have to give a reason. The deposit comes back.

How do new homes differ from resales?

New construction and developer sales are not the same product as a resale package.

• Maryland condo, initial sale by the developer. The buyer must receive a current public offering statement registered with the Secretary of State. The buyer may rescind within 15 days after receipt of that information or after signing the contract, whichever is later (Real Property § 11-126). A material amendment adds a shorter follow-up window. That is more than double the 7-day resale right under § 11-135.
• Maryland HOA, initial sale in a development of more than 12 lots. The developer must deliver the disclosures at or before the contract, or within 7 calendar days after. If the buyer did not have them at least 5 calendar days before signing, the buyer has 5 calendar days after receipt to cancel (Real Property § 11B-105 and § 11B-108). A resale seller has 20 calendar days, not 7, to deliver.
• District of Columbia, new condominium. The buyer's review runs from the public offering statement, not from a unit-owner resale certificate. Do not quote the 3-business-day resale rule on a developer sale.
• Virginia, new construction. The Resale Disclosure Act covers resales. A new-home contract is governed by the builder's public offering or disclosure package and by the Virginia Property Owners' Association Act or Condominium Act provisions that apply to declarant sales. Do not assume the 3-day resale default.

The practical difference for a listing agent: on a resale, the seller can pre-order the package and hand it over at ratification. On a new home, the developer controls the offering statement, and the longer statutory window is the product the buyer is buying.

Why do buyer's agents treat the review period like a get-out-of-jail-free card?

Because the statute wrote it that way.

Inside the window, cancellation is without cause and without penalty. A buyer who loses a loan, finds a better house, gets cold feet after the inspection, or simply regrets the price can still walk if the resale package has not been delivered, or if it was delivered and the clock has not expired. The agent does not have to tie the cancellation to a line in the budget. Written notice is enough.

That is why experienced buyer's agents do not rush the seller. A slow package is a live contingency. In a soft week, it is also leverage. Title companies in this market routinely refuse to schedule settlement inside an open review period, so a late package does not just create a legal right. It creates a calendar problem.

Delivering a complete package at ratification takes that card off the table as early as the law allows. It does not remove the right. It starts it, and then it ends it.

Can the buyer negotiate the review period away?

Not in Maryland, and not in the District of Columbia.

Maryland Real Property § 11B-108 says the purchaser's cancellation rights may not be waived in the contract, and any attempted waiver is void. Section 11-135(e) says the same thing for a condominium resale. A buyer who says "we waive the HOA review" has not waived it. If that buyer later sends a timely written cancellation, the seller who relied on the waiver is exposed.

The District of Columbia statute gives the purchaser 3 business days following receipt, and it allows the parties to extend that period in a signed writing. It does not allow them to erase it. Settlement itself ends the right. A side letter that says the buyer waives review does not.

Virginia is the exception, and only in part. Since July 1, 2024, § 55.1-2312 lets the parties agree to a different cancellation period in the ratified contract. Three days is the default when the blank is empty, not a ceiling. What the parties cannot do is extinguish the right that exists when no certificate is delivered. Subsection C still lets the purchaser cancel any time before settlement if the certificate, or a notice that it is unavailable, was never delivered. Northern Virginia Association of Realtors guidance is explicit: a buyer keeps that protection even if the contract blank is filled with zero.

The line to use with a buyer who offers to "waive docs" is simple. In Maryland and the District, the statute does not allow it. In Virginia, a shorter period can be written, but a missing package still opens the door until settlement.

Is the day the buyer receives the package day 1 or day zero?

It is day zero. Day 1 is the next day.

That is the contract rule on the three forms that dominate this market, and it matches the statutory phrasing.

• GCAAR Regional Sales Contract (District of Columbia and Montgomery County): "For the purpose of computing time periods, the first Day will be the Day following Delivery," and the period ends at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the day specified.
• Maryland Association of Realtors contract: the count of days begins on the day following the day the act or notice was required to be performed or made. A day runs from 12:00:00 a.m. to and including 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
• NVAR Residential Sales Contract: "the first Day will be the Day following Delivery and the time period will end at 9 p.m. on the Day specified."

The District of Columbia statute uses the same idea. Section 42-1904.11 gives the purchaser 3 business days following receipt. If the instruments and certificate are furnished on or before the buyer executes the contract, that 3-business-day period starts when the contract is executed.

Maryland's condo statute says "within 7 days following receipt." The HOA statute says "within 5 calendar days following receipt." "Following" means the receipt day is not day 1.

Example. A complete Maryland condo package is delivered on Monday. Tuesday is day 1. The seventh day is the following Monday. Do not count Monday as day 1, or you will tell the seller the right expired a day early.

What time does the contract call the end of the day?

It depends on the form. Midnight is not the universal answer.

Business days are a second filter in the District. Weekends and legal holidays do not count toward the 3-business-day condo review. Maryland HOA and condo windows are calendar days. Virginia's default resale window is days as the contract defines them, which on the NVAR form means calendar days ending at 9:00 p.m., unless the parties wrote a different period.

Write the deadline in the file as a date and a time, not as "three days." "Until 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 8" is a deadline. "Three days from delivery" is an argument.

What should a listing agent do before the first showing?

• Identify the regime. Condo, HOA, cooperative, or more than one association. The last certificate delivered starts the Virginia clock when two associations govern the unit.
• Order the package in writing and pay the fee at listing. Maryland caps the HOA fee at $250, adjusted over time. Virginia associations must be in good standing with the Common Interest Community Board to charge the authorized fee. The District requires the association certificate plus the instruments.
• Check the issue date. Packages are commonly treated as stale after about 30 days. A package ordered in March may not be the package you can deliver in May.
• Deliver the complete package at ratification, with a written acknowledgment of the date and time of receipt. Incomplete delivery does not start the Maryland clock. Virginia starts a clock even on an incomplete certificate, but the buyer can still object to what is missing.
• Calendar the last minute of the last day under the form you actually used. GCAAR 6:00 p.m. NVAR 9:00 p.m. MAR 11:59:59 p.m.
• Do not accept a waiver in Maryland or the District. In Virginia, if the buyer wants a shorter period, write the number in the contract blank. Do not rely on a text message.

Frequently asked questions

Bottom line

The resale review period is a statutory exit, and buyer's agents know it. The seller's counter is not a waiver the law will not honor. It is a complete package, delivered at ratification, with the receipt time written down and the last minute of the last day calendared under the form that governs the deal.

Confirm the current statute and the contract form with a Maryland, Virginia, or District of Columbia real estate attorney or broker before you advise a client on a live deadline.