Most Reston homes pay two association bills. Nearly every address inside Reston Association’s boundaries pays the RA assessment, $890 for 2026. A townhouse adds dues to its cluster association, and a condominium adds a condo fee. A detached house usually pays RA alone.
The exceptions come from the deed. Some detached houses sit in a cluster and pay its dues as well, Reston Town Center has its own association in place of RA, and some newer buildings near the Metro stations never joined RA. A listing’s single “HOA fee” line often lumps the bills together or leaves one out, and the resale packet settles which is which.
Most Reston homes pay RA plus one other bill
| Home | Association bills it usually pays |
|---|---|
| Detached house | RA assessment only, though some also pay cluster or HOA dues |
| Townhouse | RA assessment plus cluster dues |
| Condo inside RA | RA assessment plus the condo fee |
| Condo at Reston Town Center | Condo fee, with the building under the Reston Town Center Association instead of RA |
| Some newer buildings near the Metro stations | The building’s own fee, with no RA assessment |
RA, cluster and condo fees come from three different boards
| RA assessment | Cluster dues | Condo fee | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who sets it | RA’s board, each fall | The cluster’s own board, each year | The condo’s board |
| What it pays for | Pools, courts, pathways, lakes, Walker Nature Center, covenant enforcement | The cluster’s shared ground: landscaping, parking, often snow and trash, reserves | The building: master insurance, roof and exterior, elevators, halls, reserves |
| How it arrives | One annual bill, due Jan. 1, paid to RA | Set by each cluster, commonly monthly or quarterly | Usually monthly |
| 2026 figure | $890 per lot | Median $1,680 a year for townhouses sold in 2026 | Median $6,547 a year for condos sold in 2026 |
| Virginia law | Property Owners’ Association Act | Property Owners’ Association Act | Virginia Condominium Act |
Reston Association charges $890 a lot in 2026, and the board votes Oct. 22 on $900 for 2027
RA bills every member lot once a year. The 2026 assessment came due Jan. 1, and late fees start after March 1. Credit card payments carry a 3 percent surcharge, and Member Services sets up a six-month installment plan on request, for an administrative fee. Owners who qualify for Fairfax County’s real estate tax relief pay half, $445.
The assessment runs 15 pools, more than 50 courts, four lakes and more than 55 miles of trails and pathways, along with the Walker Nature Center. It also pays for covenant administration, the enforcement of Reston’s rules on how homes look and are kept up, including RA’s Design Review Board, which signs off on exterior changes. Pool, tennis and pickleball passes have come with the assessment since 2024. The Deed of Dedication bars owners from escaping the assessment by skipping the amenities, and it makes an unpaid balance a lien on the property.
On Oct. 8, RA CEO Peter Lusk presented a draft 2027 budget with a $900 assessment, a $10 increase, and the board is scheduled to adopt it Oct. 22. Our breakdown of the 2027 budget covers the staff and printing cuts that hold the increase to $10, and our guide to the 2026 assessment breaks down where each dollar goes.
Not every Reston address belongs to RA. In 2023, RA said more than 3,000 units in the Metro station areas had won approval without a commitment to join.
Cluster dues pay for the shared ground around a group of homes
A cluster is a group of lots, usually townhouses and sometimes detached homes, with its own association beneath RA. Under the Deed of Dedication, each cluster association maintains the cluster’s common area and collects its own assessment, which its board sets every year. Cluster budgets commonly cover mowing and landscaping, parking courts and private streets, snow removal, often trash pickup, and savings toward the next repaving. Virginia’s Property Owners’ Association Act requires a reserve study at least every five years, a forecast of what the shared roofs, pavement and other big components will cost to replace and when.
Reston townhouses sold in 2026 listed a median cluster fee of $1,680 a year, and half fell between $1,300 and $2,090, according to our cost-of-ownership analysis. Most detached houses pay RA alone. The exceptions are detached homes built inside a cluster or a separate homeowners association, and about a third of the detached homes sold this year listed one of those fees, at a median of $1,365.
Some listings fold RA’s $890 into the cluster figure and others show the cluster fee alone, so a townhouse that looks cheaper on paper may simply be leaving RA out. The resale certificate settles the split, and RA publishes a directory of cluster and condo associations, last revised Sept. 1, 2026.
Condo fees cover the building, and condo owners inside RA pay RA too
Condominiums fall under the Virginia Condominium Act, a separate law from the one that governs clusters. A condo owner owns the unit, and the common elements, meaning everything outside the units, belong to all the owners together. The condo fee pays for that shared building: typically the master insurance policy on the structure, the roof and exterior, elevators, hallways and reserves. Some buildings also cover water, trash or heat, so two condo fees compare fairly only after matching what each one includes. The Condominium Act carries the same five-year reserve study requirement.
Reston condos sold in 2026 listed a median fee of $6,547 a year, about $546 a month, and half fell between $5,412 and $7,932.
The Deed of Dedication counts a residential condo unit as a lot and makes each owner personally responsible for paying RA. A condo owner inside RA’s boundaries owes the condo fee plus $890. Some newer buildings near the Metro stations owe no RA assessment at all.
Reston Town Center answers to its own association
Reston Town Center’s early developers formed the Reston Town Center Association in 1987 rather than join RA, the Connection reported. RTCA now governs almost 50 properties across 500 acres. Every property belongs by deed to one of four sub-associations, and almost all of the residential buildings sit in the Residential Center. RTCA’s budget comes from an assessment on every property under a fixed formula, with larger properties paying more and commercial owners covering about 85 percent. A Town Center condo owner pays a condo fee and falls under RTCA, not RA.
Each association issues its own resale certificate
Virginia’s Resale Disclosure Act requires the seller to obtain a resale certificate and give it to the buyer. The certificate is the association’s disclosure packet: assessments, budget, reserves, rules, insurance and pending lawsuits. Each association must deliver its certificate within 14 days of a written request. A home under more than one association gets a certificate from each, so a cluster townhouse comes with RA’s packet and the cluster’s, and a condo inside RA comes with RA’s and the building’s.
The seller pays for preparation, and Virginia’s Common Interest Community Board caps the charges. The current maximums are $176.64 for an electronic certificate, $211.96 for paper, $141.31 for a unit inspection when the governing documents allow one, and $70.66 for rush delivery within five business days. The buyer can owe a post-closing fee of up to $70.66 to update the association’s ownership records.
A certificate that arrives after ratification, the point when buyer and seller have both signed the contract, gives the buyer three days from receipt to cancel, unless the contract sets a different period. If a certificate never arrives, the buyer can cancel any time before settlement. With two or more associations, the clock starts at the last certificate.
Buyers should check five things in every packet
- Which associations the address belongs to: RA, a cluster, a condo, RTCA, or none.
- Each association’s annual figure, and whether the listing’s fee line includes RA’s $890.
- Any approved special assessment, and any unpaid balance on the unit.
- The reserve balance and the date of the last reserve study.
- Any violation notice on the unit, such as an exterior change RA never approved.
Our guide to what it costs to own a home in Reston puts these association bills next to the rest of the monthly budget.
See something missing or wrong? Email us at [email protected] and we will check it and update the post.
