Texas HOA Assessment Limits

Key Findings

Texas regulates how associations collect assessments—not how large or frequent those assessments may be. No provision of Chapter 209 or Chapter 82 caps a regular or special assessment. The Supreme Court of Texas settled the controlling question in Brooks v. Northglen Ass'n: the limit on any increase comes from the recorded declaration, not from a statute.¹ That puts Texas at the opposite end of the spectrum from states like California, where Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) bars a board from raising regular assessments more than 20 percent above the prior year or imposing special assessments exceeding 5 percent of budgeted gross expenses without member approval.²

The practical risk for Texas associations is procedural, not numerical. A defective increase rarely causes the problem; a skipped notice, an unoffered payment plan, a misapplied payment, or a premature lien filing voids collection leverage and forfeits attorney's fees. The 2023 amendment to § 209.0094 and the 2025 passage of Senate Bill 711 both moved toward more process and disclosure—not assessment caps—and the 2025 Legislature looked at a cap proposal (Senate Bill 1935) and declined to act.³

Details

Section 1 — Overview

Texas carries no statutory percentage cap on assessments. The recorded declaration sets what a community can charge and how often, while state law regulates the collection process. Chapter 209—the Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act—governs planned-community property owners' associations. Chapter 82—the Texas Uniform Condominium Act, based on UCIOA—governs condominiums, which hold a statutory lien with a limited priority.⁴ Condominiums with declarations recorded on or after January 1, 1994 fall under Chapter 82; the older Chapter 81, the Texas Condominium Act, still governs condominiums created before that date that have not adopted Chapter 82, though many Chapter 82 provisions reach those earlier condominiums by operation of Tex. Prop. Code § 82.002.⁵ Regular increases carry no statutory ceiling, and Chapter 209 layers collection procedure—notice, cure period, payment plans, priority of payments—on top of the declaration-set amount.⁶ Special assessments are likewise authorized and limited by the declaration, and the resulting debt is secured by an assessment lien that is generally subordinate to a prior first mortgage for Chapter 209 POAs but carries a limited statutory priority for Chapter 82 condominiums—a priority that still yields to a prior first deed of trust.⁷ On the national spectrum, Texas sits at the procedure-heavy, no-cap end—the opposite of statutory-cap states like California. Assessment disputes are civil matters that run through the trial courts to one of the 14 regional Texas Courts of Appeals and, on discretionary review, to the Supreme Court of Texas as the civil court of last resort.⁸ The sections below detail the framework, procedures in practice, and recent legislative and judicial activity.

Section 2 — The assessment framework

2A. Authority to levy and allocate assessments

In planned communities, a POA's authority to levy and allocate assessments comes from the recorded declaration—the covenants, conditions, and restrictions—not from a general grant in Chapter 209. An association has no inherent right to charge assessments unless a governing document authorizes it; the authority flows from the articles of incorporation, bylaws, or declaration.⁹ Chapter 209 acts as a procedural overlay on that authority rather than as its source. The board adopts and approves the annual budget that funds assessments, and assessment increases, special assessments, and the budget must be considered and voted on in an open board meeting under Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051.¹⁰

In condominiums, the source of authority is both statutory and contractual. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.102 grants the unit owners' association the power to adopt and amend budgets and to collect assessments for common expenses, and Tex. Prop. Code § 82.112 requires that, after an initial assessment, assessments be made at least annually based on a budget adopted at least annually by the association.¹¹ Condominiums created before January 1, 1994 that have not opted into Chapter 82 remain under Chapter 81, though many Chapter 82 provisions apply to pre-1994 condominiums by operation of Tex. Prop. Code § 82.002.¹²

Across both regimes, the board holds the operating power through the budget, but the declaration controls the substance of what may be assessed and how it is allocated among lots or units—because Texas sets no statutory cap on the amount.⁴

2B. Limits on regular assessment increases

Texas sets no percentage cap on regular assessment increases. Neither Chapter 209 nor Chapter 82 limits how much or how often a regular assessment may rise; the declaration sets the amount, the frequency, and any member-approval threshold.¹ Where a declaration is silent on a ceiling, the board may raise regular assessments to fund the budget subject only to the declaration's procedural terms and the open-meeting requirement.¹⁰

What Chapter 209 constrains is collection, not size. A POA composed of more than 14 lots must adopt guidelines for an alternative payment schedule allowing partial payments on delinquent assessments without additional monetary penalties, with a minimum plan term of three months, under Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0062.¹³ When a POA receives a payment, it must apply it in the statutory order of priority under Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0063: first to delinquent assessments, then current assessments, then attorney's fees and collection costs associated with foreclosable charges, then other attorney's fees, then fines, then other amounts.¹⁴ Before holding an owner liable for third-party collection fees, the POA must send certified-mail notice providing at least a 45-day cure period; the official Senate Bill 1588 bill analysis confirms that § 209.0064(b) was amended to extend that window from 30 to 45 days, enacted as Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 951, Sec. 16, effective September 1, 2021.¹⁵

For condominiums, Chapter 82 requires assessments be based on a budget adopted at least annually but does not impose a statutory owner-ratification vote on that budget; any ratification or member-approval step is a matter of the declaration.¹¹ A defective increase—or one collected without the required Chapter 209 notice and cure steps—exposes a POA to loss of attorney's fees and challenges to any downstream collection action that relied on the defective process.¹⁶

2C. Special assessments, the assessment lien, and foreclosure

Special assessments are authorized and limited by the declaration, which typically states the permitted purposes and any member-vote threshold. Texas imposes no statutory cap on the amount of a special assessment; the limits are whatever the recorded instrument provides.⁴

For planned communities, the assessment lien is addressed in Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0094, which treats a recorded assessment lien as a legal instrument affecting title and, as amended in 2023, requires a sequence of delinquency notices before a lien may be filed: a first notice by first-class mail or e-mail, a second notice by certified mail no earlier than 30 days later, and no lien filing before the 90th day after the second notice.¹⁷ A POA may not foreclose an assessment lien without first obtaining a court order through an expedited or judicial foreclosure under Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0092, and it may not foreclose at all where the debt consists solely of fines, attorney's fees associated only with fines, or certain records charges under Tex. Prop. Code § 209.009.¹⁸

For condominiums, the lien arises under Tex. Prop. Code § 82.113 and is created by recordation of the declaration. Its priority is limited: under § 82.113(b), the condominium lien has priority over most other liens but is expressly subordinate to a lien for real property taxes, to a lien or encumbrance recorded before the declaration, and to a first vendor's lien or first deed of trust recorded before the date the assessment sought to be enforced became delinquent.¹⁹ Texas did not adopt a fixed multi-month "super-priority" window ahead of the first mortgage as the UCIOA model contemplates in many states. Operationally, Chapter 209 POAs collect behind the first mortgage and must foreclose by court order, while Chapter 82 condominiums hold a lien with a limited priority position that nonetheless yields to a prior first mortgage.¹⁹

Section 3 — Assessment limits and procedures in practice

A. Regular assessment increase procedure

The board adopts and approves regular assessment increases through the annual budget in an open meeting under Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051, with no statutory percentage cap; the amount and frequency are declaration-defined (planned communities, Chapter 209).¹⁰ For condominiums, Tex. Prop. Code § 82.112 requires that assessments be based on a budget adopted at least annually, but any owner-ratification step is set by the declaration rather than the statute (condominiums, Chapter 82).¹¹

B. Special assessment procedure

Special assessment authority, purposes, and any member-approval threshold are declaration-defined; Texas supplies no statutory cap (planned communities, Chapter 209).⁴ For condominiums, special assessment authority flows from Tex. Prop. Code § 82.102 and the declaration, again with no statutory percentage limit (condominiums, Chapter 82).¹¹

C. Caps, ceilings, and override mechanisms

Texas supplies no percentage cap on regular or special assessments for either planned communities or condominiums; any cap is declaration-defined.⁴ The only related statutory ceilings cover transaction charges, not assessments: Tex. Prop. Code § 207.003(c) provides that a POA "may charge a reasonable and necessary fee, not to exceed $375, to assemble, copy, and deliver the information required by this section and may charge a reasonable and necessary fee, not to exceed $75, to prepare and deliver an update of a resale certificate" (planned communities, Chapter 207).²⁰

D. Notice, documentation, and disclosure tied to assessments

A POA must send a delinquency notice with at least a 45-day cure period before charging third-party collection fees under Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0064, offer a payment plan under Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0062, and apply payments in the priority order of Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0063 (planned communities, Chapter 209).¹⁵ Before reporting a delinquency to a credit reporting service, the POA must give at least 30 business days' notice and may not report disputed amounts under Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0065 (planned communities, Chapter 209).²¹ An assessment lien is filed under Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0094, foreclosure requires a court order under Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0092, and a POA must record a management certificate and electronically file it with the Texas Real Estate Commission no later than the seventh day after recording under Tex. Prop. Code § 209.004 (planned communities, Chapter 209).²² The condominium lien is recorded and enforced under Tex. Prop. Code § 82.113 (condominiums, Chapter 82).¹⁹

Section 4 — Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

B. Recent appellate rulings

The controlling Texas authority on assessment limits remains a 2004 Supreme Court of Texas decision. Within the past 36 months, reported appellate activity on assessment authority has consisted largely of memorandum opinions rather than published precedent, so the leading published statement on how far a Texas assessment may rise predates the current window.

C. Active legislative debates

During the 89th Legislature in 2025, lawmakers considered but did not enact a proposed cap on HOA assessments (Senate Bill 1935), leaving the no-cap, declaration-driven framework intact.²⁴ The recurring appearance of cap proposals suggests assessment limits will remain a subject of legislative interest in future odd-year sessions.

Section 5 — National positioning and related coverage

Texas sits at the procedure-heavy end of the assessment-limit spectrum. Statutory-cap states, led by California, bar a board from raising regular assessments more than 20 percent over the prior year or imposing special assessments exceeding 5 percent of budgeted gross expenses without member approval under Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b).² Procedure-heavy no-cap states like Texas take a different path: the declaration sets the amount, and the statute regulates notice, payment plans, priority of payments, and judicial foreclosure.⁶ A third group consists of declaration-driven states with minimal statutory overlay. Texas is distinctive for pairing a bespoke POA collection statute (Chapter 209) with a UCIOA-based condominium act (Chapter 82) whose lien carries only a limited priority—all litigated through a bifurcated high court in which civil assessment disputes proceed to the Supreme Court of Texas and never to the Court of Criminal Appeals.⁸ For multi-state operators entering Texas, the practical implication is clear: the assessment amount comes out of the declaration, but the Chapter 209 collection steps are mandatory and foreclosure of an assessment lien requires a court order.¹⁸

Caveats

• Condominium lien priority. Contrary to the assumption that a UCIOA-based act confers a fixed multi-month super-priority over the first mortgage, Texas § 82.113(b)(3) subordinates the condominium lien to a first vendor's lien or first deed of trust recorded before the assessment became delinquent. The "limited priority" of the Chapter 82 lien is real but does not include a guaranteed months-of-assessments position ahead of a prior first mortgage. Practitioners relying on this page should read § 82.113(b) in full against the specific declaration and recording dates.
• Recent case law is thin and largely unpublished. No published S.W.3d opinion from the Texas Courts of Appeals or the Supreme Court of Texas squarely deciding assessment authority, Chapter 209 collection procedure, or § 209.0092/§ 209.009/§ 82.113 lien foreclosure was confirmed within the 2023–2026 window using public databases; recent activity (for example, the Lakewood at Livingston POA v. Lasiter line in the Twelfth Court of Appeals) appears in memorandum opinions whose holdings should be read in full before citation. Brooks v. Northglen (2004) remains the leading published authority. A definitive case-law survey requires Westlaw or Lexis access.
• Chapter 81 detail. This page states the Chapter 81 versus Chapter 82 boundary at January 1, 1994 and notes that many Chapter 82 provisions reach pre-1994 condominiums via § 82.002, but it does not catalog the precise Chapter 81 provisions that differ; communities with pre-1994 condominiums should confirm which chapter governs a given dispute.
• Effective-date sensitivity. HB 886 (2023) and SB 711 (2025) took effect September 1 of their enactment years; obligations that accrued before those dates may be governed by prior law. Confirm accrual dates when applying these provisions.

1. Brooks v. Northglen Ass'n, 141 S.W.3d 158 (Tex. 2004) ↩
2. Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) (20% regular / 5% special assessment limit without member approval) ↩
3. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0094, Assessment Lien Filing (as amended by HB 886, 88th Leg., 2023) ↩
4. Tex. Prop. Code Chapter 209, Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act (no statutory percentage cap on assessments; collection procedure governed by Chapter 209) ↩
5. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.002, Applicability (Chapter 82 governs condominiums with declarations recorded on or after January 1, 1994; Chapter 81 governs earlier condominiums) ↩
6. Tex. Prop. Code §§ 209.0062, 209.0063, 209.0064 (payment plans, priority of payments, third-party collection notice) ↩
7. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.113, Association's Lien for Assessments (limited priority; subordinate to prior first deed of trust under § 82.113(b)(3)) ↩
8. Texas Judicial Branch, Court Structure (district and county courts at law; 14 regional Courts of Appeals; Supreme Court of Texas as civil court of last resort) ↩
9. Texas State Law Library, Property Owners' Associations: Assessments (association authority to charge assessments derives from governing documents) ↩
10. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051, Open Board Meetings (assessment increases, special assessments, and budget approval among matters requiring open-meeting action) ↩
11. Tex. Prop. Code §§ 82.102, 82.112 (powers of unit owners' association; assessments based on annually adopted budget) ↩
12. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.002, Applicability (specified Chapter 82 provisions apply to pre-1994 condominiums) ↩
13. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0062, Alternative Payment Schedule for Certain Assessments (more than 14 lots; minimum three-month term) ↩
14. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0063, Priority of Payments ↩
15. 87(R) SB 1588 Bill Analysis (amending § 209.0064(b) to a 45-day, rather than 30-day, cure period; eff. Sept. 1, 2021) ↩
16. Tex. Prop. Code §§ 209.004, 209.008 (loss of attorney's fees where required filings or procedures not met) ↩
17. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0094, Assessment Lien Filing (notice sequence; no lien before 90th day after second notice) ↩
18. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0092, Judicial Foreclosure Required; § 209.009, Foreclosure Sale Prohibited in Certain Circumstances ↩
19. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.113(b), Association's Lien for Assessments (priority over most liens except prior tax lien, prior recorded encumbrance, and prior first vendor's lien or first deed of trust) ↩
20. Tex. Prop. Code § 207.003(c), Delivery of Subdivision Information to Owner ($375 resale certificate / $75 update fee caps) ↩
21. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0065, Credit Reporting Services (30 business days' notice; no reporting of disputed amounts) ↩
22. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.004, Management Certificates (recording and electronic filing with the Texas Real Estate Commission within seven days) ↩
23. 89(R) SB 711, Relating to property owners' associations, including condominium unit owners' associations (eff. Sept. 1, 2025) ↩
24. 89(R) SB 1935 (proposed HOA assessment cap; not enacted) ↩