Texas HOA Collections & Liens

Section 1: Overview — How assessment collection and liens work in Texas

Texas runs two parallel collection systems, and neither grants the limited super-priority lien that lenders encounter in Nevada or Colorado. Condominiums formed on or after January 1, 1994 — and most older ones as well — fall under the Texas Uniform Condominium Act, Property Code Chapter 82. Under that statute, the assessment lien attaches automatically when the developer records the declaration; no separate lien filing is required.¹ Most residential subdivision associations operate under a different framework: the Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act, Chapter 209, which heavily regulates every step on the path to foreclosure.² In a planned community, the lien arises from the recorded restrictive covenants, but the association cannot file an assessment lien in the county records until it has sent two delinquency notices and waited out a statutory period.²

Under neither system does a Texas association lien jump ahead of a first mortgage. The condominium lien is expressly subordinate to a first deed of trust recorded before the assessment went delinquent, and Chapter 209 has no priority-shifting provision at all.³ Associations in both regimes may foreclose judicially or non-judicially, but planned-community associations must first obtain a court order through an expedited Rule 736 proceeding.⁴ Texas sets no minimum dollar amount and no minimum waiting period before an association can foreclose, though it bars any foreclosure on a lien that consists solely of fines.⁵ What sets Texas apart is a post-sale right of redemption after an association foreclosure — 180 days for planned communities, 90 days for condominiums — even though the state grants no redemption right after a standard mortgage foreclosure.^6,7 The sections below lay out the lien, its priority, the operational collection sequence, and recent legislative and judicial activity.

Texas HOA Collections & Liens at a glance

Section 2: The lien and its priority

2A. Lien creation, authority, and what it secures

For condominiums, the assessment lien is statutory. Section 82.113(a) makes a levied assessment both a personal obligation of the unit owner and a debt secured by a continuing lien on the unit and on any related rents and insurance proceeds.¹ The lien comes into existence when the developer records the declaration, which itself serves as record notice and perfection; unless the declaration says otherwise, no further recording is required.¹ The statute defines "assessments" broadly: regular and special assessments, dues, fees, charges, interest, late fees, fines, collection costs, attorney's fees, and any other amount due — all enforceable as assessments unless the declaration narrows that definition.¹

For planned communities under Chapter 209, the lien is contractual in origin. It arises from the recorded declaration or other dedicatory instrument — not from a general statutory grant — so the authority to assess and to lien must appear in the governing documents.² Chapter 209 then layers a filing constraint on top. Before a planned-community association records an assessment lien in the county's official public records, it must send a first notice of delinquency by first-class mail or email, follow with a second notice by certified mail (return receipt requested) no earlier than the 30th day after the first, and then hold off on filing until at least the 90th day after that second notice.² A filed assessment lien is a legal instrument that affects title.² In both regimes, the lien attaches to the unit or lot — and, for condominiums, to related rents and insurance proceeds — not to the owner's other property.¹

2B. Lien priority and any super-priority component

Texas does not give an association lien super-priority status, and this is the single most important point on this page for a lender or title examiner. Under Section 82.113(b), the condominium lien yields to: real property tax liens and governmental charges; any lien or encumbrance recorded before the declaration; a first vendor's lien or first deed of trust recorded before the assessment became delinquent; and, unless the declaration provides otherwise, a construction or mechanic's lien perfected before the delinquency.³ The practical result: a properly recorded first mortgage stands ahead of the condominium assessment lien, and a condominium foreclosure does not extinguish that mortgage. Texas declined to adopt the UCIOA-pattern limited priority found in Nevada — whose NRS 116.3116(2)(b) gives associations priority for unpaid assessments due "during the 9 months immediately preceding the date on which the notice of default and election to sell is recorded" — and in Colorado, whose C.R.S. § 38-33.3-316(2)(b) grants priority for assessments due "during the six months immediately preceding institution of an action or a nonjudicial foreclosure."^13,14

Chapter 209 contains no priority provision at all, so a planned-community assessment lien takes its place from the recorded declaration and the general "first in time, first in right" principle. Many declarations expressly subordinate the assessment lien to a first or purchase-money mortgage; where a declaration was recorded before the relevant mortgage and does not subordinate, the assessment lien can sit ahead of that mortgage — which is why Chapter 209 requires the foreclosing association to notify junior deed-of-trust holders and give them a 61-day window to cure before the association proceeds.¹⁰ Neither regime authorizes a reasserted or "rolling" super-priority amount, because neither creates a super-priority to begin with. The rolling-lien question that recurs in Nevada — where the Nevada Supreme Court held in Property Plus Investments, LLC v. Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. that NRS 116.3116 "does not limit an HOA to one lien enforcement action or one super-priority lien forever" — does not arise in Texas.¹⁵

2C. CC&R interaction, corporate-law overlay, and federal overlay

Recorded CC&Rs carry significant weight in Texas. For planned communities, they are the source of the lien and define what it secures — overdue assessments, late fees, interest, fines, collection costs, and attorney's fees — subject to the Chapter 209 procedural overlay. For condominiums, the declaration can narrow the statutory definition of "assessments" and restrict the association to judicial foreclosure only.¹ What CC&Rs cannot do is override the mandatory statutory protections: the pre-lien notice sequence, the fines-only foreclosure bar, the court-order requirement, the payment-plan obligation, and the redemption right all bind regardless of contrary language in the governing documents.⁵

The underlying assessment debt is subject to a four-year statute of limitations as a breach-of-contract claim. Section 16.035 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code bars both a lawsuit and a contractual lien four years after the cause of action accrues — governing how long an association can sue or foreclose on a given delinquent assessment.¹⁶

Three federal frameworks apply on top of Texas law regardless of state provisions. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act can reach associations and, in particular, their attorneys and third-party collection agents when they collect delinquent assessments. The automatic stay in bankruptcy halts collection and foreclosure the moment an owner files. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act limits foreclosure against active-duty servicemembers, and Chapter 209's own pre-lien notice provision carves out SCRA-protected owners.²

Section 3: The collection and foreclosure process

3A. Pre-lien collection sequence

The pre-lien sequence is where the two regimes diverge most sharply. For planned communities, Section 209.0094 sets a mandatory notice sequence before the association may file a lien: a first notice by first-class mail or email; a second notice by certified mail (return receipt requested) sent no earlier than the 30th day after the first; and a prohibition on filing the lien before the 90th day after that second notice.² Counting from the first notice, the association cannot file a lien for at least 120 days. This sequence is statutory, not merely contractual, and it applies only to planned communities. For condominiums, there is no equivalent pre-lien notice requirement; the lien is already created and perfected by the recorded declaration.¹

A planned-community association with more than 14 lots must also offer an alternative payment schedule, allowing an owner to make partial payments on delinquent assessments without additional monetary penalties. The minimum plan term is three months, and the association need not allow a plan extending beyond 18 months from the date of the owner's request.¹¹ This obligation is statutory for planned communities and does not apply to condominiums under Chapter 82. Before charging a third-party collection fee to the owner, a planned-community association must send written notice by certified mail itemizing the amounts due, describe available options including any payment plan, and give the owner at least 45 days to cure.¹⁷

3B. Recording and the pre-foreclosure sequence

For planned communities, the association files the assessment lien in the official public records of the county where the property sits — after completing the Section 209.0094 notice sequence. The filed instrument evidences nonpayment and affects title.² For condominiums, no recording is necessary because the declaration already perfected the lien.¹

Before foreclosing, a planned-community association must clear two additional statutory notice requirements. Section 209.006 requires written notice by certified mail before the association takes any enforcement action such as foreclosing, and it gives the owner an opportunity to cure; the cure period was extended to 45 days by Senate Bill 1588 in 2021.⁹ Separately, Section 209.0091 bars the association from filing for foreclosure — whether through an expedited-order application or a judicial-foreclosure petition — until it has given written notice of the total delinquency to any subordinate deed-of-trust lienholder of record and allowed that lienholder until the 61st day after mailing to cure.¹⁰ Both notice requirements are statutory and apply only to planned communities. Chapter 82 imposes its own narrower duty: a condominium association must notify any recorded-lien or duly perfected mechanic's-lien holder who has filed a written request for notice of the owner's default or the association's intent to foreclose.¹

Texas statutes do not require a recorded board vote as a foreclosure prerequisite; that question is governed by the governing documents and general corporate law. Mandatory mediation is likewise not a statutory foreclosure prerequisite.

3C. Foreclosure mechanics and thresholds

Both regimes permit judicial or non-judicial foreclosure, but the planned-community path adds a court order. For condominiums, the owner grants a power of sale by acquiring the unit, and the association may foreclose judicially or non-judicially under that power, using the sale procedure under Section 51.002.¹ For planned communities, Section 209.0092 bars an association from foreclosing its assessment lien unless it first obtains a court order in an expedited foreclosure application under the Supreme Court's rules — the Rule 736 proceeding — whether the eventual sale is non-judicial or the association proceeds through full judicial foreclosure.⁴ Two exceptions apply: the owner may waive the expedited proceeding in writing at the time foreclosure is sought (a waiver that cannot be required as a condition of transferring title), or the association may instead elect full judicial foreclosure under a court judgment pursuant to Rules 309 and 646a.⁴ The expedited proceeding lets the owner file a response and request a hearing; absent a response, the court may issue the order without one.¹⁸

Texas sets no minimum dollar threshold and no minimum delinquency period before an association may foreclose. This stands in sharp contrast to the most restrictive states: California bars foreclosure under Civil Code § 5720(b)(2) until delinquent assessments "equals or exceeds one thousand eight hundred dollars ($1,800) or the assessments secured by the lien are more than 12 months delinquent," and Arizona now sets the highest thresholds in the nation — barring condominium foreclosure under A.R.S. § 33-1256(A) unless the owner has been delinquent one year or owes $1,200 or more, and barring planned-community foreclosure under A.R.S. § 33-1807(A) (as amended by SB 1494, effective September 26, 2025) unless the delinquency has lasted 18 months or the balance reaches $10,000 or more.^5,19 What Texas does bar is foreclosure on a lien that consists solely of fines, attorney's fees associated solely with fines, or certain records-related charges; this prohibition appears in Section 209.009 for planned communities and in Section 82.113(e) for condominiums.^5,20 A lien that includes unpaid regular or special assessments may support foreclosure; a fines-only lien may not.

The non-judicial sale runs under Section 51.002: a public auction held on the first Tuesday of the month between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the county courthouse, with written notice of the sale given at least 21 days in advance by posting, county-clerk filing, and certified mail to the debtor. For a residence, the debtor must also receive at least 20 days to cure the default before the association gives notice of the sale.⁸ A condominium owner may stop a non-judicial sale at any time before it occurs by paying all amounts due.²¹

3D. Post-sale: redemption, deficiency, surplus, reinstatement

Texas is unusual in granting a post-sale redemption right after an association foreclosure, even though the state grants no such right after a mortgage foreclosure. For planned communities, Section 209.011 lets the former owner — or a lienholder of record — redeem the lot from any purchaser no later than the 180th day after the association mails the post-sale notice required by Section 209.010. A lienholder may not redeem before the 90th day and only if the owner has not already done so.^6,22 For condominiums, Section 82.113(g) lets the former owner redeem no later than the 90th day after the foreclosure sale.⁷ The redemption price includes: amounts due the association, interest, the association's foreclosure costs and reasonable attorney's fees, post-sale assessments, and (where a third party purchased at sale) the bid amount plus interest at six percent.^6,7

Neither regime bars the association from also pursuing a money judgment. Chapter 82 expressly preserves the association's right to sue for a money judgment for sums secured by the lien, or to accept a deed in lieu — the route to recovering a deficiency from the former owner.¹ Surplus proceeds, after the association's secured claim is satisfied, go to junior lienholders by priority and then to the former owner, consistent with the accounting provisions of Sections 209.011 and 82.113.⁶ On reinstatement before the sale, a planned-community owner stops the process by curing within the statutory notice periods, and a condominium owner can pay all amounts due before the auction; both function as a right to cure rather than a separate post-acceleration reinstatement statute.²¹

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Texas amends Chapter 209 nearly every legislative session. The trend runs toward longer notice and cure periods, not higher dollar thresholds. The two most recent laws directly affecting the collection and lien framework are HB 886 (2023) and SB 711 (2025).

For broader context, Senate Bill 1588 (87th Legislature, 2021) remains the landmark collections reform: it extended the Section 209.006 cure period to 45 days, required association attorney's fees to be "reasonable," added credit-reporting notice conditions, set the Section 209.0063 payment-application priority, and provided that failure to file a management certificate suspends the association's authority to collect certain amounts.²⁵

B. Recent appellate rulings

Civil HOA appeals in Texas run from the district or county court to one of the fourteen Courts of Appeals, with discretionary review by the Texas Supreme Court; they do not go to the Court of Criminal Appeals.

C. Active legislative debates

Chapter 209 sees amendment proposals nearly every session, and the trend runs toward longer notice and cure periods rather than higher dollar thresholds. Proposals to further extend collection timelines and tighten attorney's-fee recovery recur each session. No pending proposal would create a Texas super-priority lien.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Texas sits on the owner-protective end of the national collections spectrum. It is not a super-priority state: Nevada grants associations a nine-month lien ahead of the first mortgage under NRS 116.3116(2)(b), and Colorado grants a six-month limited-priority lien under C.R.S. § 38-33.3-316(2)(b); Texas grants none, leaving the association lien behind a prior first mortgage in both regimes.^3,13,14 Texas is not a dollar-or-time threshold state in the manner of California — which bars foreclosure below $1,800 or 12 months delinquent under Civil Code § 5720(b)(2) — or Arizona, which now bars planned-community foreclosure below $10,000 or 18 months delinquent under A.R.S. § 33-1807(A). Instead, Texas imposes heavy procedural friction: a long pre-lien notice sequence, a mandatory court order before any planned-community foreclosure, a fines-only foreclosure bar, a payment-plan mandate, and a post-sale redemption period longer than most states grant.^4,6,19 For a multi-state operator, the practical implication is clear: a notice sequence or foreclosure posting that is valid in a power-of-sale state can be defective — or even barred — in Texas, where skipping the Rule 736 order or the Section 209.0094 notices can void the entire process. Texas's direction of travel is toward tightening owner protections, not raising thresholds.

Footnotes

1. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.113 (Association's Lien for Assessments) ↩
2. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0094 (Assessment Lien Filing) and ch. 209 generally ↩
3. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.113(b) (lien priority) ↩
4. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0092 (Judicial Foreclosure Required) ↩
5. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.009 (Foreclosure Sale Prohibited in Certain Circumstances) ↩
6. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.011 (Right of Redemption After Foreclosure) ↩
7. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.113(g) (90-day condominium redemption) ↩
8. Tex. Prop. Code § 51.002 (Sale of Real Property Under Contract Lien) ↩
9. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.006 (Notice Required Before Enforcement Action) ↩
10. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0091 (Prerequisites to Foreclosure: Notice and Opportunity to Cure for Certain Other Lienholders) ↩
11. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0062 (Alternative Payment Schedule for Certain Assessments) ↩
12. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0063 (Priority of Payments) ↩
13. Nev. Rev. Stat. § 116.3116(2)(b) (nine-month super-priority lien) ↩
14. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-33.3-316(2)(b) (six-month limited-priority lien) ↩
15. Property Plus Investments, LLC v. Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., 401 P.3d 728 (Nev. 2017) ↩
16. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.035 (four-year limitations on debt and contractual lien) ↩
17. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0064 (Third Party Collections) ↩
18. Supreme Court of Texas, Final Approval of Forms for Expedited Foreclosure Proceedings under Tex. R. Civ. P. 736 (Misc. Docket No. 14-9047) ↩
19. Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1256(A) (condominiums) and § 33-1807(A) (planned communities, as amended by SB 1494, eff. Sept. 26, 2025); Cal. Civ. Code § 5720(b)(2) ($1,800 / 12-month threshold) ↩
20. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.113(e) (no foreclosure of a lien consisting solely of fines) ↩
21. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.113(j) (owner may avoid sale by paying amounts due) ↩
22. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.010 (Notice After Foreclosure Sale) ↩
23. Tex. H.B. 886, 88th Leg., R.S. (2023) ↩
24. Tex. S.B. 711, 89th Leg., R.S. (2025) ↩
25. Tex. S.B. 1588, 87th Leg., R.S. (2021) ↩
26. McDole v. Bauer Landing Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., No. 01-23-00963-CV (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Dec. 12, 2024, no pet.) (mem. op.) ↩
27. Byrd v. Villages of Woodland Springs Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., No. 02-23-00078-CV (Tex. App.—Fort Worth July 25, 2024, no pet.) (mem. op.) ↩