Texas HOA Estoppel & Resale

Section 1: Overview — Estoppel and resale disclosure in Texas

Texas requires a statutory resale certificate at the sale of a home or unit inside a common interest community, and it runs two separate tracks that must be read independently. For property owners' associations (POAs), the certificate and accompanying subdivision information are governed by Tex. Prop. Code § 207.003 within Chapter 207, with the Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act in Chapter 209 governing POAs generally.^1,4 For condominiums, the certificate is governed by § 82.157 of the Texas Uniform Condominium Act (Chapter 82).³ The correct Texas statutory term is "resale certificate"; "estoppel certificate" is a Florida and Southeastern usage that doesn't appear in the Texas Property Code.²

The load-bearing mechanics differ by association type. The POA certificate carries a 10-business-day delivery clock, a defined set of statutory contents, and a capped fee.^1,8,6 The condominium certificate carries its own contents list and a delivery clock stated in calendar days, confirmed separately below.³ Binding effect and remedies also run on separate provisions: § 207.005 for the POA certificate and § 82.157(c) and (e) for the condominium certificate.^10,3 Texas sits in the statutory resale-certificate camp, distinct from Florida's CPI-adjusted fee-cap mandate, California's disclosure package, and covenant-only states, though it uses fixed dollar figures rather than an inflation-indexed ceiling. Civil HOA disputes are heard through a bifurcated high court system, and the fee and deadline numbers below should be read against the current Property Code text.^11,12

Section 2: The statutory requirements

2A. The Texas resale certificate, by association type

The POA certificate is produced under Tex. Prop. Code § 207.003, titled "Delivery of Subdivision Information to Owner." On a proper written request, the association must deliver a current copy of the subdivision restrictions, the bylaws and rules, and a resale certificate that complies with § 207.003(b).¹ Chapter 207 applies to a subdivision whose property owners' association is entitled to levy regular or special assessments, and Chapter 209 supplies the general POA governance framework.⁴ The condominium certificate is produced under § 82.157 of Chapter 82.³ The two tracks are parallel in function but not identical in text, and each must be verified on its own terms.

For the POA certificate, the clock starts when a written request is received from an owner, the owner's agent, a purchaser or purchaser's agent, or a title insurance company or its agent, and any required evidence of the requestor's authority is received and verified.¹ The association or its managing agent must deliver within 10 business days.¹ For the condominium certificate, the association must furnish the certificate to the selling unit owner or the owner's agent not later than the 10th day after receiving a written request by a unit owner; the statute states "10th day," a calendar-day count, and frames the requester as the unit owner rather than the broader list in Chapter 207.³ On fees, a POA may charge a reasonable and necessary fee not to exceed $375 for the certificate and $75 for an update, and may not charge at all if it misses the deadline.⁶ A condominium association may charge a reasonable and necessary fee not to exceed $375 under § 82.157(f), a cap added by SB 711 and effective September 1, 2025; before that amendment the condominium certificate carried no statutory fee ceiling.^3,7 Neither figure is indexed to inflation. These resale certificates are distinct from developer disclosures at the initial sale: a condominium declarant must furnish a condominium information statement under §§ 82.152 and 82.153 before conveyance, and a subdivision seller must give the buyer the membership notice required by § 5.012.^13,14

2B. Required contents and the resale disclosure

The POA certificate must contain the items enumerated in § 207.003(b): any right of first refusal or other transfer restraint; the frequency and amount of regular assessments; the amount and purpose of any approved special assessment due after delivery; the total of all amounts due and unpaid attributable to the owner's property; approved capital expenditures for the current fiscal year; the amount of reserves for capital expenditures; the association's current operating budget and balance sheet; unsatisfied judgments against the association; and the style and cause number of pending lawsuits other than delinquent-tax suits, among other items.⁸ The condominium list in § 82.157(a) sets out 14 enumerated clauses that are materially similar but drafted differently: the current operating budget plus statements of transfer restraints, the periodic common expense assessment and unpaid amounts currently due from the selling owner, other unpaid fees, capital expenditures approved for the next 12 months, reserves, unsatisfied judgments, pending suits, insurance coverage, board knowledge of alterations that violate the governing documents, notice of health or building code violations, leasehold terms, the managing agent's contact information, the budget and balance sheet, and all transfer-related fees.³ The two lists aren't identical and shouldn't be treated as interchangeable.

The disclosed assessment balance and any approved special assessment are the financial heart of the certificate for the closing agent and title company, because they fix the amount the buyer or seller must resolve at closing. Because the certificate can be requested by the buyer, the buyer's agent, or a title insurance company under the POA track, the buyer, lender, and title company learn the exact payoff and pending obligations before closing and can rely on those figures.^1,10

2C. Binding effect, remedies, and scope

Under § 207.005, a property owners' association may not deny the validity of any statement in the resale certificate, and its lien to secure amounts that were due but undisclosed on the certificate's preparation date automatically terminates as to the undisclosed amount; the buyer, buyer's agent, owner, lender, and title company are not liable for an undisclosed pre-preparation debt.¹⁰ The certificate doesn't, however, affect the association's right to recover debts that arise after the preparation date or its lien for future assessments.¹⁰ The condominium provision is comparable: an association may not deny the validity of any statement, a reliant purchaser, lender, or title insurer is not liable for an undisclosed debt, and if a properly executed certificate understates delinquencies the purchaser is not liable for the excess unpaid on the preparation date.³ On nondelivery, the POA track lets an owner make a second request and then seek a court order, a judgment up to $5,000, and costs and fees under § 207.004, and lets the owner give the buyer a protective affidavit.⁹ The condominium track lets the unit owner furnish a sworn affidavit in lieu of the certificate, permits a written waiver, and provides that failure to furnish does not void the deed; a condominium officer or agent is not liable for delay unless the refusal is willful or grossly negligent.³ On scope, the POA certificate reaches Chapter 209 subdivisions, while § 82.157 reaches condominiums under Chapter 82, including pre-1994 condominiums to which § 82.157 is extended by § 82.002(c).^4,5

Section 3: The resale transaction in practice

A. Requesting the certificate

For POAs, the request may come from the selling owner, the owner's agent, the purchaser or purchaser's agent, or a title insurance company or its agent acting on the owner's or purchaser's behalf, and the association may require a purchaser to show a contractual right to acquire the property before it begins work (both tracks require a written request; the eligible-requester list differs).¹ For condominiums, the statute frames the trigger as a written request by a unit owner, and the certificate is furnished to the selling unit owner or the owner's agent (condominiums).³

B. The statutory clock and delivery

For POAs, the clock starts when the written request is received and the requestor's authority is verified, and delivery is due by the 10th business day to the person named in the request (property owners' associations).¹ For condominiums, delivery is due not later than the 10th day, a calendar-day count, after the association receives the unit owner's written request (condominiums).³ If a POA is late, it may not charge its fee, and the owner may pursue the § 207.004 remedies; if a condominium association is late, the unit owner may proceed by sworn affidavit, and the parties may waive the certificate (difference flagged).^6,9,3

C. Fees and refunds

For POAs, the fee is a reasonable and necessary charge not to exceed $375 for the certificate and $75 for an update, a fixed figure rather than a Florida-style CPI-adjusted cap (property owners' associations).⁶ For condominiums, the fee is a reasonable and necessary charge not to exceed $375 (condominiums).^3,7 Neither track's statute addresses an expedited or rush fee, and neither provides a refund if the sale doesn't close; a POA simply may not charge if it misses the deadline (both tracks silent on expedited and closing-failure refunds).⁶

D. Consequences and binding effect

Once issued, the POA certificate estops the association from denying its stated figures and terminates its lien for undisclosed pre-preparation amounts, so it can't later collect from the purchaser sums above those disclosed (property owners' associations).¹⁰ The condominium certificate produces a comparable estoppel: the association may not deny a stated figure, and a reliant purchaser is shielded from undisclosed or understated pre-preparation debt (condominiums).³ On association exposure, Chapter 207 shields officers and agents from personal liability for delay, channeling the remedy into § 207.004, while § 82.157 exposes a condominium officer or agent only for willful refusal or gross negligence (difference flagged).^9,3 The purchaser's practical protection for nondelivery is the affidavit mechanism on both tracks, plus the buyer's contract-termination rights under the applicable TREC contract addendum.^9,3

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

B. Recent appellate rulings

A review of Texas appellate sources, including the state courts' opinion database and free case-law indexes, didn't identify a published Texas Court of Appeals or Supreme Court of Texas opinion within the past 36 months that squarely interprets the resale-certificate contents, fee, deadline, or binding effect under § 207.003, § 207.005, or § 82.157. No ruling is reported here because none could be verified against a primary source. Litigants and counsel tracking this area should note that a definitive check would require a paid citator run on those sections, because free indexes don't capture every memorandum opinion.

C. Active legislative debates

The 89th Legislature considered but didn't pass HB 2504, which would have amended § 207.003(c) so that a POA "may not charge any other fee" beyond the $375 and $75 figures, "including a fee for an inspection or other activity"; per the Legislature's records its last action was on May 8, 2025, when it was reported favorably by committee without amendment, and it was never passed by either chamber.¹⁵ A proposed cap on HOA assessments (SB 1935) likewise failed, indicating continued debate over POA charges without a change to the resale-certificate fee or deadline as of the most recent session.⁷

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Across the states, resale-disclosure regimes fall into a few families: hard-mandate states with statutory estoppel certificates, short business-day clocks, and CPI-adjusted fee caps, exemplified by Florida through Fla. Stat. § 718.116(8) and § 720.30851, where the base estoppel fee is set by statute and adjusted periodically by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation; detailed-disclosure states such as California under the Davis-Stirling Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 4525 et seq.; Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act resale-certificate states such as Alaska, Colorado, and Washington; and covenant-only states with no statutory mechanism.^16,17 Texas sits closest to the certificate camp, with its own non-uniform statutory resale certificate for POAs under § 207.003 and a Uniform Condominium Act certificate for condominiums under § 82.157, on a 10-business-day POA clock, but it uses fixed dollar figures rather than a Florida-style indexed cap.^1,3 For a multi-state operator the concept transfers, but a firm must answer by association type and verify the separate deadline, fee, and content rules for § 207.003 and § 82.157. Civil HOA appeals run from the district courts to the geographic Texas Courts of Appeals (fourteen districts) and then to the Supreme Court of Texas, not the Court of Criminal Appeals, and the certificate provisions should be read against the current Property Code text.^11,12

This coverage updates quarterly as the Texas Legislature, which meets biennially in odd-numbered years, and the Texas courts act, and the fee and deadline rules should be read against the current Property Code text. Federal frameworks also apply to Texas associations regardless of the state framework, notably the FDCPA where a disclosed balance is being collected, along with the FHA, ADA, SCRA, and OTARD.

Footnotes

1. Tex. Prop. Code § 207.003, Delivery of Subdivision Information to Owner (10-business-day clock; 60-day currency; delivery) ↩
2. Tex. Prop. Code § 207.001(5), definition of "resale certificate" ↩
3. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.157, Resale of Unit (14 enumerated contents; 10-day clock; $375 fee under subsection (f); binding effect; affidavit remedy) ↩
4. Tex. Prop. Code § 207.002, Applicability ↩
5. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.002, Applicability (declarations recorded on or after Jan. 1, 1994; § 82.157 extended to pre-1994 condominiums) ↩
6. Tex. Prop. Code § 207.003(c), (c-1), fee not to exceed $375/$75 and no fee if late ↩
7. SB 711, 89th Legislature (2025), enrolled text (§ 82.157(f) $375 fee; § 82.1142 online disclosure; § 82.116 filing); Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S., Ch. 10, eff. Sept. 1, 2025 ↩
8. Tex. Prop. Code § 207.003(b), required contents of the resale certificate ↩
9. Tex. Prop. Code § 207.004, Owner's Remedies for Failure to Timely Deliver (five-business-day cure on second request; judgment up to $5,000; affidavit) ↩
10. Tex. Prop. Code § 207.005, Effect of Resale Certificate; Liability ↩
11. Texas Judicial Branch, Courts of Appeals (fourteen geographic districts) ↩
12. Texas Judicial Branch, court structure (Supreme Court of Texas for civil matters; Court of Criminal Appeals for criminal matters) ↩
13. Tex. Prop. Code §§ 82.152–82.153, condominium information statement (declarant disclosure at initial sale) ↩
14. Tex. Prop. Code § 5.012, Notice of Obligations Related to Membership in Property Owners' Association ↩
15. HB 2504, 89th Legislature (2025), introduced text (would amend § 207.003(c); did not pass) ↩
16. Fla. Stat. § 718.116(8) (Florida condominium estoppel certificate; statutory base fee adjusted for inflation) ↩
17. Cal. Civ. Code § 4525 (Davis-Stirling Act, seller disclosure documents) ↩