Texas HOA Fence & Exterior

Quick-Reference Panel

Section 1 — Overview: How fence and exterior rules work in Texas

In Texas, exterior and fence control starts with the recorded dedicatory instruments — the declaration of covenants and any architectural guidelines an association adopts under it. But a long list of Texas statutes overrides or caps that authority on specific exterior features.¹ Before you analyze any fence or exterior question, you have to classify the community. A planned community or property owners' association falls under the Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act, Property Code Chapter 209, while a condominium falls under the Texas Uniform Condominium Act, Chapter 82 (or, for pre-1994 regimes, Chapter 81), and Chapter 202 supplies the rules for construing restrictive covenants and most of the exterior overrides.⁵ The Chapter 202 override stack reaches solar devices, roofing materials, flags, religious items, water-conserving landscaping, generators, swimming pool enclosures, and security measures including perimeter fencing — and several of those overrides declare a conflicting dedicatory-instrument provision void rather than merely unenforceable.⁶ No Texas statute sets a general architectural-review response deadline; the declaration sets the timelines, subject to the Chapter 209 appeal-and-hearing procedure and the Chapter 202 caps, and there is no statutory deemed-approval rule.³ Nationally, Texas ranks as a strong-override state, sitting alongside California in how far its statutes limit association exterior authority. The sections that follow lay out where the authority comes from, walk through the override stack feature by feature, explain the review and enforcement procedure, and cover recent legislative and judicial activity.

Section 2 — The legal framework for exterior and fence control

2A. Where exterior and fence authority comes from

Exterior authority originates in the recorded dedicatory instruments: the declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions, and the architectural guidelines an association adopts under it. Chapter 202 defines "dedicatory instrument" broadly — it takes in the declaration, the bylaws, and properly adopted rules — and it directs courts to construe restrictive covenants liberally to give effect to their purpose.⁷ How you classify the community controls which statute supplies the mandatory overlay. Planned communities and property owners' associations answer to Chapter 209, a statute Texas wrote for itself rather than a uniform act.⁸ Condominiums answer to Chapter 82, the Texas Uniform Condominium Act, which draws on the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act and applies to condominiums whose declaration was recorded on or after January 1, 1994; some of its provisions reach older regimes, and Chapter 81 governs the pre-1994 ones.⁹ The Business Organizations Code, Title 2, Chapter 22, supplies the nonprofit corporate governance for most associations. Texas has not adopted a comprehensive UCIOA scheme for planned communities, so the Chapter 82 condominium framework and the Chapter 209 association framework stand apart, and you must not conflate them. The order of precedence runs like this: the mandatory statutory provisions and the Chapter 202 overrides come first, then the recorded dedicatory instruments, then the architectural guidelines, then the board rules. Because Chapter 202 caps what a declaration may prohibit, an architectural denial or covenant that collides with a Chapter 202 override is vulnerable — and where an override declares a provision void, that provision carries no force, no matter what the declaration says.⁶

2B. State-law limits on association exterior authority

The Chapter 202 override stack is the operative constraint on fence and exterior review. Below, I verify each override against the current code and flag the consequence as void, capped, or reasonableness-limited.

Solar energy devices, § 202.010: a property owners' association may not enforce — or even adopt — a provision that prohibits or restricts a solar energy device, and any provision that violates this rule is void.¹⁰ That void consequence bends to the exceptions in subsection (d), which let an association restrict a device that threatens public health or safety or violates law as a court has adjudicated, sits on association-owned or common property, lands outside the roof or a fenced yard or patio, extends past the roofline, does not come in a silver, bronze, or black tone, rises taller than the fence line in a fenced yard, or went up without prior approval. A 2025 amendment (H.B. 431) folded solar roof tiles into the definition.¹¹

Roofing materials, § 202.011: an association may not prohibit shingles designed to resist wind or hail, save energy, or generate solar power, as long as the shingles resemble the ones otherwise authorized, last at least as long, and match the surrounding aesthetics. This one is a cap, not a void provision.¹²

Flag display, § 202.012: an association may not prohibit display of the United States flag, the Texas state flag, or an official or replica flag of a branch of the United States armed forces, though it may reasonably regulate size, location, and flagpole construction, and an owner keeps the right to at least one flagpole no taller than 20 feet.¹³ This provision now lives at § 202.012; the Legislature redesignated the former § 202.011 flag provision to § 202.012 in 2013, and § 202.011 now covers roofing.¹³ The Texas provision stands apart from the federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005.

Religious items, § 202.018: an association may not stop an owner or resident from displaying a religious item motivated by sincere religious belief, subject to constitutional limits and to exceptions for items that threaten public health or safety, violate law, or are patently offensive for non-religious reasons.¹⁴ S.B. 581 (87th Legislature), the Homeowners Religious Freedom Act, which the governor signed and which took effect May 31, 2021, repealed the former subsections (c) and (d) and struck the prior text that had barred a religious item "in a location other than the entry door or door frame" or one that "has a total size of greater than 25 square inches"; the current statute names no square-inch figure.¹⁵

Water-conserving and drought-resistant landscaping, § 202.007: an association may not prohibit or restrict composting, rain barrels or rainwater-harvesting systems, efficient irrigation, or drought-resistant landscaping and water-conserving natural turf, and any provision that violates this rule is void — though the association may still review reasonably for aesthetic compatibility, and it may not turn that review into an unreasonable denial.¹⁶

Fines during a residential water restriction, § 202.008: an association may not fine an owner for discolored or brown turf during a mandated residential watering restriction and before the 60th day after the restriction lifts. The Legislature added this section in 2025 through H.B. 517.¹⁷

Political signs: the Legislature transferred and redesignated the former Property Code § 202.009 political-sign provision to Election Code § 259.002 in 2019. It bars an association from prohibiting a sign that advertises a candidate or ballot item on or after the 90th day before an election through the 10th day after it, subject to content-neutral conditions.¹⁸

Standby electric generators, § 202.019: an association may not prohibit a standby generator, though it may reasonably regulate placement and appearance — a cap plus a reasonableness limit.²

Swimming pool enclosures, § 202.022: an association may not prohibit a swimming pool enclosure, subject to reasonable design standards. This one bears directly on fence and barrier rules.²

Security measures including perimeter fencing, § 202.023: an association may not adopt or enforce a restrictive covenant that stops an owner from building or installing security measures, including a security camera, a motion detector, or a perimeter fence.¹⁹ The association may still regulate the type of fencing, prohibit a security camera outside the owner's private property, prohibit fencing that obstructs a license area, a public-use sidewalk, or a drainage easement or area, require a driveway gate to sit back at least 10 feet from the right-of-way where a driveway meets a laned roadway, and — if the restrictive covenant says so — prohibit fencing in front of the front-most building line of a dwelling.¹⁹ An owner may keep perimeter or front fencing installed before September 1, 2025, and the association cannot apply the front-line restriction where the owner's address is exempt from public disclosure or the owner supplies law-enforcement documentation of a need for enhanced security. This section does not reach condominiums (as § 81.002 or § 82.003 defines them) or a master mixed-use association under Chapter 215. This is the most fence-specific override, and it is the one that governs perimeter-fence disputes.¹⁹

Antennas and satellite dishes answer to the federal OTARD rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000, which preempts association restrictions that impair the installation, maintenance, or use of covered antennas and dishes one meter or less in diameter on property within the owner's exclusive use or control.²⁰

2C. The architectural review process and procedural limits

Chapter 209 supplies the procedure that overlays the declaration's architectural review. Section 209.00505 applies to a property owners' association with more than 40 lots (outside the development period), and it requires the architectural review authority to deliver a denial in writing by certified mail, hand delivery, or electronic delivery, to describe the basis for the denial in reasonable detail, and to tell the owner about the right to request a board hearing within 30 days; the board must then hold the hearing and may affirm, modify, or reverse the decision consistent with the declaration.³ Chapter 209 sets no deadline for the architectural authority's initial response to an application, so the declaration sets those timelines, subject to the § 209.00505 appeal procedure and the Chapter 202 caps; there is no statutory deemed-approval rule. Section 209.006 governs enforcement of a violation: it requires written notice by verified mail that describes the violation and gives a reasonable cure period for curable violations, and § 209.007 gives an owner entitled to cure the right to a hearing before the board within 30 days of the request.⁴ Because the Chapter 202 overrides cap what an architectural committee may prohibit, an architectural denial that collides with a Chapter 202 provision is vulnerable, and a denial resting on a void provision — a solar or water-conserving-landscaping ban, say — cannot be enforced.⁶ Architectural standards must sit in the dedicatory instruments or be duly adopted to carry any force. Texas does not license community-association managers and keeps no dedicated HOA regulator; the Texas Real Estate Commission maintains the Chapter 209 management-certificate database, which is a filing and data function, not enforcement of architectural decisions.²¹

Section 3 — Compliance obligations and operational mechanics

A. Association and architectural-committee obligations

Maintain the architectural standards and dedicatory instruments, keep them available, and apply them reasonably and uniformly; this duty is contractual, the declaration sets it, and the liberal-construction and enforcement rules of §§ 202.003 and 202.004 reinforce it (Chapter 209 POA and, through the declaration, condominium).⁷ Do not adopt or enforce provisions that violate a Chapter 202 override, because statute makes several of them — solar § 202.010 and water-conserving landscaping § 202.007 — void (statutory; applies to POAs, with § 202.023 expressly excluding condominiums).¹⁰ Follow the Chapter 209 procedure of written notice, opportunity to cure, and hearing before you levy most fines or suspensions (statutory; §§ 209.006 and 209.007; Chapter 209 POA).⁴ For a POA over 40 lots, follow the § 209.00505 architectural-denial and appeal procedure (statutory; Chapter 209 POA).³ Record the management certificate in the county and file it with the Texas Real Estate Commission within seven days of recording, or lose the ability to recover attorney's fees and interest on delinquent assessments during the lapse (statutory; § 209.004 for POAs, with a parallel condominium requirement in Chapter 82 as amended in 2025).²¹

B. Owner obligations and rights

Submit an application and get approval before you install a fence or take on exterior work where the declaration requires it, and comply with the approved plans and published standards (contractual; both community types). Owners hold statutory rights under Chapter 202 to install solar devices, wind- and hail-resistant or energy-efficient roofing, flags, religious items, water-conserving landscaping, generators, pool enclosures, and security measures including perimeter fencing, each subject to its statutory conditions (statutory; Chapter 202 applies to POAs, and § 202.023 does not apply to condominiums).⁶ Owners in a POA also hold procedural rights to notice, cure, and a hearing under Chapter 209 (statutory; Chapter 209 POA).⁴

C. Enforcement, remedies, and defenses

Association remedies include injunctive relief, fines subject to the Chapter 209 procedure, forced removal or restoration, recovery of enforcement costs and attorney's fees where authorized (§ 209.008), and, for assessment defaults, an assessment lien and foreclosure under Chapter 209 (a mix of contractual and statutory).⁴ Fines are not automatic; the dedicatory instruments must grant the power (contractual), and the association must exercise it through the Chapter 209 notice-and-hearing procedure (statutory). The limits on enforcement include the Chapter 202 overrides, under which a conflicting provision may be void or unenforceable, and the Chapter 209 procedure itself. An owner's defenses include that the restriction violates a Chapter 202 override (a void solar or landscaping restriction, for instance), that the association skipped the § 209.006 and § 209.007 notice-and-hearing procedure, that enforcement has been selective or inconsistent, and that the restriction exceeds the authority the dedicatory instruments grant.⁶

Section 4 — Recent legislative and judicial activity

4A. Recent bills

4B. Recent appellate rulings

4C. Active legislative debates

Because the Texas Legislature meets biennially in odd years, the next regular session comes in 2027. Recent sessions have kept expanding Chapter 202 protections — solar roof tiles, water-restriction fine limits, and fence-specific security-measure detail — and further amendments to the Chapter 202 and Chapter 209 exterior provisions remain a recurring subject of proposed legislation.

Section 5 — National positioning and related coverage

Among the three broad groups of states, Texas sits in the strong-statutory-override group alongside California, with an extensive set of statutory limits on association exterior authority. Moderate states impose a few targeted protections — commonly solar and flags — over an otherwise contractual baseline, and largely contractual states, such as Mississippi, leave exterior control mostly to the recorded covenants with few statutory carve-outs. What makes Texas distinctive is the breadth of the Chapter 202 override stack (including the fence-relevant security-measures provision in § 202.023 and the pool-enclosure provision in § 202.022), the void consequence for prohibited solar and water-conserving-landscaping restrictions, the Chapter 209 notice-cure-hearing procedure, and the bifurcated courts of last resort — the Supreme Court of Texas for civil matters and the Court of Criminal Appeals for criminal — sitting atop a multi-district intermediate layer of fourteen regional courts of appeals plus the Fifteenth Court of Appeals. S.B. 1045 (88th Legislature, 2023) created that Fifteenth Court, which began its initial term on September 1, 2024, and holds exclusive intermediate appellate jurisdiction over appeals involving the state and appeals from the Texas Business Court — a scope the Supreme Court of Texas confirmed as limited, not general statewide civil jurisdiction, in Kelley v. Homminga, 2025 WL 826530 (Tex. Mar. 14, 2025).²⁶ For a multi-state operator, the practical implication is straightforward: the overrides constrain design review heavily, the current section numbers matter (the Legislature swapped the flag and roofing sections in 2013 and moved political signs to the Election Code in 2019), and the community type decides which statute applies.

HOA Weekly updates its Texas Fence & Exterior coverage quarterly, as the Legislature and the Texas appellate courts act. Federal frameworks also apply to Texas associations no matter what the state framework says, including the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, the FCC OTARD antenna rule, and the Fair Housing Act and the ADA for reasonable accommodations that affect exterior features.

Footnotes

1. Tex. Prop. Code ch. 202 (Construction and Enforcement of Restrictive Covenants), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
2. Tex. Prop. Code ch. 202 (section index: §§ 202.007–202.023), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
3. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.00505 (Architectural Review Authority), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
4. Tex. Prop. Code §§ 209.006 (Notice Required Before Enforcement Action), 209.007 (Hearing Before Board), 209.008 (Attorney's Fees), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
5. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.003 (Applicability of Chapter), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
6. Tex. Prop. Code §§ 202.007(b), 202.010(c) (void consequences); ch. 202 override stack, statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
7. Tex. Prop. Code §§ 202.001 (Definitions), 202.003 (Construction of Restrictive Covenants), 202.004 (Enforcement of Restrictive Covenants), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
8. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.001 (Short Title: Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
9. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.002 (Applicability; declarations recorded on or after Jan. 1, 1994) and § 82.001 (Uniform Condominium Act); see also ch. 81 (pre-1994), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
10. Tex. Prop. Code § 202.010 (Regulation of Solar Energy Devices), subsections (b), (c) (void), (d) (exceptions), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
11. H.B. 431, 89th Leg., R.S. (2025) (amending § 202.010 to include solar roof tiles), capitol.texas.gov ↩
12. Tex. Prop. Code § 202.011 (Regulation of Certain Roofing Materials), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
13. Tex. Prop. Code § 202.012 (Flag Display) (redesignated from former § 202.011 by Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 161 (S.B. 1093), eff. Sept. 1, 2013), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
14. Tex. Prop. Code § 202.018 (Regulation of Display of Certain Religious Items), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
15. S.B. 581, 87th Leg., R.S. (2021) (Homeowners Religious Freedom Act; amending § 202.018 and repealing subsections (c)–(d)), eff. May 31, 2021, capitol.texas.gov ↩
16. Tex. Prop. Code § 202.007 (Certain Restrictive Covenants Prohibited), subsections (a)–(b) (void), (d), (d-1), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
17. H.B. 517, 89th Leg., R.S. (2025) (adding Tex. Prop. Code § 202.008, Limitation on Fines During Residential Water Restriction), eff. Sept. 1, 2025, capitol.texas.gov ↩
18. Tex. Election Code § 259.002 (Regulation of Display of Political Signs by Property Owners' Association) (transferred and redesignated from former Prop. Code § 202.009 by Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 824 (H.B. 2554), eff. Sept. 1, 2019), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
19. Tex. Prop. Code § 202.023 (Security Measures), subsections (a)–(e), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
20. Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000, Federal Communications Commission ↩
21. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.004 (Management Certificates; electronic filing with the Texas Real Estate Commission within seven days; fee/attorney-fee consequences), statutes.capitol.texas.gov ↩
22. S.B. 711, 89th Leg., R.S. (2025) (omnibus; amending §§ 202.023, 209.00505 and adding §§ 209.00506, 209.00507), eff. Sept. 1, 2025, capitol.texas.gov ↩
23. S.B. 1588, 87th Leg., R.S. (2021) (adding § 209.00505 and § 202.023, amending § 209.004), eff. Sept. 1, 2021, capitol.texas.gov ↩
24. In re Kappmeyer, No. 21-1063, 668 S.W.3d 651 (Tex. May 12, 2023), opinion PDF, txcourts.gov ↩
25. Cauthorn v. Pirates Prop. Owners' Ass'n, No. 01-22-00401-CV, 679 S.W.3d 876 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Aug. 29, 2023, pet. denied), docket at search.txcourts.gov ↩
26. Fifteenth Court of Appeals (initial term began Sept. 1, 2024; jurisdiction under Tex. Gov't Code § 22.220(d)), txcourts.gov; see Kelley v. Homminga, No. 24-0325 (Tex. Mar. 14, 2025) ↩