Texas HOA Governing Statute

Overview — How HOAs are governed in Texas

Texas governs community associations through several Property Code chapters rather than a single unified act. Chapter 209 — the Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act — is the primary statute for planned-community HOAs.¹ It sets baseline rules for open meetings, records access, enforcement, collections, and foreclosure.²

Condominiums operate under separate chapters. The Texas Uniform Condominium Act at Tex. Prop. Code Ch. 82 governs condominiums created on or after January 1, 1994. Older condominiums fall under Ch. 81.³

A defining feature of Texas law: an association generally cannot foreclose an assessment lien without first obtaining a court order. Section 209.0092 makes judicial or court-supervised expedited foreclosure the default.⁴ Several procedural chapters round out the framework — Chapter 207 for resale disclosures, Chapter 204 for covenant amendment powers in certain subdivisions, and the Texas Business Organizations Code for nonprofit associations.⁵

HOA disputes are civil matters. Texas maintains two courts of last resort: the Supreme Court of Texas for civil cases and the Court of Criminal Appeals for criminal cases. Association litigation therefore reaches only the Supreme Court of Texas.⁶

Texas is a comprehensive but non-UCIOA jurisdiction. Chapter 82 derives from the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act, not the later Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, so practitioners should not assume UCIOA mechanisms apply.⁷ The result is a layered system: an association's governing law assembles from several Property Code chapters plus its own recorded declaration.

The statutory framework

Property Code Chapter 209 (Residential Property Owners Protection Act)

Tex. Prop. Code Ch. 209 was added by the 77th Legislature in 2001, effective January 1, 2002, and has been amended in nearly every legislative session since.⁸ The chapter applies only to residential subdivisions subject to a declaration that authorizes a property owners' association to collect assessments and requires mandatory membership. Section 209.003(d) expressly excludes condominiums defined under § 81.002 or § 82.003.⁹

Chapter 209 organizes around governance, enforcement, and collection. On governance, § 209.0051 requires that regular and special board meetings be open to owners, permits closed executive sessions only for defined topics — personnel, litigation, and attorney communications — requires written minutes, and sets advance-notice rules. Notice must reach each owner no later than the 10th day or earlier than the 60th day before the meeting, or be posted and emailed at least 144 hours before a regular board meeting and at least 72 hours before a special board meeting.¹⁰ Section 209.005 establishes owners' rights to inspect and copy association books and records on written request, subject to defined exceptions.¹¹

On enforcement, § 209.006 requires written notice by certified mail before an association pursues most enforcement actions, including a reasonable opportunity to cure curable violations. Section 209.0061 — added by H.B. 614, effective January 1, 2024 — requires associations authorized to fine to adopt a written enforcement policy with categories of violations and a schedule of fines. Section 209.007 provides for a hearing before the board.¹²

On collections and foreclosure, § 209.009 prohibits foreclosure where the debt consists solely of fines or fines-related attorney's fees. Section 209.0091 requires notice and an opportunity to cure to certain junior lienholders before foreclosure. Section 209.0092 requires judicial or court-ordered expedited foreclosure. Section 209.0094 governs the assessment-lien filing process, including the multi-notice sequence added by H.B. 886.¹³ Resale disclosure obligations overlap with Chapter 207. Where the recorded declaration conflicts with the statute, the statute controls.¹⁴

Condominium framework: Chapter 82 and Chapter 81

Condominiums fall outside Chapter 209 and operate under their own chapters. Tex. Prop. Code Ch. 82 — the Texas Uniform Condominium Act — is based on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act (not UCIOA) and applies to condominiums whose declarations were recorded on or after January 1, 1994.¹⁵ Chapter 82 addresses creation, unit boundaries, allocation of interests, association powers, assessments and assessment liens (§ 82.113), insurance (§ 82.111), records, and management certificates (§ 82.116).¹⁶

Certain Chapter 82 provisions — including insurance and records requirements — apply retroactively to pre-1994 condominiums even though those communities are otherwise governed by Ch. 81. Pre-1994 condominiums may also opt into Chapter 82 by amendment.¹⁷

The practical implication is significant. A manager or attorney must first determine whether a community is a condominium or a non-condominium subdivision. Chapter 209's protections — open-meeting rules, the fines-only foreclosure bar, the architectural-review procedures — do not apply to condominiums. Condominiums rely instead on Chapter 82's analogous but distinct provisions.¹⁸

Procedural overlays and the role of CC&Rs

Several chapters operate across community types. Tex. Prop. Code Ch. 207 governs resale certificates: § 207.003 requires delivery of restrictions, bylaws, rules, and a resale certificate within ten business days of a qualifying request, and caps the resale-certificate fee at not to exceed $375 and the update fee at not to exceed $75.¹⁹

Tex. Prop. Code Ch. 204 grants property owners' associations in certain larger subdivisions the power to create or modify restrictive covenants. Section 204.003 allows the chapter's amendment procedures to prevail over an existing instrument in qualifying neighborhoods where that instrument would otherwise require more than 75 percent owner approval.²⁰ Tex. Prop. Code Ch. 211 addresses amendment and enforcement of restrictions in certain subdivisions.²¹

Because most Texas associations incorporate as nonprofit corporations, the Texas Business Organizations Code (Title 1 and Chapter 22) governs entity-level matters such as director duties, meetings, and corporate records, supplementing the Property Code.²² Common-law contract and property doctrine continues to govern interpretation of restrictive covenants, with Texas courts treating covenants as contracts subject to both common-law construction rules and the statutory directive in § 202.003(a).²³

The operational consequence: a single Texas HOA's applicable law may span Chapter 209 (substantive HOA rules), Chapter 207 (resale procedure), Chapter 204 (covenant amendments), Chapter 202 (specific covenant limits), and the Business Organizations Code (entity governance) — in addition to its recorded declaration.

Compliance obligations created by the statutory framework

Governance obligations

Boards of non-condominium associations must hold open meetings under § 209.0051, provide advance notice, keep written minutes, and limit closed sessions to enumerated topics. These duties are mandatory and cannot be waived by the declaration, though the statute permits some flexibility in notice method.²⁴ Condominium boards carry parallel meeting duties under Chapter 82 (§ 82.108).²⁵

Records-inspection obligations under § 209.005 — and § 82.114 for condominiums — are mandatory. Associations must produce books and records on written request, subject to statutory exceptions.²⁶ Director fiduciary and procedural duties also flow from the Business Organizations Code for incorporated associations.²²

Financial obligations

Assessment authority derives from the recorded declaration, not the statute. Chapter 209 and Chapter 82 regulate how assessments are noticed, applied, and collected — not their amount.²⁷ Section 209.0063 sets a mandatory order for applying partial payments in non-condominium associations.²⁸

Texas does not impose general statutory reserve-study or reserve-funding mandates on most associations — unlike California's Davis-Stirling Act or post-Surfside Florida condominium law. Reserve practices are governed largely by the declaration and board discretion.²⁹ Resale certificates must disclose the amount of reserves for capital expenditures if any exist (§ 207.003(b)(6)), but the statute does not require that reserves be maintained at any particular level.³⁰

Disclosure obligations

Resale certificates under § 207.003 are mandatory on qualifying request, with statutory contents, deadlines, and fee caps.¹⁹ Associations must record and maintain a management certificate (§ 209.004 for subdivisions; § 82.116 for condominiums) and file it with the Texas Real Estate Commission. Failure to keep a compliant certificate on file can suspend the association's right to collect certain attorney's fees and interest on delinquent assessments during the lapse.³¹ Amendments to dedicatory instruments must be recorded to be effective.³² Financial-report and budget-disclosure practices are driven primarily by the declaration and the Business Organizations Code rather than a uniform statutory annual-report mandate.²²

Dispute resolution obligations

Before most enforcement actions, § 209.006 requires written certified-mail notice and, for curable violations, a reasonable opportunity to cure. Section 209.007 provides a board hearing and alternative dispute resolution opportunity.³³

The defining Texas obligation concerns foreclosure. Under § 209.0092, a property owners' association cannot foreclose an assessment lien unless it first obtains a court order through an expedited proceeding under Texas Rules of Civil Procedure 735 and 736, or pursues a traditional judicial foreclosure. Non-judicial (power-of-sale) foreclosure is not the default. It is available only where the dedicatory instrument grants a power of sale and procedural requirements are met, with the owner able to require court process.³⁴

Section 209.0091 requires that, before filing for foreclosure, the association provide written notice to certain subordinate deed-of-trust lienholders and an opportunity to cure the delinquency before the 61st day after the date the association mails the notice.³⁵ Section 209.009 prohibits foreclosure where the debt is solely fines or fines-related attorney's fees.³⁶ Section 209.011 grants owners — and lienholders of record — a post-foreclosure right of redemption not later than the 180th day after the date the association mails written notice of the sale.³⁷ These foreclosure protections are mandatory and cannot be diminished by the declaration.

Texas's recent legislative and judicial activity

Recent bills

Texas legislates biennially in odd-numbered years, concentrating HOA law changes into each regular session.

Recent court rulings

Texas appellate courts have issued several decisions that clarify amendment procedures, enforcement authority, and association liability.

For attorneys, the Supreme Court of Texas decision in Sunchase IV Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Atkinson, 643 S.W.3d 420 (Tex. 2022), remains the controlling authority that a condominium association that successfully defends an owner suit is a “prevailing party” entitled to attorney’s fees under § 82.161(b). It predates the recent-rulings window and is noted here for context rather than as a recent decision.⁴³

Active legislative debates

Texas’s next regular session opens in January 2027, when the 90th Legislature convenes.

Because Texas legislates biennially, the 90th Legislature is expected to revisit recurring HOA proposals that did not advance in 2025 — including a proposed cap on assessments (SB 1935), expanded TREC reporting (SB 2586), and limits on covenant enforcement such as the recurring “backyard chickens” measures.⁴⁴

National positioning and related coverage

Texas sits among the comprehensive non-UCIOA states alongside California (Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act), Florida (Chapters 718 and 720), and Arizona (Title 33). Each regulates community associations in detail without adopting the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act.⁴⁵

Texas stands out in several ways: a fragmented Property Code framework spread across multiple chapters, a judicial-foreclosure default for assessment liens, biennial legislative sessions that concentrate change into odd-numbered years, bifurcated highest courts that send all HOA civil disputes to the Supreme Court of Texas, and no statewide community-association-manager licensing requirement.⁴⁶

For multi-state operators, Texas requires association-specific legal mapping — condominium versus subdivision, declaration powers, foreclosure authority — rather than reliance on a single uniform act. Collections playbooks built for power-of-sale states must be adapted to Texas’s court-order requirement.

Closing note

HOA Weekly’s Texas Governing Statute coverage is reviewed and updated quarterly to reflect new legislation and appellate decisions. Federal frameworks — including fair-housing, flag-display, and debt-collection laws — also apply to Texas associations alongside the Property Code.

1. Tex. Prop. Code tit. 11, ch. 209, Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act, Texas Capitol. ↩
2. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.001 (Short Title); ch. 209 overview, Texas Capitol. ↩
3. Tex. Prop. Code tit. 7, ch. 82, Texas Uniform Condominium Act; ch. 81, Condominium Act, Texas Capitol. ↩
4. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0092, Judicial Foreclosure Required, Justia. ↩
5. Tex. Prop. Code tit. 11, chs. 204, 207; Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code ch. 22, Texas Capitol. ↩
6. Texas Judicial Branch, Supreme Court of Texas — Court Structure, txcourts.gov. ↩
7. Texas Uniform Condominium Act background — based on 1980 Uniform Condominium Act, HOPB. ↩
8. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.001, added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 926, eff. Jan. 1, 2002, Texas Capitol. ↩
9. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.003, Applicability of Chapter, Justia. ↩
10. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051, Open Board Meetings, Justia. ↩
11. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.005, Association Records, Texas Capitol. ↩
12. Tex. Prop. Code §§ 209.006, 209.0061, 209.007; 88th Leg. H.B. 614 (enacted), Texas Legislature. ↩
13. Tex. Prop. Code §§ 209.009, 209.0091, 209.0092, 209.0094, Justia. ↩
14. Texas State Law Library, Property Owners’ Associations — Restrictive Covenants, sll.texas.gov. ↩
15. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.002, Applicability, Texas Capitol. ↩
16. Tex. Prop. Code §§ 82.111, 82.113, 82.116, Justia. ↩
17. Texas Uniform Condominium Act applicability and retroactive provisions; ch. 81 for pre-1994 condominiums, Subrogation Recovery Law Blog. ↩
18. Texas State Law Library, Property Owners’ Associations, sll.texas.gov. ↩
19. Tex. Prop. Code § 207.003, Delivery of Subdivision Information to Owner, Justia. ↩
20. Tex. Prop. Code § 204.003, Application of Provisions of Restrictive Covenants in Certain Circumstances, Texas Capitol. ↩
21. Tex. Prop. Code tit. 11, ch. 211, Justia. ↩
22. Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code ch. 22; Texas State Law Library guidance on POA incorporation, sll.texas.gov. ↩
23. Tex. Prop. Code § 202.003(a) and Texas common-law covenant-construction rules; Tarr v. Timberwood Park Owners Ass’n, Supreme Court of Texas, txcourts.gov. ↩
24. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051, Open Board Meetings, Justia. ↩
25. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.108, Meetings, LawServer. ↩
26. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.005, Association Records; § 82.114, Association Records, Justia. ↩
27. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.002(1); § 82.112, Assessments for Common Expenses, Texas Capitol. ↩
28. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0063, Priority of Payments, Justia. ↩
29. Texas does not mandate statutory reserve studies for most associations; § 207.003(b)(6), Justia. ↩
30. Tex. Prop. Code § 207.003(b)(6), FindLaw. ↩
31. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.004 and § 82.116; Manning & Meyers, Analysis of Changes to Property Owners Association Law During the 2025 Texas Legislative Session, hoalegal.com. ↩
32. Tex. Prop. Code § 202.006; § 209.0041, Texas State Law Library, sll.texas.gov. ↩
33. Tex. Prop. Code §§ 209.006, 209.007, Texas Capitol. ↩
34. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0092, Judicial Foreclosure Required, FindLaw. ↩
35. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0091(a)(2), Justia. ↩
36. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.009, Foreclosure Sale Prohibited in Certain Circumstances, Justia. ↩
37. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.011, Right of Redemption After Foreclosure, FindLaw. ↩
38. 89th Leg. S.B. 711, Bill Analysis, Texas Legislature. ↩
39. 88th Leg. H.B. 614 (adding Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0061; eff. Jan. 1, 2024), Texas Legislature. ↩
40. 88th Leg. H.B. 886 (amending Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0094; eff. Sept. 1, 2023), Texas Legislature. ↩
41. Dun Huang Plaza Ass’n, Inc. v. SUN9028, Inc., No. 14-22-00395-CV (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Feb. 29, 2024), Justia. ↩
42. Chu v. Windermere Lakes Homeowners Ass’n, Inc., 652 S.W.3d 899 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2022, pet. denied Jan. 26, 2024), Justia. ↩
43. Sunchase IV Homeowners Ass’n, Inc. v. Atkinson, 643 S.W.3d 420 (Tex. 2022), txcourts.gov. ↩
44. RMWBH Law, 89th Texas Legislative Session Updates, rmwbh.com. ↩
45. Comparative state frameworks: CA Davis-Stirling Act; FL Chapters 718/720; AZ Title 33; Texas as non-UCIOA, HOPB. ↩
46. No dedicated HOA regulator and no statewide CAM licensing in Texas; biennial legislative sessions, CandysDirt. ↩