Texas HOA Records Inspection

Section 1: Overview

Texas handles association records through two separate Property Code statutes. The Texas Uniform Condominium Act, Chapter 82, applies to condominiums whose declarations were recorded on or after January 1, 1994. The Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act, Chapter 209, governs non-condominium residential planned communities.^1,2 Chapter 209’s records provision—Section 209.005—is detailed and prescriptive, while condominium access runs through Sections 82.114 and 82.1141.^1,3 Both statutes operate within a court system that divides final appellate authority between the Supreme Court of Texas on civil matters and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on criminal matters.⁴

The governing records provisions are Tex. Prop. Code § 209.005 for residential planned communities and §§ 82.114 and 82.1141 for condominiums.^1,3 Those two condominium sections serve distinct functions: § 82.114 specifies the records an association must maintain, while § 82.1141—added in 2021—sets the access mechanics. Do not conflate the two chapters or treat either as interchangeable with § 209.005.³ Section 209.005 requires a written records request, mandates a recorded records-production-and-copying policy, sets a 10-business-day production clock, ties copy charges to the Attorney General’s Public Information Act cost rules, and requires a document-retention policy. Texas amends Chapter 209 frequently, and civil appeals run to the Courts of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Texas—not the Court of Criminal Appeals.^1,4,5

Nationally, Texas sits at the prescriptive end of the spectrum, alongside hard-clock statutory-deadline states like Florida and California rather than reasonableness-standard states or communities that rely only on corporate-law inspection rights. The table and detail below set out the mechanics by community type.

Section 2: Quick-Reference: Texas HOA Records Inspection

Section 3: The records-inspection framework in detail

3A. Records subject to inspection

Section 209.005(c) requires residential planned-community associations to open their books and records—including financial records—for examination by an owner or the owner’s designated agent, attorney, or certified public accountant, regardless of what a dedicatory instrument says. Owners also hold the right to copies of information in those records.¹ The statute does not enumerate categories; the breadth of “books and records, including financial records” reaches financial statements, contracts, invoices, and meeting minutes, subject to the confidentiality carve-outs discussed below.¹

For condominiums, the obligation splits across two sections. Section 82.114(a) lists the records the association must keep: detailed financial records compliant with generally accepted accounting principles and sufficient to prepare a resale certificate; construction plans and specifications (except for buildings originally constructed before January 1, 1994); the condominium information statement and amendments; the name and mailing address of each unit owner; voting records, proxies, and correspondence relating to declaration amendments; and minutes of association and board meetings.⁹ Section 82.114(c) requires an annual independent audit, with copies made available to unit owners.⁹ Access to those records falls under Section 82.1141, added in 2021, which mirrors the Chapter 209 mechanics.³

The community-type split also carries an effective-date dimension. Condominiums with declarations recorded before January 1, 1994 operate under the older Texas Condominium Act, Chapter 81, except for the Chapter 82 sections carved in by Section 82.002.⁶ Section 82.114 appears on that carve-in list, so pre-1994 condominiums must keep those records and make them “reasonably available.” Section 82.1141 does not appear on the carve-in list, so the detailed access clock and policy mechanics do not automatically reach pre-1994 condominiums unless their declarations adopt Chapter 82 in full.⁶ Separately, associations organized as nonprofit corporations fall under the Business Organizations Code, which provides a member inspection right as a corporate backstop (§ 22.351). That is corporate law rather than an HOA statute; for residential planned communities, Chapter 209 controls.⁷

3B. The request-and-response sequence

Standing belongs to an owner or unit owner, or to a person the owner designates in a signed writing as agent, attorney, or certified public accountant (§ 209.005(c); § 82.1141(b)).^1,3 Neither Property Code provision imposes a proper-purpose requirement; the written request itself triggers the duty. The Business Organizations Code backstop, § 22.351, operates differently: it requires a written demand “stating the purpose” and limits access to records relevant to a “proper purpose.”⁷

The request must come in writing by certified mail, with sufficient detail describing the records sought, addressed to the association or its representative as reflected on the most current management certificate (§ 209.005(e); § 82.1141(d)).^1,3 The request must also elect either to inspect the records before obtaining copies or to have the association forward copies.

The response clock is the highest-value mechanic. On or before the 10th business day after receiving the request, the association must either send written notice of dates during normal business hours when the owner may inspect, or produce the requested copies. If it cannot meet that deadline, it must give written notice stating a date by which the records will be available, no later than the 15th business day after that notice (§ 209.005(f); § 82.1141(e)).^1,3 A “business day” excludes Saturdays, Sundays, and state or federal holidays. Pre-1994 condominiums relying on § 82.114 alone face a “reasonably available” standard, with no fixed day count.⁹

Inspection takes place at a mutually agreed time during normal business hours, and records may be produced in hard copy, electronic, or other format reasonably available to the association (§ 209.005(g)–(h); § 82.1141(f)–(g)).^1,3 On charges, the board must adopt a records production and copying policy prescribing costs and record it as a dedicatory instrument; an association may not charge for compilation, production, or reproduction unless that policy is on file (§ 209.005(i); § 82.1141(h)).^1,3 Permissible charges may include reasonable materials, labor, and overhead but may not exceed the amounts allowable under 1 T.A.C. § 70.3, the Attorney General’s Public Information Act cost rules. The condominium provision additionally caps items produced by a third party at actual cost.^3,8 The association may require advance payment of estimated costs and must submit a final invoice within 30 business days of delivery, refunding any overage or billing any shortfall. Inspection itself carries no charge.¹

3C. Withholding, confidentiality, and the owner list

Both Property Code provisions protect attorney-client materials. An attorney’s files and records relating to the association are generally not association records subject to inspection, and nothing requires production of a document that is attorney work product or a privileged attorney-client communication. Invoices an owner is entitled to under the attorney’s-fees provision are an exception (§ 209.005(d); § 82.1141(c)).^1,3

The statutes also shield categories of owner-specific information: records identifying an individual owner’s dedicatory-instrument violation history, an owner’s personal financial information including payment or nonpayment records, an owner’s contact information other than address, and information related to an association employee including personnel files, need not be released except to the extent they appear in meeting minutes (§ 209.005(k); § 82.1141(j)).^1,3 An association may release information in aggregate or summary form that does not identify an individual. Protected records release only on the written approval of the affected owner or a court order (§ 209.005(l); § 82.1141(k)).¹

On the owner list, neither statute creates a general membership-list right with commercial-use limits or an opt-out. For condominiums, the name and mailing address of each unit owner is among the records the association must keep (§ 82.114(a)(4)); contact information beyond the address is withholdable.^1,9 On retention, residential planned communities of more than 14 lots must adopt and comply with a document-retention policy: formation documents, bylaws, and restrictive covenants permanently; financial books and records, meeting minutes, and tax-return and audit records for seven years; current-owner account records for five years; and contracts with a term of one year or more for four years after the term expires (§ 209.005(m)).¹ Condominiums of eight or more units must adopt a comparable policy (§ 82.1141(l)).³

3D. Remedies and enforcement for noncompliance

The Property Code provides a specific statutory remedy. An owner denied access to or copies of records to which the owner is entitled may file a petition with the justice of the peace in the precinct where the property is located. If the court finds the owner entitled to the records, it may order the association to release or allow access, award the owner court costs and attorney’s fees, and authorize the owner to deduct any fee award from future regular or special assessments (§ 209.005(n); § 82.1141(m)).^1,3 If the association prevails, it is entitled to a judgment for its court costs and attorney’s fees (§ 209.005(o); § 82.1141(n)).¹ Before filing, the owner must send the association written notice of intent to sue at least 10 business days in advance, describing the records sought (§ 209.005(p)). No per-day penalty applies.¹

Because the records remedy runs through justice court, the appeal path is distinctive: appeal from justice court proceeds by trial de novo in county court, not by record review.¹⁰ Civil appeals beyond that level run to one of the fourteen geographically organized Texas Courts of Appeals and then to the Supreme Court of Texas, the court of last resort for civil matters. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals plays no role in this civil path.⁴ (Texas added a Fifteenth Court of Appeals in 2024 with statewide civil jurisdiction limited to suits involving the State and appeals from the Texas Business Court; an HOA records appeal still routes to one of the fourteen geographic courts.)¹² The management-certificate filing that associations make with the Texas Real Estate Commission helps owners locate the address for a records request. TREC holds no regulatory or enforcement authority over associations, so that filing is not a records-complaint pathway.¹¹

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

The 2025 session extended transparency obligations to condominium associations through Senate Bill 711. The bill is substantially similar to Senate Bill 1668 from 2023, which passed both chambers but was vetoed by Governor Abbott. SB 711’s enacted version adds online-posting requirements for certain condominium associations and expands the management-certificate framework.

B. Recent rulings

The Legislature’s 2021 routing of records-access disputes into justice court means most § 209.005 and § 82.1141 disputes resolve at a level whose decisions do not appear in the appellate reporters. No recent published Texas appellate opinion (2022–2025) squarely interprets the records-inspection right under § 209.005 or § 82.1141. The verifiable controlling authority on association record inspection remains older or analogous.

C. Active legislative debates

During the 2025 session, practitioner summaries—including RMWBH Law’s “89th Texas Legislative Session Updates”—tracked a proposal to modernize the § 209.005 request mechanism by permitting email, hand delivery, and other methods in place of the certified-mail-only requirement. SB 711 did not carry that change. Certified mail remains required under the current codified text; verify against the statute before relying on any future amendment to this requirement.¹⁷

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Texas sits at the prescriptive end of the national spectrum for planned-community records. Chapter 209 imposes a detailed regime: a written request, a mandatory records-production-and-copying policy recorded as a dedicatory instrument, a 10-business-day production clock extendable to a 15-business-day backstop, copy charges tied to the Attorney General’s Public Information Act cost rules, and a mandatory document-retention schedule.^1,8 Condominiums fall under the separate Uniform Condominium Act, with records kept under § 82.114 and access mechanics governed by § 82.1141.^3,9 That places Texas alongside Florida, California, and Nevada as a hard-specification state for records, while enforcement remains judicial—through the justice court rather than an administrative agency—and the Legislature amends Chapter 209 frequently. For multi-state operators, apply the correct chapter by community type, maintain a recorded Chapter 209 records-production policy for residential planned communities, work from the current and frequently amended § 209.005 text, and route civil appeals to the Courts of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Texas rather than the Court of Criminal Appeals. The most recent session (2025) extended condominium transparency through SB 711 and the management-certificate framework but did not alter the § 209.005 records clock.¹⁴

HOA Weekly refreshes its Texas records-inspection coverage each quarter, as the Legislature and the Texas courts act. Federal frameworks—the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the FCC’s OTARD rule—apply to Texas associations no matter what the state framework says.

Footnotes

1. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.005, Association Records, Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act ↩
2. Tex. Prop. Code Ch. 209, Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act, Applicability at § 209.003 ↩
3. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.1141, Access to Association Records, added by Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 555 (S.B. 318), eff. Sept. 1, 2021 ↩
4. Tex. Const. art. V; Texas Judicial Branch, Court Structure of Texas (Supreme Court of Texas for civil matters; Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for criminal matters; fourteen geographic Courts of Appeals) ↩
5. Tex. Prop. Code § 209.005, Legislative History (added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg.; amended 2007, 2011; not amended by 89th Leg.) ↩
6. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.002, Applicability (listing § 82.114 among sections applying to pre-Jan. 1, 1994 condominiums); Tex. Prop. Code Ch. 81, Condominiums Created Before Adoption of Uniform Condominium Act ↩
7. Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code §§ 22.351 (Member’s Right to Inspect Books and Records), 22.352 (Financial Records and Annual Reports), 22.353 (Availability of Financial Information for Public Inspection; 3-year retention) ↩
8. 1 Tex. Admin. Code § 70.3, Charges for Providing Copies of Public Information, Office of the Attorney General cost rules under Tex. Gov’t Code § 552.262 ↩
9. Tex. Prop. Code § 82.114, Association Records, Uniform Condominium Act ↩
10. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 51.001 and Tex. R. Civ. P. 506; Appeal from Justice Court by Trial De Novo to County Court ↩
11. Texas Real Estate Commission, New Filing Requirements for HOAs (TREC has no regulatory or enforcement authority over HOAs; database is for public access only) ↩
12. S.B. 1045, 88th Leg., R.S. (2023), creating the Fifteenth Court of Appeals, operating since Sept. 1, 2024, with statewide civil jurisdiction over suits involving the State and appeals from the Texas Business Court ↩
13. S.B. 1588, 87th Leg., R.S. (2021), eff. Sept. 1, 2021, creating the management-certificate/TREC database framework for Chapter 209 associations ↩
14. S.B. 711, 89th Leg., R.S. (2025), Enrolled Bill Analysis (adding Tex. Prop. Code § 82.1142, amending §§ 82.003, 82.116, 82.157, 202.023, and §§ 209.00506–209.00507; eff. Sept. 1, 2025); bill history at capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=SB711 ↩
15. Watson v. Homeowners Ass’n of Heritage Ranch, Inc., 346 S.W.3d 258 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2011, no pet.) ↩
16. Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, Inc. v. Dolcefino Communications, LLC, 702 S.W.3d 675 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2024, no pet.) ↩
17. RMWBH Law, 89th Texas Legislative Session Updates (June 25, 2025), summarizing 89th-session POA bills; cross-checked against enacted S.B. 711 text, which did not amend Tex. Prop. Code § 209.005 ↩