Property Owners' Association (HOA)
The Texas statutory name for what most people call an HOA: an association, made up mainly of lot owners, that manages a residential subdivision and enforces its recorded restrictions. Where the declaration makes membership and assessments mandatory, Property Code Chapter 209 limits how the association fines owners, collects debts and forecloses its lien.
Membership is mandatory where the subdivision's recorded declaration requires it, and a seller of a single-dwelling home in such a subdivision generally must give the buyer written notice of that obligation before the contract binds the buyer (Tex. Prop. Code § 5.012). The recorded declaration is notice to every later purchaser (§ 13.002).
The statutes say "property owners' association", and Chapter 209 applies whatever the governing documents call the entity, including "homeowners' association" and "community association" (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.003(c)). Under § 209.002(7) it is an incorporated or unincorporated association designated to represent the owners in a residential subdivision. Its members are mainly those owners, and it manages or regulates the subdivision for their benefit.
Its powers come from the recorded dedicatory instruments: the declaration, bylaws and rules. A dedicatory instrument has no effect until it is filed in the county real property records, and an association cannot collect a regular assessment under one that was never filed (§ 202.006). Condominiums sit outside Chapter 209 (§ 209.003(d)). Chapter 82 governs condominiums declared on or after January 1, 1994. Older regimes remain under Chapter 81 unless they opt in, though listed sections of Chapter 82 reach them too (§ 82.002).
- Governing law
- Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act (Tex. Prop. Code ch. 209)
- Public filing
- Management certificate in county records and with TREC (§ 209.004)
- Before a fine
- Certified-mail notice, with a hearing request due by day 30 (§ 209.006)
- Foreclosure
- Court order required unless the owner waives in writing, and never for fines alone (§§ 209.0092, 209.009)
- Redemption
- 180 days after the association mails notice of sale (§ 209.011(b))
When Chapter 209 applies
Chapter 209 reaches a residential subdivision whose restrictions or declaration let the association collect regular or special assessments on all or most of the property, and an association that requires membership of all or most residential owners (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.003(a)-(b)). "Residential subdivision" has a statutory meaning. The recorded restrictions must limit most of the land, apart from streets and common areas, to single-family homes, townhomes or duplexes, and must require membership in an association that can levy assessments (§ 209.002(9)).
A neighborhood with deed restrictions but no mandatory association falls outside the chapter. So does a condominium.
Assessments, liens and collection
Before filing an assessment lien, the association must send a first delinquency notice by mail or e-mail and a second by certified mail at least 30 days later, and it cannot file the lien until 90 days after the second notice (§ 209.0094). It cannot charge the owner a collection agent's fees without first giving 45 days to cure by certified-mail notice (§ 209.0064(b)). An association with more than 14 lots must adopt guidelines for payment plans of at least three months (§ 209.0062).
Payments go first to delinquent assessments, then current assessments, and only later to attorney's fees and fines, unless the owner is in default on a payment plan (§ 209.0063).
Foreclosure of the assessment lien
An association may not foreclose when the debt is only fines, or attorney's fees tied solely to fines (§ 209.009). Otherwise it needs a court order, either through the expedited procedure in Tex. R. Civ. P. 736 or by ordinary judicial foreclosure, unless the owner waives the expedited process in writing at the time foreclosure is sought (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0092). A deed-of-trust lender with a junior lien must first get certified-mail notice and a chance to cure before the 61st day after mailing (§ 209.0091).
After a sale, the owner can redeem the property until the 180th day after the association mails notice of the sale (§ 209.011(b)). A purchaser of occupied property has to bring an eviction suit to take possession.
Records, amendments and architectural review
Owners may inspect or copy the association's books and records, financial records included, on a certified-mail request. The association has 10 business days to respond (§ 209.005(c), (e)). In a mandatory-membership subdivision, the declaration can be amended by 67 percent of the total votes, or a lower figure if the declaration sets one, outside a developer's development period (§ 209.0041(d), (h)).
In associations with more than 40 lots, board members, their spouses and members of their households may not serve on the architectural review authority, outside a development period. Since September 1, 2025 (S.B. 711), they may fill a vacancy that remains after every eligible volunteer is seated, and the association must solicit candidates by notice at least 10 days before it fills seats (§§ 209.00505-209.00507).
What the notice before a fine must contain
Before fining an owner, suspending common-area use or suing over a violation, the association must send notice by certified mail under Tex. Prop. Code § 209.006. The notice must:
- Describe the violation or property damage and state any amount due.
- Tell the owner that a curable violation that does not threaten public health or safety may be cured within a reasonable period to avoid the fine.
- Give the date by which a curable violation must be cured.
- Tell the owner that a hearing before the board may be requested on or before the 30th day after the notice was mailed.
- Tell the owner that active-duty service members may have added rights under federal law, including the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
- Go by verified mail to the owner's last known address in the association's records.
Can you refuse to join an HOA in Texas?
Not where the recorded declaration makes membership mandatory. The statutory notice a seller must give the buyer says so plainly: "you are obligated to be a member of a property owners' association" (Tex. Prop. Code § 5.012(a)). In counties covered by § 204.002 (a county of 3.3 million or more and certain neighbors), owners of at least 60 percent of the property can add a mandatory association to restrictions that lack one and need more than 60 percent approval to amend, and the result binds every lot (§ 204.006).
Can you get rid of an HOA in Texas?
Ordinarily by changing the recorded declaration that created the obligation. Outside a development period, § 209.0041(h) sets the vote to amend a declaration in a mandatory-membership subdivision at 67 percent of total votes, or less if the declaration says so. Owners can strip just the foreclosure power by the same 67 percent vote, and 10 percent of voting interests can force a special meeting for that vote (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0093). Whether a vote to dissolve the association counts as an amendment depends on the declaration's wording.
Can an HOA go in your backyard in Texas?
Only to the extent the dedicatory instruments allow it. An association may not amend its instruments to give itself an easement through or over a lot without that owner's consent (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.012(a)). It may, however, adopt or enforce a restriction letting it enter a lot to remedy a violation of the instruments (§ 209.012(b)).
For a business that buys or rents out homes, the resale certificate is where most of this information appears. On written request, the association must deliver it within 10 business days, along with the current restrictions, bylaws and rules. It shows regular and special assessments, the total owed on the lot, capital reserves, any right of first refusal or other limit on transfer, and pending lawsuits (Tex. Prop. Code § 207.003). An association may restrict leasing and occupancy. It may not require tenants to be approved by the association or demand their credit reports or rental applications (§ 209.016). If the association never recorded its management certificate, a bona fide purchaser is not liable for amounts that came due before the transfer (§ 209.004(d)).
- Deadline first: the hearing request under § 209.006 is due on or before the 30th day after the association mailed its notice. Attorney's fees the association incurs before the hearing ends (or before that deadline, if no hearing is requested) cannot be charged to the owner (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.008(b)).
- Owners often send a certified-mail request for the association's records and its fine schedule, which the board must adopt and publish (§§ 209.005, 209.0061).
- For delinquent assessments, an association with more than 14 lots must offer a payment plan of at least three months, subject to the limits in § 209.0062(c).
- After a foreclosure sale, the 180-day redemption period runs from the date the association mails notice of the sale (§ 209.011(b)). An owner can also sue the association for violations of Chapter 209 in justice court (§ 209.017).
- A Texas lawyer who handles property owners' association disputes can review the declaration, the notices and the deadlines that apply.