Texas Property Code Chapter 209: Hearings, Foreclosure, Records

Texas Property Code Chapter 209, the Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act, gives homeowners in mandatory HOA subdivisions a set of rights their association cannot override through its own covenants or rules. It governs how you receive violation notices, when you can demand a hearing, how your payments must be applied, what records you can inspect, and what has to happen before an association can foreclose over unpaid assessments. It applies to most residential subdivisions where owners pay assessments for common-area maintenance.

The rights that matter most tend to surface once a dispute is already underway. Knowing what the statute requires of your association is often the difference between a resolved complaint and a lien on your home.

Notice and a Chance to Cure Before Any Enforcement

Before your association can fine you, suspend common-area access, or sue you over a covenant violation, it must send written notice by verified mail. The notice has to describe the specific violation, state any amount owed, and give you a reasonable period to fix the problem if the violation is curable and does not threaten public health or safety.¹ The statute does not fix a number of days; the period must be reasonable given the nature of the violation.

That same notice must tell you about your right to request a hearing before the board within 30 days of the mailing date, and it must flag potential protections under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act if you are on active military duty.¹ If the association skips this step, the failure can undercut everything it does afterward.

Requesting a Board Hearing

When you receive a curable violation notice, you can send a written request for a hearing. The board must hold the hearing within 30 days of receiving your request and give you at least 10 days’ notice of the date, time, and place.²

The association must also turn over its evidence packet, including documents, photographs, and communications it plans to use, no later than 10 days before the hearing. If it misses that deadline, you automatically get a 15-day postponement. Either side may request one additional postponement of up to 10 days, and longer delays require both sides to agree.²

At the hearing, the association presents first, then you or your representative respond. Either party may record the proceeding on audio. The hearing requirement does not apply when the association seeks a temporary restraining order or temporary injunction, or when the suit includes foreclosure.

Payment Plans and How Your Money Gets Applied

Associations with more than 14 lots must adopt guidelines for alternative payment schedules so owners who fall behind can catch up in installments. The minimum plan runs three months, and the association is not required to extend any plan beyond 18 months from the date you request it. During an active plan, the association cannot pile on new fines, but interest and reasonable administrative costs can still accrue. If you defaulted on a previous plan, the association does not have to offer another one for two years after that default.³

How your payments are applied is not up to the association. The statute sets a mandatory order: delinquent assessments first, then current assessments, then reasonable attorney fees or collection costs tied to assessments, then other attorney fees, then fines, and finally any other amount owed.⁴ This ordering matters because assessments are the only category of debt that can ultimately support a foreclosure lien. Making payments cover assessments first keeps your account out of foreclosure-eligible territory while other charges wait their turn. If you have defaulted on a payment plan, the association is no longer bound by this order, though even then fines cannot be prioritized over other amounts owed.

Limits on Foreclosure and the 180-Day Redemption Window

Foreclosure is the highest-stakes outcome Chapter 209 addresses, and the statute puts several barriers in the way. An association cannot foreclose if the entire debt consists of fines, attorney fees connected solely to those fines, or certain charges added under the records-request or vote-recount provisions.⁵ The debt must include unpaid assessments or costs of the foreclosure itself.

Even when the debt qualifies, the association must get a court order through the expedited judicial foreclosure process adopted by the Texas Supreme Court. Non-judicial foreclosure is off the table unless the owner agrees to it in writing.⁶ A judge has to review the case before anyone loses a home over an assessment dispute.

If a sale does happen, the former owner has 180 days to redeem the property by paying all delinquent amounts, interest, and costs incurred by the buyer. When the association itself bought the home at the sale, the redemption amount also includes fees and assessments that accrued after the sale date. Once you tender full payment, the buyer must deliver a deed. The window is fixed at six months and does not pause for negotiation.

Open Board Meetings

Board meetings must be open to all owners. Any gathering where a quorum of directors deliberates or votes on association business qualifies as a board meeting under the statute. The association has to post notice at least 144 hours before a regular meeting and at least 72 hours before a special meeting, both in a conspicuous spot on common-area property or the association’s website and by email to every owner who has registered an address.⁷

The board can enter executive session for personnel matters, pending litigation, or contract negotiations. Any decision reached in that session must be summarized orally afterward and recorded in general terms in the minutes, including a general explanation of any expenditures approved behind closed doors.⁷ Private owner information and privileged material stay protected, but spending decisions do not get to disappear.

Inspecting Association Records

You have a statutory right to inspect the association’s financial and administrative records. Send a written request by certified mail to the association’s mailing address on its current management certificate, specifying whether you want to inspect in person or receive copies of particular documents.⁸

The association has 10 business days to produce the records or send written notice that it needs more time. If it claims extra time, the records must arrive within 15 business days of that notice. Fees for copies and labor are capped at the rates set by Texas public-records rules.⁸

Some records are exempt. Attorney-client communications and attorney work product do not have to be shared. Neither do employee personnel files, individual owner payment histories, or information about violations tied to other owners. The right covers the association’s books; it does not open your neighbor’s account.

Management Certificate: A Lever When the HOA Is Chasing You for Money

Every association must file a management certificate in the real property records of each county where the subdivision sits. The certificate lists the subdivision and association names, recording data for the declaration and amendments, contact information for the person managing the association, and the amount of any transfer-related fees.⁹ Within seven days of filing with the county clerk, the association must also file electronically with the Texas Real Estate Commission. When information on the certificate changes, an amended version is due within 30 days.

The enforcement teeth are direct. During any period when the certificate is not properly recorded with the county clerk or filed with TREC, the association cannot collect attorney fees or interest tied to delinquent assessments against an owner.⁹ If your association is pursuing you for unpaid dues, checking whether its certificate is current is worth doing before you pay anything beyond the assessments themselves.

Appealing an Architectural Review Denial

Section 209.00505 regulates the architectural review process in associations with more than 40 lots. In those communities, no current board member, board member’s spouse, or person living in a board member’s household may serve on the architectural review committee.¹⁰

If your application is denied, the committee has to send a written notice explaining the basis for the denial in reasonable detail and describing any changes that would result in approval. You have 30 days from the mailing date to request a hearing before the full board, which must be held within 30 days with at least 10 days’ notice to you. The board can uphold, modify, or reverse the committee’s decision, and either side may audio-record the proceeding.¹⁰ The appeal right does not apply during a development period when the original developer still controls the architectural review authority or holds veto power over its decisions.

Security Cameras, Fencing, and Religious Displays

Two provisions in Chapter 202 sit alongside Chapter 209 and override conflicting covenant language. Your association cannot prevent you from installing security cameras, motion detectors, or perimeter fencing on your private property. It can regulate the type of fencing, prohibit cameras placed outside your property, and require driveway gates set back at least 10 feet from the right-of-way where the driveway meets a laned roadway. It can prohibit fencing in front of the dwelling’s front-most building line if covenants say so, unless your residential address is exempt from public disclosure under state or federal law or you can document a law-enforcement-confirmed security need. Fencing installed before September 1, 2025, is grandfathered.¹¹

The association also cannot ban religious items displayed on your property or dwelling when the display is motivated by sincere religious belief. Narrow exceptions apply for displays that threaten public health or safety, violate a non-speech law, are patently offensive for reasons unrelated to the religious message, sit on association or commonly owned property, violate a setback or easement, or are attached to a utility fixture or traffic device.¹²

1
State of Texas. Texas Property Code PROP 209.006 – Notice Required Before Enforcement Action
2
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 209.007 – Hearing Before Board Alternative Dispute Resolution
3
State of Texas. Texas Property Code 209.0062 – Alternative Payment Schedule for Certain Assessments
4
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 209.0063 – Priority of Payments
5
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 209.009 – Foreclosure Sale Prohibited in Certain Circumstances
6
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 209.0092 – Judicial Foreclosure Required
7
State of Texas. Texas Property Code 209.0051 – Open Board Meetings
8
State of Texas. Texas Property Code PROP 209.005 – Association Records
9
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 209.004 – Management Certificates
10
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 209.00505 – Architectural Review Authority
11
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 202.023 – Security Measures
12
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 202.018 – Regulation of Display of Certain Religious Items