81R2722 AJA-F
By: West S.B. No. 429
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the operation of property owners' associations.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 5.006(a), Property Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) In an action based on breach of a restrictive covenant
pertaining to real property, the court shall allow to a prevailing
party [who asserted the action] reasonable attorney's fees in
addition to the party's costs and claim.
SECTION 2. Section 5.012, Property Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (f) and (g) to read
as follows:
(a) A seller of residential real property that is subject to
membership in a property owners' association and that comprises not
more than one dwelling unit located in this state shall give to the
purchaser of the property a written notice that reads substantially
similar to the following:
NOTICE OF MEMBERSHIP IN PROPERTY OWNERS' ASSOCIATION CONCERNING THE
PROPERTY AT (street address) (name of residential community)
As a purchaser of property in the residential community in
which this property is located, you are obligated to be a member of
a property owners' association. Restrictive covenants governing
the use and occupancy of the property and a dedicatory instrument
governing the establishment, maintenance, and operation of this
residential community have been or will be recorded in the Real
Property Records of the county in which the property is located.
Copies of the restrictive covenants and dedicatory instrument may
be obtained from the county clerk.
You are obligated to pay assessments to the property owners'
association. The amount of the assessments is subject to change.
Your failure to pay the assessments could result in a lien on and
the foreclosure of your property.
Section 207.003, Property Code, entitles an owner to receive
copies of restrictions, bylaws, and a resale certificate from a
property owners' association. A resale certificate contains
information including, but not limited to, statements specifying
the amount and frequency of regular assessments, the property
owners' association's operating budget and balance sheet, and the
style and cause number of lawsuits to which the property owners'
association is a party. These documents must be made available to
you by the seller on your request.
Date: ____________________________________________
Signature of Purchaser
(f) On the purchaser's request for a resale certificate from
the seller, the seller shall:
(1) promptly deliver a copy of a current resale
certificate if one has been issued for the property under Chapter
207; or
(2) if the seller does not have a current resale
certificate:
(A) request the property owners' association or
its agent to issue a resale certificate under Chapter 207; and
(B) promptly deliver a copy of the resale
certificate to the purchaser on receipt of the resale certificate
from the property owners' association or its agent.
(g) The seller or the purchaser, as agreed to by the
parties, shall pay the fee to the property owners' association or
its agent for issuing the resale certificate under Chapter 207.
SECTION 3. Chapter 202, Property Code, is amended by adding
Sections 202.008 and 202.010 to read as follows:
Sec. 202.008. RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL PROHIBITED. (a) In
this section, "development period" means a period stated in a
declaration during which a declarant reserves:
(1) a right to facilitate the development,
construction, and marketing of the subdivision;
(2) a right to direct the size, shape, and composition
of the subdivision; or
(3) any other right customarily reserved by a
declarant for the benefit of developers and builders.
(b) To the extent a restrictive covenant provides a right of
first refusal for the sale or lease of a residential unit or
residential lot in favor of the property owners' association or the
association's members, the covenant is void.
(c) This section does not apply to a restrictive covenant
that provides a right of first refusal in favor of a developer or
builder during the development period.
Sec. 202.010. REGULATION OF SOLAR ENERGY DEVICES. (a) In
this section, "solar energy device" has the meaning assigned by
Section 171.107, Tax Code.
(b) Except as otherwise provided by this section, a property
owners' association may not include or enforce a provision in a
dedicatory instrument that prohibits or restricts a property owner
from installing a solar energy device.
(c) A provision that violates Subsection (b) is void.
(d) This section does not prohibit the inclusion or
enforcement of a provision in a dedicatory instrument that
prohibits a solar energy device that:
(1) threatens the public health or safety;
(2) violates a law;
(3) is located on property owned or maintained by the
property owners' association;
(4) is located on property owned in common by the
members of the property owners' association;
(5) is located in an area on the property owner's
property other than:
(A) on the roof of the home; or
(B) in a fenced yard or patio maintained by the
property owner; or
(6) is mounted on a device that is taller or more
visually obtrusive than is necessary for the solar energy device to
operate at not less than 90 percent of its rated efficiency.
SECTION 4. Section 207.003(b), Property Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) A resale certificate under Subsection (a) must contain:
(1) a statement of any right of first refusal or other
restraint contained in the restrictions or restrictive covenants
that restricts the owner's right to transfer the owner's property;
(2) the frequency and amount of any regular
assessments;
(3) the amount of any special assessment that is due
after the date the resale certificate is prepared;
(4) the total of all amounts due and unpaid to the
property owners' association that are attributable to the owner's
property;
(5) capital expenditures, if any, approved by the
property owners' association for the property owners' association's
current fiscal year;
(6) the amount of reserves, if any, for capital
expenditures;
(7) the property owners' association's current
operating budget and balance sheet;
(8) the total of any unsatisfied judgments against the
property owners' association;
(9) the style and cause number of any pending lawsuit
in which the property owners' association is a party, other than a
lawsuit relating to unpaid property taxes of an individual member
of the association [defendant];
(10) a copy of a certificate of insurance showing the
property owners' association's property and liability insurance
relating to the common areas and common facilities;
(11) a description of any conditions on the owner's
property that the property owners' association board has actual
knowledge are in violation of the restrictions applying to the
subdivision or the bylaws or rules of the property owners'
association;
(12) a summary or copy of notices received by the
property owners' association from any governmental authority
regarding health or housing code violations existing on the
preparation date of the certificate relating to the owner's
property or any common areas or common facilities owned or leased by
the property owners' association;
(13) the amount of any administrative transfer fee
charged by the property owners' association for a change of
ownership of property in the subdivision;
(14) the name, mailing address, and telephone number
of the property owners' association's managing agent, if any; [and]
(15) a statement indicating whether the restrictions
allow foreclosure of a property owners' association's lien on the
owner's property for failure to pay assessments; and
(16) a statement of all fees associated with the
transfer of ownership, including a description of each fee, to whom
each fee is paid, and the amount of each fee.
SECTION 5. Chapter 209, Property Code, is amended by adding
Sections 209.0041 through 209.0044 to read as follows:
Sec. 209.0041. AMENDMENT OF DECLARATION. (a) This section
applies only to a residential subdivision in which property owners
are subject to mandatory regular or special assessments.
(b) This section applies to a declaration regardless of the
date on which the declaration was created.
(c) This section does not apply to the amendment of a
declaration during a development period, as defined by Section
202.008.
(d) To the extent of any conflict with another provision of
this title, this section prevails.
(e) Unless a declaration creating a residential subdivision
provides a lower percentage, the declaration and any subsequently
enacted declarations may be amended on a vote of 67 percent of the
total votes allocated to owners of property in the subdivision. If
the declaration provides a lower percentage, the percentage in the
declaration controls.
(f) All ballots cast in an election that results in the
amendment of a declaration under this section shall be deposited in
the county clerk's office of each county in which the declaration is
recorded and are subject to inspection by the public. A county
clerk shall retain ballots deposited with the clerk under this
subsection until the fourth anniversary of the date the ballots
were deposited. A county clerk may not charge a fee for the deposit
of ballots under this subsection.
Sec. 209.0042. TABULATION OF VOTES. (a) In any matter
subject to a vote of the members of the property owners'
association, the association shall utilize a neutral third party to
tabulate the votes:
(1) if the association schedules the election with
less than 30 days' notice; or
(2) for an election scheduled with notice of 30 days or
more, if the association receives written requests from at least 25
percent of the owners of property in the subdivision or 50 owners of
property in the subdivision, whichever is less:
(A) at least 10 days before the date of the
meeting at which the vote will be taken; or
(B) if no meeting is to be held, at least 10 days
before the deadline to cast a vote.
(b) For the purposes of this section, a person is considered
a neutral third party if the person is anyone other than a candidate
for an association office, a current or former member or officer of
the board of directors, an attorney who represents the property
owners' association, or a representative of the association's
management company, or a person related to one of those persons
within the second degree by consanguinity or affinity, as
determined under Chapter 573, Government Code.
(c) This section does not apply to a property owners'
association if:
(1) membership in the property owners' association is
mandatory for owners or for a defined class of owners of private
real property in a defined geographic area in a county with a
population of 2.8 million or more or in a county adjacent to a
county with a population of 2.8 million or more;
(2) the property owners' association has the power to
make mandatory special assessments for capital improvements or
mandatory regular assessments; and
(3) the amount of the mandatory special or regular
assessments is or has ever been based in whole or in part on the
value at which the state or a local governmental body assesses the
property for purposes of ad valorem taxation under Section 20,
Article VIII, Texas Constitution.
Sec. 209.0043. RIGHT TO VOTE. A provision of a dedicatory
instrument that would disqualify a property owner from voting in an
association election of board members or on any matter concerning
the rights or responsibilities of the owner is void.
Sec. 209.0044. BOARD MEMBERSHIP. (a) A provision of a
dedicatory instrument that restricts a property owner's right to
run for a position on the board of the property owners' association
is void.
(b) A property owners' association board may make
information available to members of the association regarding a
candidate for a position on the board regarding:
(1) any amount owed to the association by the
candidate that is six months or more overdue;
(2) any violation of a restrictive covenant of which
notice was delivered to a board candidate under Section 209.006
more than 30 days before the date of the election; and
(3) any lawsuits to which both the property owners'
association or any of its directors or agents and the board
candidate are a party.
SECTION 6. Section 209.005, Property Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
follows:
(a) A property owners' association shall make the books and
records of the association, including financial records,
reasonably available to an owner in accordance with Section B,
Article 2.23, Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act (Article 1396-2.23,
Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or a successor to that statute.
(c) If a property owners' association subject to Subsection
(a) fails to comply with Subsection (a), an owner may seek one or
more of the following remedies:
(1) a court order directing the property owners'
association to provide the required information;
(2) a judgment against the property owners'
association for a penalty of not more than $1,500;
(3) a judgment against the property owners'
association for court costs and attorney's fees incurred in
connection with seeking a remedy under this section; or
(4) a judgment authorizing the owner or the owner's
assignee to deduct the amounts awarded under Subdivisions (2) and
(3) from any future regular or special assessments payable to the
property owners' association.
SECTION 7. Section 209.006, Property Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsections (c) and (d) to read
as follows:
(b) The notice must:
(1) describe the violation or property damage that is
the basis for the suspension action, charge, or fine and state any
amount due the association from the owner; [and]
(2) inform the owner that the owner:
(A) is entitled to a reasonable period to cure
the violation and avoid the fine or suspension unless the owner was
given notice and a reasonable opportunity to cure a similar
violation within the preceding six months; and
(B) may request a hearing under Section 209.007
on or before the 30th day after the date notice was delivered to the
owner; and
(3) specify a date certain by which the owner must cure
the violation [receives the notice].
(c) Notice under Subsection (b) must be personally
delivered, sent by certified mail with a return receipt requested,
or delivered by the United States Postal Service with signature
confirmation service to the owner at the owner's last known address
as shown on the association's records.
(d) The date specified in the notice under Subsection (b)(3)
must provide a reasonable period for the owner to cure the
violation.
SECTION 8. Chapter 209, Property Code, is amended by adding
Sections 209.0061 through 209.0064 and Section 209.0091 to read as
follows:
Sec. 209.0061. ASSESSMENT OF FINES. (a) A fine assessed by
the property owners' association must be reasonable in the context
of the nature, frequency, and effect of the violation. If the
association allows fines for a continuing violation to accumulate
against a lot or an owner, the association must establish a maximum
fine amount for a continuing violation at which point the total fine
amount is capped.
(b) If a lot occupant other than the owner violates a
provision of the dedicatory instrument, the property owners'
association, in addition to exercising any of the association's
powers against the owner, may assess a fine directly against the
nonowner occupant in the same manner as provided for an owner but
may not require payment from both the owner and a nonowner occupant
for the same violation.
(c) If the property owners' association assesses a fine
against a nonowner occupant under this section, the notice
provisions of Section 209.006 and the hearing provisions of Section
209.007 apply to the nonowner occupant in the same manner as those
provisions apply to an owner.
Sec. 209.0062. ALTERNATIVE PAYMENT SCHEDULE FOR CERTAIN
ASSESSMENTS. (a) A property owners' association shall adopt
reasonable guidelines to establish an alternative payment schedule
by which an owner may make partial payments to the property owners'
association for delinquent regular or special assessments or any
other amount owed to the association.
(b) A property owners' association is not required to allow
a payment plan that extends more than 12 months from the date of the
owner's request for a payment plan or to enter into a payment plan
with an owner who failed to honor the terms of a previous payment
plan.
(c) The property owners' association shall file the
association's guidelines under this section in the real property
records of each county in which the subdivision is located.
Sec. 209.0063. PRIORITY OF PAYMENTS. Unless otherwise
provided in writing by the property owner, a payment received by a
property owners' association from the owner shall be applied to the
owner's debt in the following order of priority:
(1) any delinquent assessment;
(2) any current assessment;
(3) any attorney's fees incurred by the association
associated solely with assessments or any other charge that could
provide the basis for foreclosure;
(4) any fines assessed by the association;
(5) any attorney's fees incurred by the association
that are not subject to Subdivision (3); and
(6) any other amount owed to the association.
Sec. 209.0064. COLLECTIONS. A property owners' association
must bring suit or otherwise initiate against an owner a collection
action authorized by the dedicatory instruments or other law on or
before the 10th anniversary of the date on which the cause of action
for collection of the debt accrues. Section 16.004, Civil Practice
and Remedies Code, does not apply to the collection of a debt owed
by an owner to a property owners' association.
Sec. 209.0091. JUDICIAL FORECLOSURE REQUIRED. (a) Except
as provided by Subsection (b), a property owners' association may
not foreclose a property owners' association's assessment lien
unless the association first obtains a court judgment foreclosing
the lien and providing for issuance of an order of sale.
(b) Judicial foreclosure is not required under this section
if the owner of the property that is subject to foreclosure agrees
in writing to waive judicial foreclosure under this section.
SECTION 9. Section 209.010(a), Property Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) A property owners' association that conducts a
foreclosure sale of an owner's lot must send to the lot owner not
later than the 30th day after the date of the foreclosure sale:
(1) a written notice stating the date and time the sale
occurred and informing the lot owner of the owner's right to redeem
the property under Section 209.011; and
(2) a copy of Section 209.011.
SECTION 10. Section 211.002(a), Property Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) This chapter applies only to a residential real estate
subdivision or any unit or parcel of a subdivision to which another
chapter in this title that provides a procedure under which a
subdivision's restrictions may be amended does not apply [located
in whole or in part within an unincorporated area of a county if the
county has a population of less than 65,000].
SECTION 11. Section 202.004(c), Property Code, is repealed.
SECTION 12. (a) Section 5.006(a), Property Code, as amended
by this Act, and the repeal by this Act of Section 202.004(c),
Property Code, apply only to an action filed on or after the
effective date of this Act. An action filed before the effective
date of this Act is governed by the law in effect immediately before
the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect
for that purpose.
(b) Section 5.012, Property Code, as amended by this Act,
applies only to a sale of property that occurs on or after the
effective date of this Act. For the purposes of this section, a
sale of property occurs before the effective date of this Act if the
executory contract binding the purchaser to purchase the property
is executed before that date. A sale of property that occurs before
the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect
immediately before that date, and that law is continued in effect
for that purpose.
(c) Sections 202.008, 202.010, 209.0043, and 209.0044(a),
Property Code, as added by this Act, apply to a deed restriction
enacted before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
(d) Section 209.005(c), Property Code, as added by this Act,
applies only to a property owners' association's failure to comply
with Section 209.005(a), Property Code, on or after the effective
date of this Act. A property owners' association's failure to
comply with that section before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect immediately before the effective date
of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
(e) Sections 209.0061, 209.0062, and 209.0064, Property
Code, as added by this Act, apply only to an assessment or other
debt that becomes due on or after the effective date of this Act. An
assessment or other debt that becomes due before the effective date
of this Act is governed by the law in effect immediately before the
effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for
that purpose.
(f) Section 209.0063, Property Code, as added by this Act,
applies only to a payment received by a property owners'
association on or after the effective date of this Act. A payment
received by a property owners' association before the effective
date of this Act is governed by the law in effect immediately before
the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect
for that purpose.
(g) Section 209.0091, Property Code, as added by this Act,
applies only to foreclosure of a lien that attaches on or after the
effective date of this Act. Foreclosure of a lien that attaches
before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
effect immediately before that date, and that law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 13. This Act takes effect January 1, 2010.