88R3197 ATP-D
By: Burns H.B. No. 1786
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to notice to property owners of the adoption or amendment
of certain restrictive covenants.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 202, Property Code, is amended by adding
Section 202.0045 to read as follows:
Sec. 202.0045. NOTICE OF NEW OR AMENDED RESTRICTIVE
COVENANT; CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE. (a) A property owners'
association may not enforce a newly adopted restrictive covenant or
an amendment to a restrictive covenant before the 60th day after the
date the association gives notice of the adoption or amendment
directed to all persons who then are record owners of property in
the residential subdivision, planned unit development, condominium
or townhouse regime, or similar planned development. The notice
must contain the name of the subdivision, regime, or development
covered by the restrictive covenant and a copy of the dedicatory
instrument containing the restrictive covenant as it will be filed
under Section 202.006.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (d), the notice
required by Subsection (a) must be:
(1) published once a week for two consecutive weeks in
a newspaper of general circulation in the county or counties where
the subdivision, regime, or development is located; and
(2) sent by certified mail, return receipt requested,
to each person who owns land in the subdivision, regime, or
development as of the date the notice is given, excluding the owners
of land dedicated for public use or for use by utilities.
(c) If the property owners' association acts in good faith
in determining ownership and giving notice as required by this
section, the failure to give personal notice to an owner does not
affect the enforceability of the restrictive covenant as to that
owner or the owner's property.
(d) Instead of providing a copy of the dedicatory instrument
as it will be filed under Section 202.006 as required by Subsection
(a), a notice published as required by Subsection (b)(1) may
contain a general description of the purpose and effect of the newly
adopted restrictive covenant or the amendment to the restrictive
covenant, as applicable.
(e) On compliance with the notice requirements of this
section, a majority of the members of the governing body of the
property owners' association shall execute a certificate of
compliance and file the certificate with the county clerk of each
county where the subdivision, regime, or development is located.
(f) The county clerk of each county shall record the
certificate in the real property records of the county.
SECTION 2. Section 209.0042(b), Property Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) A property owners' association may use an alternative
method of providing notice adopted under this section to provide a
notice for which another method is prescribed by law, other than a
notice required by Section 202.0045, only if the property owner to
whom the notice is provided has affirmatively opted to allow the
association to use the alternative method of providing notice to
provide to the owner notices for which another method is prescribed
by law.
SECTION 3. Section 202.0045, Property Code, as added by
this Act, applies only to a restrictive covenant adopted or amended
on or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.