HOA FAQ: straight answers for Texas homeowners and boards.

An HOA is the organization that maintains your community's shared spaces and enforces its rules. In Texas, most residential HOAs are covered by Property Code Chapter 209, plus your community's own governing documents: the declaration, bylaws and rules. It keeps the neighborhood you bought into looking like the neighborhood you bought into.

Authority. An HOA's membership is mandatory and tied to owning property in the community, and it can enforce deed restrictions and collect assessments. A neighborhood association is voluntary. It's great for block parties and advocacy, but it can't enforce anything. Quick test: if your dues are optional, it's probably a neighborhood association.

Check your declaration, or ask your manager. Texas Property Code Chapter 209 covers residential subdivisions with a property owners' association. Condominiums are governed by Chapter 82, the Uniform Condominium Act, along with the condo declaration. The two overlap in spirit and differ in the details, so the answer changes what rules apply to you. More on condo management.

Homeowner volunteers, elected by their neighbors, who run the association. Boards approve budgets, choose vendors, set policy and often hire a management company to carry the day-to-day load. Serving takes real time, which is why the right manager matters.

The day-to-day, so your volunteer board doesn't have to: financial management, maintenance coordination, compliance, homeowner communication, meetings and vendors. See what full service covers.

Assessments are the regular dues, paid monthly, quarterly or annually, that fund the association: common-area maintenance, insurance, services, and reserves. The amount comes from the budget your board adopts, so it's different in every community. Your declaration sets out the association's right to collect them. How we handle HOA accounting.

Money set aside for the big stuff: roofs, pools, roads and fencing. How much a community should hold depends on its assets, and a professional reserve study is the best way to find out. A healthy reserve is the difference between planning a new pool deck and scrambling to pay for one.

A one-time charge to owners for an expense or project that the regular budget and reserves can't cover. Nobody loves them. Steady reserve planning is the best way to keep them rare.

Yes, an HOA can record a lien for unpaid assessments, but Texas law puts limits on what comes next. For example, an association can't foreclose its assessment lien when the debt is made up only of fines or attorney's fees tied to fines (Property Code Section 209.009). Liens and foreclosure are a last resort, and early communication resolves most delinquencies well before then. If you're behind, call your manager early. This is general information, not legal advice.

Most owners pay online through the homeowner portal. Payment addresses for mailed checks vary by community, so use the one on your statement. Not sure where to start? Call (512) 251-6122.

The set of documents that run your community: the declaration, bylaws, rules, and articles of incorporation. When they conflict, the declaration generally outranks the bylaws and the rules.

Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions, the community's primary rulebook. They're recorded with the county and bind every owner, covering things like property use, architectural standards and maintenance. Reading them before you buy is the best thirty minutes you'll spend on a house.

The founding document of the association, recorded with the county when the community was established. It sets out restrictions, assessment obligations, architectural standards and the association's powers. Many people call it the community's constitution.

The rules for how the association itself operates: how the board is elected, how meetings are called, what voting rights owners have, and how notices go out.

A quorum is the minimum number of owners, in person or by proxy, needed before a meeting can conduct official business. Your governing documents set the number, and it varies a lot from community to community. Miss it and nothing can pass, which is why returning your proxy matters.

A way to be counted without being in the room. A proxy designates someone else to vote for you at a meeting, as your association's documents allow. Turning one in is the easiest thing you can do for your community.

Common areas are the shared parts of the community, like pools, parks, entrances and clubhouses. An easement is a right for someone to use part of a property for a specific purpose, such as a utility line or drainage. Your plat and declaration show both.

Don't panic, and don't ignore it. Under Property Code Section 209.006, an association generally must send written notice before fining you or suspending your use of common areas. For a violation that can be fixed, the notice must give you a reasonable time to cure it, and you can ask for a hearing within 30 days of the date it was mailed. Fix the issue or call your manager early. How we handle compliance.

Yes, owners have a right to inspect association books and records. Under Property Code Section 209.005, you send a written request by certified mail, and the association generally has 10 business days to respond with dates to inspect or to provide the records. If you're not sure how to word it, ask your manager.

Send a written request to the association or its manager. Texas Property Code Section 207.003 gives the association 10 business days after it receives a request and verifies the requestor's authority to deliver the certificate and the community documents. Start early. Resale requests and lending questionnaires start on our contact page.

It depends on your governing documents. In general, the association maintains the common areas and you maintain your lot and home, but condo and townhome communities often split things differently. Check your declaration, or call us and we'll point you to the right answer. Common-area problems go to your manager.

Call (512) 251-6122. After hours, our phone line still answers, and true emergencies reach an on-call manager. Our office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT.

Your bylaws spell out who can serve and how candidates are nominated, and your association must give notice of an election. Ask your manager for the next election date, and read the bylaws first. Boards always need volunteers who show up.