About

With the approval of SB1588 from the 2021 Texas legislative session, the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) is required to establish a database to accept management certificates from property owners' associations or HOAs.
This information must also be made publicly available.

Major Points

  • Fees are capped for delivery of subdivision information, including the initial resale certificate (at $375) and updated resale certificates (at $75).
  • TREC will create a publicly accessible central database of Texas HOAs by December 1, 2021. HOAs that have filed management certificates in county records before December 1, 2021 are required to file with TREC by June 1, 2022.
  • HOAs that have at least 60 lots or have contracted with a management company are required to make a current version of dedicatory documents available on a website maintained by the HOA or management company.
  • All HOAs are required to file dedicatory instruments with the county (counties) and provide certain contact information on all dedicatory instruments and management certificates.
  • Property owners have new protections from negative credit reporting when a fine or fee is in dispute, and HOAs are required to give a detailed report of charges and offer a payment plan before reporting delinquencies.
  • New laws improve some conflicts of interest within HOA architectural review boards.
  • HOAs are barred from requiring access to lease agreements and are only allowed to request a tenant's contact info and lease beginning and end dates.
  • HOAs are required to solicit bids for contracts for services over $50,000.
  • HOAs are barred from prohibiting certain pool safety enclosures, the installation of certain security measures on an owner's private property, or certain religious displays.
  • HOA boards are required to provide members with timely notice about meetings.
  • New laws improve due process in dispute resolution and provide additional legal avenues when seeking resolution from a dispute with an HOA.

Additional takeaway

An additional takeway is that HOA bylaws must be made available and easily accessible, and this database does not account for this. Our intention is to make finding HOA contact details, bylaw access and more, as easy as possible.