Tex. Prop. Code §§ 209.006, 209.007, 209.008, 209.0092; Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.051
Property owners' association disputes in Texas — the notice the HOA has to send first
A claim in Texas district and county courts · Last verified August 26, 2026
An association fight is rarely about the covenant. It is about whether the association followed chapter 209 before it acted — and associations lose these cases on procedure far more often than on the merits of the fence, the truck or the paint colour.
The Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act front-loads the process. Notice by certified mail, a stated cure date, a hearing on request, an evidence packet before the hearing, and no attorney's fees for anything the association spent before that hearing.
What the claim is
Your association fined you, suspended your access to the common areas, charged you for damage, reported you to a credit bureau, or sued to enforce a deed restriction — and you want to know whether it was entitled to.
Or you are the association, and the owner will not comply.
Where the right comes from
Property Code chapter 209, the Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act, layered over the association's own dedicatory instruments — the declaration, bylaws and rules, which remain the source of the substantive obligation.
The notice the association has to send
Under § 209.006(a), before an association may suspend an owner's right to use a common area, sue an owner (other than to collect assessments or foreclose), charge an owner for property damage, levy a fine, or report a delinquency to a credit reporting service, it must give written notice by certified mail.
The notice must:
- Describe the violation or damage and state any amount owed;
- Tell the owner they are entitled to a reasonable cure period if the violation is curable and poses no threat to public health or safety, that they may request a hearing on or before the 30th day after the notice was mailed, and that a servicemember on active duty may have rights under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act;
- Specify the cure date; and
- Be sent by verified mail to the owner's last known address in the association's records.
Cure before the date and no fine may be assessed — § 209.006(e) says so outright.
Curable and uncurable, by statute
Chapter 209 does something unusual: it gives examples. Section 209.006(h) lists acts considered uncurable — shooting fireworks, an act threatening health or safety, a one-time noise violation, property damage including removing landscaping, and holding a prohibited garage sale. Section 209.006(i) lists acts considered curable — a parking violation, a maintenance violation, failure to build to approved plans, and an ongoing noise violation such as a barking dog.
The distinction decides whether the owner gets a cure period at all.
The hearing
Under § 209.007, an owner entitled to cure may request a hearing before the board. The association must hold it within 30 days of receiving the request and give the owner 10 days' notice of the date, time and place. Either side may take one postponement of up to 10 days.
Two provisions added in 2021 changed the character of the hearing:
- § 209.007(f) — at least 10 days before the hearing, the association must give the owner a packet containing every document, photograph and communication it intends to introduce.
- § 209.007(g) — if it does not, the owner gets an automatic 15-day postponement.
- § 209.007(h) — the association presents its case first, and the owner is entitled to respond.
None of it applies where the association files for a temporary restraining order or temporary injunction, or files a suit that includes foreclosure as a cause of action. In a suit where the notice and hearing provisions do apply, § 209.007(d) lets a party move to compel mediation.
What a plaintiff has to prove
There is no single cause of action here. An owner's suit is usually pleaded as some combination of:
- Breach of the dedicatory instruments — the association did something the declaration does not authorise;
- Failure to comply with chapter 209 — no notice, no cure period, no hearing;
- A declaratory judgment under CPRC chapter 37 construing the covenant; and
- An injunction to stop a foreclosure or an enforcement action.
An association's suit is a breach of restrictive covenant claim, with the chapter 209 steps as conditions it has to show it met.
How long you have to file
Four years under CPRC § 16.051, the residual period, for a claim on a restrictive covenant or a breach of the dedicatory instruments. Chapter 209 sets no period of its own.
A suit to stop a foreclosure has no useful deadline — it has a sale date, which is the real clock.
What the claim pays
Injunctive relief, which is what most owners want: stop the fine, stop the suspension, stop the sale.
A declaration of the parties' rights under the covenant, with discretionary fees under CPRC § 37.009.
Attorney's fees, and this is where the reading has to be careful:
- § 209.008(a) lets the association collect reimbursement of reasonable attorney's fees and costs relating to collection or enforcement only if the owner was given written notice that fees and costs would be charged if the delinquency or violation continued after a date certain.
- § 209.008(b) bars fees the association incurred before the hearing concluded, or, if the owner did not request one, before the deadline to request it.
- § 209.008(f) caps the fees an association may fold into a non-judicial foreclosure at the greater of one-third of the actual costs and assessments (excluding fees) plus interest and court costs, or $2,500.
- Property Code § 5.006 goes the other way: in an action for breach of a restrictive covenant, the court shall award reasonable fees to a prevailing party who asserted the action. Note the qualifier — it rewards the party who brought the covenant claim, not the one who defended it.
Foreclosure — what an association can and cannot do
It cannot foreclose over fines. Section 209.009 bars foreclosure of an assessment lien where the debt consists solely of fines, the attorney's fees associated with those fines, or certain charged-back amounts.
It can foreclose over unpaid assessments — but under § 209.0092 it must first obtain a court order through an expedited foreclosure proceeding, unless the owner waives that in writing at the time. An association may instead take a judgment foreclosing the lien and ordering sale under TRCP 309 and TRCP 646a.
Before filing an assessment lien at all, § 209.0094 requires two notices of delinquency — the first by first-class mail or email, the second by certified mail no earlier than 30 days later — and then a wait until the 90th day after the second notice.
Before foreclosing, § 209.0091 requires 61 days' written notice and a chance to cure to any inferior lienholder of record holding a deed of trust.
And under § 209.0093, owners holding 67 percent of the votes can strip the foreclosure power out of the dedicatory instrument altogether.
Money rules that decide the fight
§ 209.0062 — an association of more than 14 lots must offer an alternative payment schedule of at least three months, without additional monetary penalties.
§ 209.0063 — payments apply in a fixed order: delinquent assessments first, then current assessments, then collection-related fees, then other fees, then fines last. This is what stops an association from applying a payment to fines and keeping the assessment delinquency alive as a foreclosure hook.
§ 209.0064 — the owner is not liable for a collection agent's fees unless the association first sent certified-mail notice with a 45-day cure period, and never where the collection agent's fee is contingent on the amount recovered.
§ 209.0065 — no credit reporting of amounts in dispute, and 30 business days' notice before any reporting.
§ 209.0061 — since January 1, 2024, the board must adopt and publish an enforcement policy with a schedule of fines by category of violation.
Who can be sued
The association. The board members, in a suit alleging conduct outside the authority the declaration grants. The owner, by the association.
Common defenses
- The notice was defective — no certified mail, no cure date, no fee warning.
- No hearing where one was requested.
- Selective enforcement — the association let the neighbours do the same thing.
- Waiver or abandonment of the covenant through years of non-enforcement.
- The covenant is ambiguous, and Texas construes restrictions to give effect to their purpose while resolving genuine doubt in favour of the free use of land.
- The board acted within its authority and the owner is out of time to complain.
What people get wrong
An HOA can foreclose — but not over a fine. Unpaid assessments are the risk. Fines alone are not, under § 209.009.
The 30 days runs from mailing. Not from receipt, and not from when the owner opened the letter.
A defective notice costs the association its fees, not its case. The covenant is still enforceable; what the association loses is reimbursement under § 209.008 and, often, the leverage that came with it.
Winning as a defendant does not pay your lawyer. Property Code § 5.006 awards fees to a prevailing party who asserted the covenant action. An owner who wants fees generally has to bring a claim, not just beat one.
Where it came from
Chapter 209 was enacted in 2001 after a run of foreclosures in which Texas homeowners lost houses over sums in the hundreds of dollars. The legislature's response was procedural rather than substantive: it left associations their covenants and their liens, and made them earn the remedies by giving notice, allowing cure, and holding a hearing.
Each session since has tightened the screws. 2011 added payment plans, the priority-of-payments rule and judicial foreclosure. 2021 added the evidence packet, the credit-reporting limits and the hearing procedure. 2023 added the published fine schedule and the 90-day wait before an assessment lien. The direction has been constant, and an association operating on a decade-old playbook is generally out of compliance.
Common questions
How long do I have to request a hearing after an HOA notice?
On or before the 30th day after the date the notice was mailed to you.
Can my HOA foreclose on my house over unpaid fines?
No. Section 209.009 bars foreclosure where the debt is solely fines and the fees associated with them. Unpaid assessments are a different matter, and can support foreclosure after a court order.
Do I have to pay the association's attorney's fees?
Only if you were given written notice that fees would be charged if the violation or delinquency continued after a date certain — and never for fees the association ran up before your hearing.
What is the deadline to sue over a deed restriction?
Four years, under the residual limitations period.
The HOA showed up at the hearing with photos I had never seen. Is that allowed?
No. The association must give you every document and photograph it intends to use at least 10 days before the hearing, and if it does not, you are entitled to an automatic 15-day postponement.
Can the association apply my payment to fines first and leave my dues delinquent?
No. Section 209.0063 fixes the order: delinquent assessments first, fines last.