Issued May 28, 2017
Friends, are you sitting down?
Barring surprises*, this is a LANDMARK session for Texas HOAs. For the first time in 34 years, we have no new HOA-specific statutes. After 16 Sessions of sock-it-to-me HOA law-making, it seems unnatural - unreal - to have ZERO new HOA-specific statutes. There are a few law changes in Codes other than the Property Code that affect some HOAs - directly or indirectly. Even in that regard, there's not a whole lot to write home about.
Since 1983 (when Texas adopted a Property Code) we've tinkered every Session with Titles 7 and 11 of the Property Code. Title 7 has the condo statutes - Chapters 81 & 82 (TUCA). Title 11 covers restrictive covenants, such as Chapters 202, 204, and 209, with which we're most familiar. This Session, the only change to Titles 7 and 11 is a ministerial elimination of a duplicate provision.
Caveat . . .
* Midnight on Monday May 29 is Sine Die - the mandatory end of the 140-day regular biennial 85th Legislative Session. Then the Governor has 20 days to sign and veto bills.
Any bill sent to the Governor that doesn't get vetoed becomes law - whether or not signed.
After June 18 we can talk with certainty about the new laws - assuming the information is posted timely on the State's website. Until then, legislative reporting is cautious . . . "barring surprises*."
|