As early as the 1800s the concept of “Association Governed Communities” that grew into what we now think of as condominiums began to develop. In Texas, prior to 1984, the early condominium projects were governed by deed restrictions and often sometimes as trusts and sometimes as corporations. A developer would create the organization and deed to it a portion of the property to be used for the common purposes of the on the residents and further deed to the new organization certain powers and authority over the remaining portion of the property. In 1984, the Texas legislative passed the “Condominium Act” as section 81 of the Texas property code. Ten years later, the legislature again acted by passing TUCA, the Texas Uniform Condominium Act without repealing the former act. With some exceptions, condominiums built before 1994 are governed by Section 81 and those after 1994 are governed by Section 82. Many efforts have been made to unify and clarify the law, but it still remains in its somewhat confusing state.
Our firm represents many HOAs, large and small. HOAs are all associations with the owners being the members and those members have the right to elect the governing Board of Directors. In some cases this right to elect the Board becomes hotly contested. It almost like a mini-government that controls many aspects of the lives of the owners and residents. The overwhelming majority of governing Boards act in the best interest of the communities that they serve, but sometimes they don’t. We have represents members and Boards in many of these contests and pride ourselves upon our ability to resolve these issues with minimum damage to the community.
