CHAPTER 211. AMENDMENT AND ENFORCEMENT OF RESTRICTIONS IN CERTAIN SUBDIVISIONS
PROPERTY CODE
TITLE 11. RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS
CHAPTER 211. AMENDMENT AND ENFORCEMENT OF RESTRICTIONS IN CERTAIN
SUBDIVISIONS
Sec. 211.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Dedicatory instrument" means each governing instrument
covering the establishment, maintenance, and operation of a
residential subdivision or any similar planned development. The
term includes a declaration or similar instrument subjecting real
property to restrictive covenants, bylaws, or similar instruments
governing the administration or operation of a property owners'
association, to properly adopted rules and regulations of the
property owners' association, or to all lawful amendments to the
covenants, bylaws, instruments, rules, or regulations.
(2) "Lienholder," "owner," "real property records," and
"restrictions" have the meanings assigned by Section 201.003.
(3) "Property owners' association" means an incorporated or
unincorporated association owned by or whose members consist
primarily of the owners of the property covered by the dedicatory
instrument and through which the owners, or the board of
directors or similar governing body, manage or regulate the
residential subdivision or similar planned development.
(4) "Residential real estate subdivision" or "subdivision" means
all land encompassed within one or more maps or plats of land
that is divided into two or more parts if:
(A) the maps or plats cover land that is not within a
municipality or within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a
municipality;
(B) the land encompassed within the maps or plats is or was
burdened by restrictions limiting all or at least a majority of
the land area covered by the map or plat, excluding streets and
public areas, to residential use only; and
(C) all instruments creating the restrictions are recorded in
the deed or real property records of a county.
Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch.
1077, Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2005.
Sec. 211.002. APPLICABILITY OF CHAPTER. (a) This chapter
applies only to a residential real estate subdivision or any unit
or parcel of a subdivision located in whole or in part within an
unincorporated area of a county if the county has a population of
less than 65,000.
(b) This chapter applies only to restrictions that affect real
property within a residential real estate subdivision or any
units or parcels of the subdivision and that, by the express
terms of the instrument creating the restrictions:
(1) are not subject to a procedure by which the restrictions may
be amended; or
(2) may not be amended without the unanimous consent of:
(A) all property owners in the subdivision; or
(B) all property owners in any unit or parcel of the
subdivision.
(c) This chapter applies to a restriction regardless of the date
on which it was created.
Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch.
1077, Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2005.
Sec. 211.003. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. (a) The legislature finds
that:
(1) owners of land in certain real estate subdivisions are
unable to govern the subdivisions by democratic principles of
self-government;
(2) requiring unanimous consent to amend or modify restrictions
in affected subdivisions or units or parcels of the subdivisions
is impractical and unworkable to bring needed change and
improvement;
(3) the inability of owners to amend or modify property
restrictions in certain real estate subdivisions in which no
zoning regulations apply creates uncertainty in living conditions
and discourages investments in those subdivisions;
(4) owners of land in affected subdivisions are reluctant or
unable to provide proper maintenance, upkeep, and repairs of
structures because of the inability to amend or modify the
restrictions in response to changing circumstances;
(5) financial institutions are reluctant to or will not lend
money for investments, maintenance, upkeep, or repairs in
affected subdivisions;
(6) these conditions will cause dilapidation of housing and
other structures and cause unhealthful and unsanitary conditions
in affected subdivisions, contrary to the health, safety, and
welfare of the public; and
(7) the existence of race-related covenants in restrictions,
regardless of their unenforceability, is offensive, repugnant,
and harmful to members of racial or ethnic minority groups and
public policy requires that those covenants be removed.
(b) The purpose of this chapter is to provide a procedure for
creating, modifying, or adding to residential restrictions and to
provide for the removal of any restriction or other provision
relating to race, religion, or national origin that is void and
unenforceable under either the United States Constitution or
Section 5.026.
Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch.
1077, Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2005.
Sec. 211.004. CREATION OR MODIFICATION OF PROCEDURE TO AMEND
RESTRICTIONS. (a) A property owners' association by a
two-thirds vote of the association's governing body may submit a
procedure for amending restrictions to a vote of the property
owners in the subdivision or in the unit or parcel of the
subdivision governed by restrictions.
(b) An amendment procedure submitted to a vote under Subsection
(a) binds all property owners in the subdivision or the unit or
parcel of the subdivision to which the procedure applies if more
than two-thirds of the voting property owners vote in favor of
the procedure.
(c) Not later than the 30th day before the date a ballot for a
vote under this section must be received to be counted, the
property owners' association shall mail to each affected property
owner a notice that includes:
(1) the exact wording of the amendment procedure; and
(2) the date by which a property owner's ballot must be received
to be counted.
(d) The property owners' association shall pay all costs of:
(1) printing and mailing the required notices and ballots; and
(2) canvassing, tabulating, and certifying the vote.
(e) A property owner may not cast more than one vote, regardless
of the number of lots the person owns. If more than one person
owns an interest in a lot, the owners may cast only one vote for
that lot. A person may not vote if the person has an interest in
a lot only by virtue of being a lienholder.
(f) A ballot cast under this section is secret and may not be
counted unless it is placed inside an unmarked envelope that is
placed inside another envelope that bears the signature and
printed name of the property owner casting the enclosed ballot.
(g) The presiding officer of the property owners' association
shall appoint an election canvassing committee and a committee
chairperson to canvass and count the votes and determine the
outcome.
(h) If the amendment procedure receives the number of votes
required under Subsection (b), the election canvassing committee
chairperson shall certify the result to the presiding officer of
the property owners' association. The presiding officer shall
file in the real property records of each county in which all or
part of the subdivision is located an instrument that indicates
that the procedure was adopted.
(i) If the amendment procedure is not adopted, the property
owners' association may not submit the same amendment procedure
to a vote under this section on or before the first anniversary
of the date the previous votes on the procedure were certified.
Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch.
1077, Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2005.
Sec. 211.005. EFFECT OF ADOPTING AMENDMENT PROCEDURE. After the
effective date of the adoption of the amendment procedure under
this chapter, any proposed amendment to the restrictions
described by Section 211.002(b) applicable to the subdivision or
unit or parcel of the subdivision, as applicable, must be
submitted for approval to the owners under the amendment
procedure.
Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch.
1077, Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2005.