Texas Property Code 82.102 – Powers of Unit Owners’ Association
(a) Unless otherwise provided by the declaration, the association, acting through its board, may:
(1) adopt and amend bylaws;
(2) adopt and amend budgets for revenues, expenditures, and reserves, and collect assessments for common expenses from unit owners;
(3) hire and terminate managing agents and other employees, agents, and independent contractors;
(4) institute, defend, intervene in, settle, or compromise litigation or administrative proceedings in its own name on behalf of itself or two or more unit owners on matters affecting the condominium;
(5) make contracts and incur liabilities relating to the operation of the condominium;
(6) regulate the use, maintenance, repair, replacement, modification, and appearance of the condominium;
(7) adopt and amend rules regulating the use, occupancy, leasing or sale, maintenance, repair, modification, and appearance of units and common elements, to the extent the regulated actions affect common elements or other units;
(8) cause additional improvements to be made as a part of the common elements;
(9) acquire, hold, encumber, and convey in its own name any right, title, or interest to real or personal property, except common elements of the condominium;
(10) grant easements, leases, licenses, and concessions through or over the common elements;
(11) impose and receive payments, fees, or charges for the use, rental, or operation of the common elements and for services provided to unit owners;
(12) impose interest and late charges for late payments of assessments, returned check charges, and, if notice and an opportunity to be heard are given in accordance with Subsection (d), reasonable fines for violations of the declaration, bylaws, and rules of the association;
(13) adopt and amend rules regulating the collection of delinquent assessments and the application of payments;
(14) adopt and amend rules regulating the termination of utility service to a unit, the owner of which is delinquent in the payment of an assessment that is used, in whole or in part, to pay the cost of that utility;
(15) impose reasonable charges for preparing, recording, or copying declaration amendments, resale certificates, or statements of unpaid assessments;
(16) enter a unit for bona fide emergency purposes when conditions present an imminent risk of harm or damage to the common elements, another unit, or the occupants;
(17) suspend the voting privileges of or the use of certain general common elements by an owner delinquent for more than 30 days in the payment of assessments;
(18) purchase insurance and fidelity bonds it considers appropriate or necessary;
(19) exercise any other powers conferred by the declaration or bylaws;
(20) exercise any other powers that may be exercised in this state by a corporation of the same type as the association; and
(21) exercise any other powers necessary and proper for the government and operation of the association.
Terms Used In Texas Property Code 82.102
- Association: means the unit owners' association organized under § 82. See Texas Property Code 82.003
- Board: means the board of directors or the body, regardless of name, designated to act on behalf of the association. See Texas Property Code 82.003
- Common elements: means all portions of a condominium other than the units and includes both general and limited common elements. See Texas Property Code 82.003
- Common expenses: means expenditures made by or financial liabilities of the association, together with any allocations to reserves. See Texas Property Code 82.003
- Condominium: means a form of real property with portions of the real property designated for separate ownership or occupancy, and the remainder of the real property designated for common ownership or occupancy solely by the owners of those portions. See Texas Property Code 82.003
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Declarant: means a person, or group of persons acting in concert, who:
(A) as part of a common promotional plan, offers to dispose of the person's interest in a unit not previously disposed of; or
(B) reserves or succeeds to any special declarant right. See Texas Property Code 82.003 - Declaration: means an instrument, however denominated, that creates a condominium, and any amendment to that instrument. See Texas Property Code 82.003
- Dedicatory instrument: means each document governing the establishment, maintenance, or operation of a condominium regime. See Texas Property Code 82.003
- General common elements: means common elements that are not limited common elements. See Texas Property Code 82.003
- Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Rule: includes regulation. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Unit: means a physical portion of the condominium designated for separate ownership or occupancy, the boundaries of which are described by the declaration. See Texas Property Code 82.003
- Unit owner: means a declarant or other person who owns a unit, or a lessee of a unit in a leasehold condominium whose lease expires simultaneously with any lease the expiration or termination of which will remove the unit from the condominium, but does not include a person having an interest in a unit solely as security for an obligation. See Texas Property Code 82.003
- Written: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures. See Texas Government Code 311.005
(b) The declaration may not impose limitations on the power of the association to deal with the declarant that are more restrictive than the limitations imposed on the power of the association to deal with other persons.
(c) To be enforceable, a bylaw or rule of the association must not be arbitrary or capricious.
(d) Before an association may charge the unit owner for property damage for which the unit owner is liable or levy a fine for violation of the declaration, bylaws, or rules, the association shall give to the unit owner a written notice that:
(1) describes the violation or property damage and states the amount of the proposed fine or damage charge;
(2) states that not later than the 30th day after the date of the notice, the unit owner may request a hearing before the board to contest the fine or damage charge; and
(3) allows the unit owner a reasonable time, by a specified date, to cure the violation and avoid the fine unless the unit owner was given notice and a reasonable opportunity to cure a similar violation within the preceding 12 months.
(e) The association may give a copy of the notice required by Subsection (d) to an occupant of the unit. The association must give notice of a levied fine or damage charge to the unit owner not later than the 30th day after the date of levy.
(f) Except as provided by Subsection (g), the association by resolution of the board of directors may:
(1) borrow money; and
(2) assign as collateral for the loan authorized by the resolution:
(A) the association’s right to future income, including the right to receive assessments; and
(B) the association’s lien rights.
(g) If a dedicatory instrument requires a vote of members of the association to borrow money or assign the association’s right to future income or the association’s lien rights, the loan or assignment must be approved as provided by the dedicatory instrument. The board may determine whether a vote for that purpose may be cast electronically, by absentee ballot, in person or by proxy at a meeting called for that purpose, or by written consent. If a lower approval threshold is not provided by the dedicatory instrument, approval requires the consent of owners holding 67 percent of all voting interests.