Texas Legislature up to something...

[wesmills]

...but this time, it's USEFUL. Quoth the Dallas Morning News:

Texas amendment would prohibit HOA foreclosures

Comments

[luckyckljw]

I'm sorry, but I must disagree with this bill.

In the condominium complex in which Eric and I live, our utilities are paid through our HOA dues. If people fall behind on their dues, then our electric, water, and waste bills would not be paid. Our management fees would not be paid, and our complex would not be kept up. I have to agree that, when moving into a community that has mandatory HOA dues, a homeowner is obliged to pay them. Unless there is a provision in this bill to protect communities like mine, I can't consider it a good thing to have pass.

[wesmills]

There still is: HOAs are still allowed to place liens against properties which must be paid if and when the property is transferred. The problem is, HOAs have too much power in this state. If you get on the wrong side of a board, you can (and people have) find yourself out of your house over a couple hundred dollars or the secretive actions of a board with a power trip.

As for your association, I can't imagine that the HOA wouldn't have another method of enforcing past due balances short of foreclosure. The bill only says the HOA can't foreclose; it says nothing about other enforcement actions such as discontinuing utilities or denying access to community pools.

[luckyckljw]

Unfortunately for our complex, there is no way to shut off utilities to a single unit. We don't have individual meters for anything, hence paying utilities via dues. We're in a sticky situation, having already placed liens against the properties where the owners have fallen way behind on their dues, but they have absolutely no intention to sell. Because of the way this community is set up, we have no other effective recourse. It becomes a "So what?" situation: owner stops paying, doesn't move out. The other owners suffer through raised dues and no maintenance because what we pay for special assessments has to be put to paying utilities. This isn't a hypothetical, it's what's happening now

[wesmills]

You may have found a failing in the law as proposed, or it may be that the amendment doesn't apply to condominium conversions from apartment complexes (which is what yours sounds like). Hopefully this can be addressed because, for the majority of people who live in single family home-style HOAs, this would be welcome relief. :)