Meetings & GovernanceTX

Attending HOA Meetings in Texas

By The HOARebel Team · October 5, 2026 · 15 min read

Not legal advice. This article is general information based on publicly available state law, which can change and varies by state. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Your community's governing documents may impose additional requirements. Verify the current statutes and consult a licensed attorney in your state about your specific situation.

Texas gives owners in most subdivision HOAs a detailed set of meeting rights: open board meetings, advance notice with set deadlines, a short list of topics the board may take into a closed session, and a longer list of decisions that can only be made in a noticed, open meeting. Knowing what the statute requires makes it easier to tell when a meeting falls short. For your specific situation, a licensed Texas attorney is the right resource. This is general information, not legal advice.

Does the Texas Open Meetings Act apply to HOAs?

Usually not. Government Code chapter 551, the open-meetings law for government bodies (often called the Texas Open Meetings Act), reaches a property owners' association only in a narrow set of cases described in Gov. Code § 551.0015. That section makes an association "subject to this chapter in the same manner as a governmental body" only if it fits one of two descriptions, both limited to associations in "a county with a population of 2.8 million or more or in a county adjacent to" one:

membership is mandatory, the association can levy mandatory assessments, and the amount of those assessments "is or has ever been based in whole or in part on the value at which the state or a local governmental body assesses the property for purposes of ad valorem taxation"; or
the association provides maintenance, preservation, and architectural control of residential and commercial property and is a corporation that is governed by a board of trustees, "does not require membership in the corporation by the owners of the property within the defined area," and "was incorporated before January 1, 2006."

For most other Texas HOAs, board meetings are governed primarily by the Property Code instead: chapter 209, the Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act, and specifically § 209.0051. That section expressly steps aside for the few associations the government law covers — it "does not apply to a property owners' association that is subject to Chapter 551, Government Code, by application of Section 551.0015, Government Code" (§ 209.0051(a)).

Chapter 209 itself applies to residential subdivisions where the declaration authorizes assessments and membership is mandatory for all or most owners (§ 209.003(a)–(b)). It "does not apply to a condominium" (§ 209.003(d)); Texas condominiums have their own meeting rule, covered below.

Open board meetings: Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051

The core rule is short: "Regular and special board meetings must be open to owners" (§ 209.0051(c)). What counts as a "board meeting" is defined. It means "a deliberation between a quorum of the voting board … during which property owners' association business is considered and the board takes formal action" (§ 209.0051(b)(1)). A quorum gathering at a social function unrelated to association business, or at a regional, state, or national convention, ceremonial event, or press conference, is not a board meeting "if formal action is not taken and any discussion of association business is incidental" (§ 209.0051(b)(2)).

Location is also addressed. Unless the meeting is held electronically or by phone, it "must be held in a county in which all or part of the property in the subdivision is located or in a county adjacent to that county" (§ 209.0051(c-1)).

Notice: 10 to 60 days by mail, or 144/72 hours by posting and email

Owners must receive notice of "the date, hour, place, and general subject of a regular or special board meeting, including a general description of any matter to be brought up for deliberation in executive session" (§ 209.0051(e)). The statute offers two ways to deliver it:

By mail to each owner "not later than the 10th day or earlier than the 60th day before the date of the meeting" (§ 209.0051(e)(1)); or
By posting plus email, "at least 144 hours before the start of a regular board meeting and at least 72 hours before the start of a special board meeting" (§ 209.0051(e)(2)). The posting goes either in a conspicuous place on common property (or, with the owner's consent, other conspicuous private property in the subdivision) or on a members-accessible website maintained by the association or its management company — and the notice must also be emailed "to each owner who has registered an e-mail address with the association."

The email piece depends on owners: "It is an owner's duty to keep an updated e-mail address registered with the property owners' association" (§ 209.0051(f)).

If a meeting is recessed in good faith to the next regular business day, no new posting is required; if it is then continued again to another day, the board must post notice "within two hours after adjourning the meeting being continued" (§ 209.0051(g)).

Executive sessions and the required summary

The board may "adjourn a board meeting and reconvene in closed executive session" only to consider actions involving:

personnel;
pending or threatened litigation;
contract negotiations;
enforcement actions;
"confidential communications with the property owners' association's attorney";
"matters involving the invasion of privacy of individual owners"; or
"matters that are to remain confidential by request of the affected parties and agreement of the board" (§ 209.0051(c)).

What happens afterward is easy to miss. "Following an executive session, any decision made in the executive session must be summarized orally and placed in the minutes, in general terms," without breaching owner privacy, privilege, or confidentiality. And "[t]he oral summary must include a general explanation of expenditures approved in executive session" (§ 209.0051(c)). Combined with the notice rule above, owners get advance word of the general subject of an executive session and an after-the-fact summary of what was decided.

Board action without a meeting — and its limits

Texas lets a board "take action outside of a meeting, including voting by electronic or telephonic means, without prior notice to owners," as long as each board member gets "a reasonable opportunity to express the board member's opinion to all other board members and to vote" (§ 209.0051(h)). Any such action "must be summarized orally, including an explanation of any known actual or estimated expenditures approved at the meeting, and documented in the minutes of the next regular or special board meeting."

The limit is a list of fifteen subjects the board may not consider or vote on except "in an open meeting for which prior notice was given to owners" (§ 209.0051(h)):

fines;
damage assessments;
initiation of foreclosure actions;
initiation of enforcement actions, "excluding temporary restraining orders or violations involving a threat to health or safety";
increases in assessments;
levying of special assessments;
appeals from a denial of architectural control approval;
suspending a particular owner's right "before the owner has an opportunity to attend a board meeting to present the owner's position";
lending or borrowing money;
adopting or amending a dedicatory instrument;
"the approval of an annual budget or the approval of an amendment of an annual budget";
buying or selling real property;
filling a board vacancy;
building capital improvements, other than repairing, replacing, or enhancing existing ones; and
electing an officer.

During the developer-controlled period, § 209.0051 applies only to board meetings held to adopt or amend governing documents, raise regular assessments or adopt or raise a special assessment, elect non-developer board members, or change members' voting rights (§ 209.0051(i)).

Meetings by phone or video

A board meeting may be held "by electronic or telephonic means" if every board member can hear and be heard by every other board member, and — outside executive session — "all owners in attendance at the meeting may hear all board members" and owners "are allowed to listen using any electronic or telephonic communication method used or expected to be used by a board member to participate" (§ 209.0051(c-2)). The notice must include instructions for owners to access that method (§ 209.0051(c-2)(3)).

Minutes and meeting records

"The board shall keep a record of each regular or special board meeting in the form of written minutes of the meeting" (§ 209.0051(d)). Meeting records, "including approved minutes," must be made available to a member for inspection and copying on written request to the managing agent listed on the latest management certificate, or to the board if there is no managing agent.

Associations with more than 14 lots must have a document retention policy that keeps "minutes of meetings of the owners and the board" for seven years (§ 209.005(m)(5)). The general records-access process, including the certified-mail request and 10-business-day response window, is in § 209.005 and covered in Texas HOA records requests.

Speaking and recording at board meetings

Section 209.0051 makes board meetings open to owners, but Chapter 209 does not address a general owner right to speak at ordinary board meetings or owners recording them; its speaking-type provisions are tied to specific settings, such as the owner's opportunity to present a position before a suspension of a right (§ 209.0051(h)(8)) and enforcement hearings (§ 209.007(h)). Chapter 209 does mention audio recording in two hearing settings: at an enforcement hearing under § 209.007, "[t]he owner or the association may make an audio recording of the meeting" (§ 209.007(c)), and similar language appears for architectural-denial appeal hearings (§ 209.00505(h)). Associations often handle comment and recording at regular board meetings through their bylaws, board rules, and meeting practices. The hearing process is covered in Texas HOA fines under Chapter 209.

Annual meetings, elections, and voting

Annual meeting. Regardless of the governing documents, "a board of a property owners' association shall call an annual meeting of the members of the association" (§ 209.014(a)). If it doesn't, an owner may demand one in writing by certified mail; if the board still doesn't call a meeting within 30 days, "three or more owners may form an election committee" that can call a meeting "for the sole purpose of electing board members" (§ 209.014(b)–(c), (h)).

Notice of owner votes. For an election or vote at an owners' meeting, written notice goes out "not later than the 10th day or earlier than the 60th day before the date of the election or vote." For a vote not taken at a meeting, notice is due "not later than the 20th day before the latest date on which a ballot may be submitted to be counted" (§ 209.0056(a), (a-1)). Since September 1, 2025, SB 2629 (Acts 2025, ch. 79) provides that an owners' meeting under this section "may be held by any method of communication, including electronic and telephonic means" (§ 209.0056(d)).

How owners can vote. Votes may be cast in person or by proxy at a meeting, by absentee ballot, by electronic ballot, or by any representative voting method in the dedicatory instruments (§ 209.00592(a)). An association generally need not offer more than one method, but "[a]n owner must be allowed to vote by one of the following voting methods: (1) absentee ballot; (2) proxy; or (3) electronic ballot" — the list as amended by SB 2629 in 2025 (§ 209.00592(a-1)). An absentee or electronic ballot is not counted if the owner votes in person at the meeting, or if the motion was amended at the meeting (§ 209.00592(b)).

Ballots. The code carries two 2015 versions of § 209.0058(a): one (SB 864) says any vote cast in an election or vote by a member "must be in writing and signed by the member," and the other (SB 1168) applies that requirement to votes cast outside a meeting, in board elections, on adopting or amending a dedicatory instrument, on assessment increases or special assessments, and on removing a board member. Electronic ballots count as written and signed, and written and signed ballots are not required "for uncontested races" (§ 209.0058(a)–(c)). An association may adopt rules allowing secret ballots (§ 209.0058(d)); the version of that subsection added by SB 1168 in 2015 also provides that in a board election "each candidate may name one person to observe the counting of the ballots." A candidate or a person related to one within the third degree "may not tabulate or otherwise be given access to the ballots cast" (§ 209.00594(a)).

Right to vote and to run. A dedicatory-instrument provision that "would disqualify a property owner from voting" in a board election or on matters concerning the owner's rights or responsibilities "is void" (§ 209.0059(a)), and so is one that restricts an owner's right to run for the board, subject to the exceptions in the statute (§ 209.00591(a)). Board members whose terms have expired "must be elected by owners," and associations with more than 100 lots must send a call for candidates at least 10 days before ballots go out (§ 209.00593(a), (a-1)).

Recounts. Any owner may demand a recount in writing "not later than the 15th day after" the meeting or the announcement of results, whichever is later. The owner pays the estimated cost up front; the recount is done by someone who is not an association member or related to a board member within the third degree and who is a current or former county judge, county elections administrator, justice of the peace, or county voter registrar, or a person both sides agree on; and if the recount changes the outcome, the association reimburses the owner (§ 209.0057(b)–(d)).

Several of these voting sections do not apply to associations subject to Government Code chapter 552 "by application of Section 552.0036, Government Code" (see §§ 209.0056(c), 209.0057(a), 209.0059(b), 209.00592(g)).

Texas condominiums: Tex. Prop. Code § 82.108

Condominiums with declarations recorded on or after January 1, 1994, are governed primarily by Property Code chapter 82, the Uniform Condominium Act (§§ 82.001, 82.002(a)); older condominiums may remain under the earlier chapter 81 unless they opted in (§ 82.002(a), (d)). Chapter 82's meeting section, § 82.108, is on the list of sections that also apply to those older condominiums (§ 82.002(c)). It requires association meetings "at least once each year" and provides that "[m]eetings of the association and board must be open to unit owners," with closed executive sessions limited to a list similar to the HOA list. "The general nature of any business to be considered in executive session must first be announced at the open meeting" (§ 82.108(a)–(b)).

As amended by SB 2629 in 2025, a condominium board may meet by electronic or telephonic means if notice was given, each director can hear and be heard, and the meeting "does not involve voting on a fine, damage assessment, appeal from a denial of architectural control approval, or suspension of a right" of a member before that member can be heard; the same exclusions limit board action by unanimous written consent (§ 82.108(c)–(c-1)). Notice of meetings follows the bylaws, or the Business Organizations Code if the bylaws are silent (§ 82.108(d)–(e)), and on written request the association "shall inform the unit owner of the time and place of the next regular or special meeting of the board" (§ 82.108(f)).

What the governing documents and corporation law add

The statute sets the floor, but it does not operate alone. Quorum requirements, how meetings are run, proxy forms, director terms, and owner-comment practices generally come from the declaration, bylaws, and board rules, together with the Business Organizations Code for associations organized as nonprofit corporations. Federal law, such as the Fair Housing Act, can also bear on how an association treats owners. A licensed Texas attorney can read a community's documents alongside chapter 209.

What people generally do

For owners who want a real view into their Texas association's decisions, a few things commonly matter:

Whether each board meeting was noticed by mail 10 to 60 days ahead, or posted and emailed 144 hours (regular) or 72 hours (special) ahead.
Whether the notice described any executive-session topics, and whether decisions made there were summarized orally and placed in the minutes.
Whether any of the fifteen listed subjects — fines, assessment increases, budgets, filling vacancies — were decided outside a noticed, open meeting.
Whether owners have registered a current email address, since the posting method relies on it.
Approved minutes and meeting records show how decisions were made; if meetings fall short of § 209.0051, a licensed Texas attorney is the resource for what options may exist.

More Texas topics, including whether a Texas HOA can foreclose, are collected in the Texas HOA law guide.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Texas Open Meetings Act apply to my HOA?

For most Texas HOAs, no. Government Code chapter 551 reaches a property owners' association only if it fits the narrow descriptions in Gov. Code § 551.0015, which are limited to certain associations in counties with 2.8 million or more people or adjacent counties. Most HOA board meetings are governed instead by Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051, which itself excludes associations that § 551.0015 covers.

How much notice must a Texas HOA give before a board meeting?

Under § 209.0051(e), the notice must either be mailed to each owner 10 to 60 days before the meeting, or be posted (on common property or an association website) and emailed to owners with a registered email address at least 144 hours before a regular meeting or 72 hours before a special meeting. The notice must state the date, hour, place, and general subject, including a general description of executive-session matters.

Can a Texas HOA board vote by email?

In general, yes — § 209.0051(h) allows action outside a meeting, including electronic voting, if every board member has a chance to weigh in and vote, and the action is summarized at the next meeting. But fifteen subjects, including fines, assessment increases, special assessments, budget approval, filling board vacancies, and electing officers, may only be considered or voted on in an open meeting with prior notice to owners.

Can I record or speak at a Texas HOA board meeting?

Section 209.0051 opens board meetings to owners, but Chapter 209 does not address a general right to speak at, or record, ordinary board meetings; associations often handle those questions through their bylaws and rules. Chapter 209 does expressly allow audio recording at enforcement hearings under § 209.007(c) and architectural-appeal hearings under § 209.00505(h).

Do these rules apply to Texas condominiums?

No. Chapter 209 "does not apply to a condominium" (§ 209.003(d)). Texas condominium meetings are covered by § 82.108 of the Uniform Condominium Act, which also requires open association and board meetings, limits executive sessions, and requires the general nature of executive-session business to be announced first at the open meeting.

Sources

Keep reading

The Texas HOA guide covers the governing statute and lists every Texas article.

HOA meetings in other states
Nationwide overview: HOA Meetings and Elections: Attending, Speaking, Quorum and Proxies