Industry Analysis · Texas Legislative Outlook

Texas Goes Back to the Capitol: What the 2027 Session Holds for Community Associations

Prefiling for the 90th Texas Legislature opens November 9, 2026. No interim charge names community associations, and none needs to. The session's three biggest pressures — insurance, property tax relief, and housing supply — all run straight through the communities that roughly six million Texans live in. Here is what the last session changed, what is likely to be filed, and what boards and management companies should have done before the new laws arrive on September 1, 2027.

By Ian Knight, CMCA, AMS, PCAM Published November 8, 2026 Reading time: ~10 minutes Audience: Texas board members, community association managers, management-company leadership

The Bottom Line

Texas changes its association statutes almost every session, and 2027 should be no exception. The pattern since 2011 has been steady and one-directional: more process before the association can act against an owner, more disclosure to owners, and a longer list of property uses an association cannot prohibit. Nothing in the interim record suggests that pattern is reversing. What is different this cycle is the pressure arriving from outside association law — insurance premiums the Legislature has spent the interim studying, a property tax debate that tends to sweep in anything resembling a tax, and a housing-supply agenda that has already reached past city zoning once. Associations whose current compliance is clean will absorb whatever passes. Associations still behind on the 2025 changes will be implementing two sessions' worth of law at once.

The Calendar

November 9, 2026 — prefiling opens. The first week usually produces the bills members have been drafting all interim.
January 12, 2027 — the 90th Legislature convenes.
March 12, 2027 — the 60th day; the deadline for filing most bills. Whatever has not been filed by then is, with narrow exceptions, not coming this session.
May 31, 2027 — the 140th day; the regular session ends.
June 20, 2027 — the governor's deadline to sign or veto bills passed at the end of the session.
September 1, 2027 — the most common effective date for Property Code changes. That leaves June through August to update notices, policies, forms, and training.

Start With What 2025 Already Changed

The 89th Legislature's association changes took effect September 1, 2025, and some are still not built into board calendars. They are the baseline every 2027 bill will be drafted against:

Architectural review (SB 711). Building on the 2021 framework in SB 1588, the bill added a vacancy-notice and candidate-solicitation step before an architectural review authority seat is filled, with new eligibility rules in § 209.00506 and § 209.00507.
Security fencing (SB 711). New limits on when an association may prohibit security fencing and driveway gates, with exceptions for pre-existing installations and documented security need.
Condominium disclosure (SB 711). Condominium associations must maintain a website for their recorded dedicatory instruments, expand their management certificates, and e-file those certificates with TREC within seven days of recording — and owners owe no delinquency interest or collection attorney's fees while the association is out of compliance.
Voting and meetings (SB 2629). Associations must offer at least one of electronic ballot, absentee ballot, or proxy, and condominium meetings may be held by any communication method the Business Organizations Code permits — see virtual and electronic meetings.
Protected uses (HB 517, HB 621, HB 431). Grass and vegetation enforcement is suspended during residential watering restrictions and for 60 days after; owners may invite officials and candidates to speak in common areas; solar roof tiles now count as solar energy devices. The full list is in protected property uses under Chapter 202.

Read together, the 2025 changes show where the Legislature's attention goes: who sits on committees that decide owner applications, what an owner can find out without asking, and what an association loses when its paperwork is late. Expect 2027 to continue on the same lines.

What the Interim Record Says

Speaker Dustin Burrows and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick released their interim charges in spring 2026. The headline themes are property tax relief, water, energy, data centers, regulatory reform, and oversight of the 2025 session's major bills. As of this writing, CICSC has not identified a charge in either chamber that names property owners' associations or condominiums.

That absence is less reassuring than it looks. Association bills in Texas rarely come out of interim studies; they come from individual members responding to constituent complaints, and constituents complain about associations in every district. The interim charges matter instead for what they put in the room alongside those bills.

Five Pressures on the 2027 Session

1. Insurance — the issue Texas associations feel first

The House Insurance Committee spent the interim hearing testimony on property and casualty insurance costs, consumer protections, and policy cancellations and nonrenewals. Senate Business & Commerce took testimony on the coastal property market, where the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association wrote a majority of the residential wind market in 2025. For a single-family owner, that is a premium problem. For a condominium association, it is a budget problem, a reserve problem, and frequently an assessment problem — the master policy is often the fastest-growing line in the operating budget. Insurance reform bills are typically written for individual policyholders, but provisions on nonrenewal notice, rate filings, and windstorm coverage reach association master policies as well. Outlook: likely to see significant filings; association-specific provisions possible.

2. Property tax relief — and the "private tax" argument

Property tax relief is again at the top of both chambers' agendas. Associations are not taxing units, and assessments are contractual obligations under recorded covenants. But the argument that association assessments function as a private tax is easy to make from a podium and familiar from other statehouses — California's 2026 move to cap no-vote assessment increases is the most recent example, covered in The Repricing. A Texas bill to cap assessment increases or require owner approval above a threshold would collide directly with reserve funding for aging components. Outlook: a filing is plausible; passage this session is unlikely.

3. Housing supply — watch the carve-out

The 2025 session reached past city zoning to increase housing supply: SB 15 restricted large cities' minimum lot-size requirements for certain new subdivisions, and SB 840 requires large cities to allow residential development in commercially zoned areas. Both are under interim monitoring. Both also preserved private restrictions — SB 15 expressly states that it does not prohibit owners from enforcing deed restrictions or association rules. That carve-out is the provision to watch in 2027. If the next round of housing-supply bills — accessory dwelling units, smaller lots, more units per lot — arrives without that language, it becomes the first Texas housing policy to override deed restrictions rather than city codes, and architectural review authority narrows accordingly. Outlook: more housing-supply bills likely; whether the deed-restriction carve-out survives is the open question.

4. Collections and enforcement — the perennial

Texas already wraps association collections in more process than most states: the 45-day cure notice, required payment plans, a payment-application order that puts assessments ahead of fines, a ban on foreclosing for fines alone, judicial-only assessment lien foreclosure, and a 180-day right of redemption. Every one of those protections arrived through a bill filed in response to a specific story. Expect more of them: tighter limits on collection costs and attorney's fees passed through to owners, additional notice before referral to collections, and renewed attempts to narrow or end foreclosure on homesteads. Outlook: at least one collections or enforcement bill likely filed; incremental changes more likely to pass than an outright foreclosure ban.

5. Protected uses — the list keeps growing

Chapter 202 grows almost every session: flags, solar, rain barrels, religious displays, drought-tolerant landscaping, security measures, and in 2025, watering-restriction protection and political events in common areas. The next candidates are predictable from what owners are installing: backup generators, home batteries, EV chargers, and further water-conservation landscaping. Short-term rental restrictions also remain an open policy fight. Outlook: likely that one or more new protected uses pass.

What Is Probably Not Coming

Manager licensing. Despite how often it is assumed, Texas has never been asked the question. A twenty-five-year sweep of the legislative record found no bill ever introduced to license, register, or mandate education for community association managers, and the Texas Real Estate Commission states plainly that no state agency regulates HOAs in Texas. A first-ever filing in 2027 would be notable. Passage would be remarkable.

A rewrite of condominium law. Texas has not had a Surfside-style catalyst, and the Uniform Condominium Act in Chapter 82 has been amended piecemeal rather than overhauled. Expect condominium provisions in the insurance and disclosure bills, not a structural reform package of the kind Florida passed in 2022 and 2024.

CICSC's Forecast

Very likely: at least one bill amending Chapter 209 passes and takes effect September 1, 2027.
Likely: the enacted version is narrower than the filed version, as SB 711 was. Early filings overstate what becomes law.
Likely: one or more new protected property uses under Chapter 202.
Possible: a collections or enforcement change — costs, notices, or homestead foreclosure limits.
Possible: insurance legislation with provisions that reach condominium master policies.
Unlikely: an assessment cap, manager licensing, or a structural condominium reform.

This forecast will be revisited after the March 12 filing deadline, when the actual field of bills is known.

What Boards and Management Companies Should Do Now

Close out 2025 compliance. Confirm the architectural review vacancy and solicitation process is in the board calendar, condominium websites and TREC filings are current, and election notices offer a compliant voting method. Use the Texas compliance checklist.
Audit the collections sequence. Notices, payment plan policy, payment-application order, and attorney referral criteria should match current Chapter 209 exactly. Clean files absorb new requirements; messy files get litigated under them.
Put insurance on the 2027 budget agenda now. Get renewal indications early, document the board's coverage decisions, and be ready to explain premium increases to owners in the same terms the Legislature is using.
Assign someone to watch the filings. A management company should have one person reviewing new bills weekly from prefiling through March 12 for "property owners' association," Chapter 209, Chapter 202, and Chapter 82. Boards can rely on their manager and association counsel, but should ask for a summary in the spring.
Plan the summer. New law will most likely take effect September 1, 2027. Policies, forms, notices, and manager training need to be updated in the three months after the session — the same window as budget season.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does the 2027 Texas legislative session start and end?

The 90th Legislature convenes January 12, 2027, and the 140-day regular session ends May 31, 2027. Bills may be prefiled beginning November 9, 2026, and most bills must be filed by the 60th day, March 12, 2027. The governor has until June 20 to sign or veto bills passed at the end of the session.

When would new Texas HOA laws take effect?

Most bills that change the Property Code take effect September 1 of the session year, so new association law from the 2027 session would most likely apply beginning September 1, 2027. Some bills take effect immediately on a two-thirds vote, and some delay their effective date to give associations time to comply. Each enrolled bill states its own effective date.

Is there a 2027 interim charge specifically about HOAs?

As of this writing, CICSC has not identified a House or Senate interim charge that names property owners' associations or condominiums. Several charges touch them indirectly, most notably the House Insurance Committee's study of property and casualty insurance costs, cancellations, and nonrenewals, and the charges monitoring 2025 housing-supply legislation.

Will Texas license community association managers in 2027?

Unlikely. CICSC research found that no bill to license, register, or mandate education for community association managers has been introduced in Texas in twenty-five years of legislative record, and the Texas Real Estate Commission states it has no jurisdiction over HOAs or association management companies. A first-ever filing would be news in itself.

What should a Texas board do before the session?

Finish implementing the 2025 changes first: the architectural review vacancy notice and solicitation process, the condominium website and management certificate requirements, and the expanded voting options. Then make sure the association's delinquency notices, payment plan policy, and fine procedures follow the current Chapter 209 sequence exactly, because collections and enforcement are where new law most often lands.

References & Sources

Texas Legislature Online — capitol.texas.gov (bill search, filing and session calendar)
S.B. 15, 89th Leg., R.S. (2025), enrolled text, including Local Government Code § 211.057 — capitol.texas.gov
Winstead PC, “2025 Texas Legislative Update: Issues Affecting Texas Homeowners’ Associations and Condominium Owners’ Associations” — winstead.com
Texas Municipal League, “Speaker Burrows Releases Interim Charges,” Legislative Update No. 12 (March 27, 2026) — tml.org
Texas House Committee on Insurance, interim hearing on property and casualty insurance costs (2026) — texaspolicyresearch.com
Texas Public Policy Foundation, testimony to the Senate Committee on Business & Commerce on property insurance and TWIA (June 2026) — texaspolicy.com
Foley & Lardner, “Texas Enacts Critical Real Estate Reforms — Senate Bills 15, 17, 840” (2025) — foley.com

Related Resources from the CIC-SC Library

Tags: Texas Legislature · 90th Legislature · 2027 session · Texas HOA law · Chapter 209 · Chapter 202 · Chapter 82 · SB 711 · property insurance · TWIA · property tax relief · deed restrictions · legislative outlook

Notice: CICSC provides educational resources, governance standards, and practical advisory support. CICSC does not provide legal advice, accounting advice, tax advice, engineering advice, insurance advice, or reserve study services. Board members and associations should consult qualified professionals for matters requiring professional judgment or legal interpretation.