Texas HOA resale certificate and the 10-business-day deadline

Texas Property Code 207.003 sets the timeline. After the association or its management company receives a written request and verifies it, it has until the 10th business day to deliver three things: a current copy of the subdivision restrictions, a current copy of the bylaws and rules, and a resale certificate prepared no earlier than 60 days before delivery. Because the count is in business days, a request around a holiday can stretch close to two calendar weeks.

The statute also has a teeth clause for the fee. If the association does not provide the certificate within the time the section prescribes, it may not charge a fee for it at all. A management company that delivers late and still bills for the certificate is not following the statute.

The resale certificate is the financial snapshot of your obligation. Read it for:

• The regular assessment amount and how often it is billed.
• Any amount the association claims is owed on the property, which can follow it to closing.
• Any special assessment the association has approved that comes due after the certificate.
• Any association right of first refusal, and any known violation of the restrictions on the property.

Property Code 207.003 sets the delivery deadline, but the right to walk away from the purchase is in the contract, not the statute. The standard TREC addendum for a property subject to mandatory membership in a property owners association handles it: if the seller does not deliver the subdivision information, the buyer's remedy is to terminate the contract at any time before closing and get the earnest money back; if the information is delivered late, the buyer gets 3 days to terminate, again with the earnest money refunded.

The practical point is simple: the deadline only helps you if you use the time to read the certificate. The contract gives you the exit; the certificate tells you whether to take it.

The resale certificate is short, but it points at the bigger documents behind it. A balance the association claims is owed, an approved special assessment, or a noted violation on the property is a cost or a fight you can inherit at closing. The certificate is where it first shows up in writing.

An HOA Notes brief reads the resale certificate against the governing documents and the financials, flags the assessments, the claimed balances, and the violations, and cites the page behind every finding, so you know what you are taking on before your termination window closes.

Texas Property Code section 207.003 (Resale certificate deadline). On a written request, the property owners association must deliver the subdivision restrictions, the bylaws and rules, and a resale certificate dated within the last 60 days no later than the 10th business day after the request is received and verified. The association may charge a reasonable fee for assembling the resale certificate, but may not charge any fee if it fails to deliver the certificate within the time the statute prescribes.

When you read the disclosure packet, watch for resale certificate delivered after the 10th business day, resale certificate older than 60 days at delivery, and fee charged even though the deadline was missed. HOA Notes flags each of these against the statute and tells you which restrictions are actually enforceable.