Bell County HOA Rules and Fees
What a property owners association can and cannot do
A mandatory homeowners association in Texas can bill you assessments, set architectural rules, fine you for breaking them, and, with a court order, foreclose on its own lien. What surprises most buyers is how much the state limits all of that, and how much of it you are entitled to read before you ever write an offer.
Chapter 209 of the Texas Property Code sets the notice an association has to give you before it acts, Chapter 207 sets what it has to hand over when a home in the subdivision changes hands, and Chapter 202 voids several kinds of restriction outright. None of that is discretionary, and none of it depends on your being a good negotiator.
So the practical answer, before you buy in a Bell County subdivision that has an association: ask for the documents in writing, pull the management certificate from the county clerk, and read what the association can charge and what it has already approved. This page walks through each of those and what the statute actually says.
Which associations Chapter 209 actually covers
Not every neighborhood group is governed by the same law, and the difference matters before you rely on any of the protections below.
Under Section 209.003, the chapter applies only to a residential subdivision whose declaration authorizes the association to collect regular or special assessments on all or a majority of the property in the subdivision, and only to an association that requires mandatory membership for all or a majority of the residential owners. What the group calls itself makes no difference: the statute says it applies whether the documents say homeowners association, community association or something similar.
If membership is voluntary, Chapter 209 does not govern it. A voluntary neighborhood association can ask for dues and organize a cleanup, but it is not the same animal as a mandatory association with an assessment lien.
One more exclusion catches people out. Section 209.003(d) says the chapter does not apply to a condominium. Condominium regimes run on Chapter 82, the Texas Uniform Condominium Act, or, for a declaration recorded before 1994, on Chapter 81 together with the list of Chapter 82 sections that Section 82.002(c) extends to older condominiums. The resale certificate section, 82.157, is on that list. If the listing says condominium, the Chapter 209 timelines below are not the ones to quote.
The documents you can demand before you close
This is the single most useful right a buyer has here, and it is routinely left unused.
Under Section 207.003, the association has until the 10th business day after it receives a written request to deliver three things: a current copy of the restrictions applying to the subdivision, a current copy of the bylaws and rules, and a resale certificate prepared no earlier than the 60th day before it is delivered.
The request can come from the owner or the owner’s agent, from a buyer or a buyer’s agent, or from a title company acting for either. For a buyer request, the association is allowed to ask first for reasonable evidence that the buyer has a contractual or other right to acquire property in the subdivision, so expect to show the contract.
The resale certificate is where the money is. Section 207.003(b) requires it to state any right of first refusal or other restraint on transferring the property, the frequency and amount of regular assessments, the amount and purpose of any special assessment already approved and coming due after the certificate is delivered, the total of all amounts due and unpaid that are attributable to the property, capital expenditures approved for the current fiscal year, and the amount of reserves. That is the opening of a sixteen-item list. Further down the same subsection it also has to state any administrative transfer fee, the name, mailing address and telephone number of the managing agent, whether the restrictions allow foreclosure of the association lien for unpaid assessments, and a statement of all fees associated with the transfer of ownership, with a description of each fee, who it is paid to, and the amount.
Read the special assessment line and the reserves line together. An association with thin reserves and a capital project already approved is telling you something about next year, in writing, before you are committed.
What the paperwork can cost you is capped. Section 207.003(c) limits the association to a reasonable and necessary fee of no more than $375 to assemble, copy and deliver the information, and no more than $75 to prepare and deliver an update to the resale certificate. Under Section 207.003(c-1) it may not charge at all if the certificate is not provided within the time the section allows.
On a Texas promulgated contract this is handled by the Addendum for Property Subject to Mandatory Membership in a Property Owners Association, TREC form 36-11, effective July 1, 2026. The addendum lets the buyer elect to receive the subdivision information or to waive it. Elect to receive it.
For a condominium, the equivalent is Section 82.157. Before the contract is executed or the unit conveyed, the selling owner has to furnish a current copy of the declaration, the bylaws and any association rules, plus a resale certificate issued by the association and prepared no earlier than three months before delivery. That certificate carries the current operating budget, the periodic common expense assessment, unpaid common expenses and special assessments, approved capital expenditures for the next 12 months, reserves, unsatisfied judgments against the association, pending suits, and the insurance coverage held for the benefit of unit owners. Section 82.157(b) gives the association 10 days from a written request to furnish that certificate to the selling owner, and if it does not, the owner may give the buyer a sworn affidavit instead.
Where the association paperwork is recorded
You do not have to wait for a seller to cooperate to learn who runs a subdivision and what it charges to transfer a home in it.
Section 209.004 requires an association to record a management certificate in the real property records of every county in which any part of the subdivision sits, and requires the county clerk to index it as a “Property Owners’ Association Management Certificate,” which is the exact string to search in the index. It has to state the name of the subdivision and of the association, the recording data for the subdivision and for the declaration and its amendments, the mailing address of the association, the name, mailing address, telephone number and email address of the person managing it, the website where the dedicatory instruments are posted, and the amount and description of any fee charged in connection with a property transfer in the subdivision.
In Bell County, real property records are filed with the County Clerk at the Justice Center, 1201 Huey Road in Belton. That is where to look for the certificate, and for the declaration it points to.
There is also an online route. Section 207.006 requires an association in a subdivision of at least 60 lots, or any association that has contracted with a management company, to keep the current version of its dedicatory instruments on a website available to members. That site is for members, though. The route open to a buyer is Section 209.004(b-1), which requires the association to file the management certificate electronically with the Texas Real Estate Commission within seven days of recording it, and requires the commission to make that data accessible to the public through a website.
What the restrictions cannot stop you from doing
Chapter 202 makes several categories of restriction void no matter what the declaration says. These come up constantly in Central Texas, where water and roofs are both live issues.
Water and landscaping. Section 202.007 bars an association from prohibiting or restricting composting of vegetation, leaving grass clippings uncollected, rain barrels or a rainwater harvesting system, efficient irrigation including underground drip systems, or drought-resistant landscaping and water-conserving natural turf. A provision that violates it is void. What the association may still do is set out in Section 202.007(d), and it is a real list: restrict the type of turf used when new turf is planted, in order to encourage water-conserving turf; regulate the size, type, shielding, materials and location of a composting device, and decline to allow one anywhere other than your fenced yard or patio; regulate the installation of efficient irrigation, including visibility limits for aesthetic purposes; regulate the installation or use of gravel, rocks or cacti; regulate yard and landscape maintenance, so long as it does not prohibit turf or landscaping design that promotes water conservation; and decline a rain barrel placed between the front of your home and an adjoining street, or in a color inconsistent with your home, or displaying content it was not manufactured with. Read that subsection before you buy the barrel.
Solar. Section 202.010 bars a flat prohibition on solar energy devices, but it is not a free hand. The association may still require that the device sit on the roof or in a fenced yard or patio, that a roof-mounted device not extend higher than or beyond the roofline, that it conform to the slope of the roof with its top edge parallel to the roofline, that the frame, support bracket, or visible piping or wiring be a silver, bronze or black tone commonly available, and that a device in a fenced yard or patio not stand taller than the fence line. It may also designate the roof area, unless an alternate location would raise the estimated annual energy production by more than 10 percent using the National Renewable Energy Laboratory modeling tool. It may require prior approval, and may refuse an installation that voids material warranties. One exception sits outside all of that: under Section 202.010(f), during the development period of a development with fewer than 51 planned residential units, the declarant may prohibit a solar energy device outright.
Roofing. Section 202.011 protects shingles designed to be wind and hail resistant, to be more energy efficient than customary composite shingles, or to generate solar power, provided that once installed they resemble the shingles authorized in the subdivision, are more durable and of equal or superior quality, and match the aesthetics of the surrounding property. That is worth knowing before you re-roof.
Religious items. Section 202.018 bars an association from prohibiting the display of religious items motivated by a sincere religious belief, subject to the exceptions the section spells out, such as items that threaten public health or safety or violate another law.
If the association says you broke a rule
Section 209.006 puts a notice step in front of most enforcement. Before an association may suspend your right to use a common area, sue you for anything other than collecting an assessment or foreclosing its lien, charge you for property damage, levy a fine, or report a delinquency of yours to a credit reporting service, it has to give you written notice by certified mail.
That notice has to describe the violation or damage, state any amount due, and tell you three things: that you are entitled to a reasonable period to cure if the violation is curable and does not threaten public health or safety, that you may request a hearing on or before the 30th day after the notice was mailed, and that you may have separate rights under federal law, including the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, if you are serving on active military duty.
If you ask for the hearing, Section 209.007 says the board has to hold it no later than the 30th day after it receives your request, and has to tell you the date, time and place no later than the 10th day before it. Either side may ask for a postponement of up to 10 days, and more by agreement. You or the association may make an audio recording of the meeting.
Those notice and hearing steps do not apply where the association files for a temporary restraining order or temporary injunction, or files a suit that includes foreclosure as a cause of action.
If you fall behind on what you owe
The order in which your money is applied is usually set by statute, not by the association. Section 209.0063 requires a payment to go first to delinquent assessments, then current assessments, then reasonable attorney fees or third party collection costs tied solely to assessments or another charge that could support foreclosure, then other reasonable attorney fees, then fines, then anything else. In other words, your payment reduces the balance that could cost you the house before it touches the balance that cannot. The exception is Section 209.0063(b): if you are already in default under a payment plan, the association is not held to that order, though even then it may not put a fine ahead of anything else you owe.
Section 209.0062 requires an association of more than 14 lots to adopt guidelines for an alternative payment schedule that lets an owner pay down delinquent amounts without new monetary penalties. The minimum term is three months. The association is not required to let a plan run more than 18 months from the date you ask, to offer one more than once in a 12-month period, or to offer one to an owner who defaulted on a previous plan within the last two years.
Before a collection agent fee can be put on your account, Section 209.0064 requires the association to send certified mail notice specifying each delinquent amount and the total needed to bring the account current, describing your options, and giving you at least 45 days to cure. The payment plan part of that notice applies where the association is subject to Section 209.0062 or its own documents require a plan.
Section 209.009 bars foreclosure of the assessment lien where the debt securing it consists solely of fines, of attorney fees associated solely with fines, or of certain amounts added to the account under Sections 209.005(i) or 209.0057(b-4).
Two further steps stand in front of any foreclosure, and they are the ones worth knowing. Before an association can even file the assessment lien, Section 209.0094 requires two notices of delinquency, the first by first class mail or by email and the second by certified mail no earlier than 30 days after it, and bars filing the lien until the 90th day after that second notice. Then Section 209.0092 provides that an association may not foreclose an assessment lien unless it first obtains a court order in an application for expedited foreclosure, subject to the exceptions that section sets out. A Texas association does not simply post your home for sale on its own.
And a foreclosure is not necessarily the end of it. Section 209.011 gives the owner, or a lienholder of record, a right to redeem the property, exercisable until the 180th day after the association mails notice of the sale. A lienholder may not redeem during the first 90 days, and then only if the owner has not already redeemed. A purchaser of occupied property has to bring a forcible entry and detainer action under Chapter 24 to recover possession.
All of that is general information rather than legal advice. If you are already in a dispute with an association, the documents recorded against your subdivision and a Texas attorney are the place to take it.
Restrictions are recorded by subdivision, not by city
This is the part that makes HOA questions hard to answer at the city level. A declaration is recorded against a platted subdivision, so the rules, the assessment and the transfer fee all change at the subdivision boundary. Two houses a few streets apart, both with a Temple address, can sit under different documents, or one can sit under a declaration and the other under none at all.
Which means the useful unit of comparison when you are searching is the subdivision, not the city. If you are weighing neighborhoods in south Temple, what is on the market in Wyndham Hill is a different question from what is listed three miles away, and the recorded documents behind those listings are different too. Pull the management certificate for the specific subdivision before you decide the monthly cost of living there.
The same holds across the county. If you are still choosing between places, comparing homes across Bell County cities covers the other lines that move between two addresses, including school districts, taxing units and utility service.
A short checklist before you sign
- Ask in writing for the restrictions, the bylaws and rules, and the resale certificate, and start the 10 business day clock early.
- Pull the management certificate for the subdivision at the Bell County Clerk and read the transfer fees on it.
- Check the resale certificate for a special assessment already approved and coming due after closing.
- Check the total unpaid amounts attributable to the property, and who is expected to clear them at closing.
- Compare the reserves against any approved capital expenditure for the current fiscal year.
- Note the managing agent and how to reach them, from the management certificate.
- If it is a condominium, ask for the Chapter 82 resale certificate and the current operating budget instead.
- On the contract, elect to receive the subdivision information on TREC form 36-11 rather than waiving it.
Most of that can be worked through inside the option period, and none of it depends on the association liking you. If chasing recorded documents is not how you want to spend that week, the contact page is the quickest way to hand it off. Anyone still deciding where to look will get more out of buying a home in Bell County, or the first-time buyer page if this is a first purchase.
Written by Dedrae Williamson, a Texas-licensed real estate agent with JD Walters Real Estate. Reviewed September 23, 2026. Sources: Texas Property Code Sections 202.007, 202.010, 202.011, 202.018, 207.003, 207.006, 209.003, 209.004, 209.006, 209.007, 209.0062, 209.0063, 209.0064, 209.009, 209.0092, 209.0094, 209.011, 82.002 and 82.157; Texas Real Estate Commission form 36-11; Bell County Clerk. TempleDreamHomes.com, linked above, is also operated by JD Walters Real Estate. Statutes and association documents change; check the linked sources on the day. This is general information, not legal advice.
Common questions
How long does a Texas HOA have to send the subdivision documents?
Not later than the 10th business day after it receives a written request and verifies that the person asking has authority to order a resale certificate. Section 207.003 of the Property Code requires the association to deliver a current copy of the restrictions, a current copy of the bylaws and rules, and a resale certificate prepared no earlier than the 60th day before it is delivered.
Can a Texas HOA stop me from installing solar panels?
No, not outright. Section 202.010 makes a flat prohibition void. The association may still require prior approval and may require the device to sit on the roof or in a fenced yard, to stay within the roofline, to follow the slope of the roof, to use silver, bronze or black hardware, and not to void material warranties. One narrow exception: during the development period of a development with fewer than 51 planned residential units, the declarant may prohibit a solar energy device outright under Section 202.010(f).
Does Chapter 209 apply to a condominium?
No. Section 209.003(d) excludes condominiums. A Texas condominium regime runs on Chapter 82, the Uniform Condominium Act, or on Chapter 81 for older regimes, and the resale certificate requirement there is Section 82.157.
Can an HOA foreclose on my home over unpaid fines?
Not if the debt securing the lien is only fines, only attorney fees tied solely to fines, or certain amounts added to the account under Sections 209.005(i) or 209.0057(b-4). Section 209.009 bars foreclosure in that situation. A payment you do make is applied to delinquent and current assessments before it is applied to fines.
Where do I find out which HOA runs a subdivision in Bell County?
In the real property records at the Bell County Clerk, at 1201 Huey Road in Belton. Section 209.004 requires the association to record a management certificate there, indexed as a Property Owners Association Management Certificate, naming the association, the managing agent, the website with the governing documents, and any fee charged on a property transfer.
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