Texas budget guide
Texas budget calendar and the clocks that matter
There is no fourteen-day rule in Texas. The Property Code requires a budget adopted at least annually and then leaves the sequence to your dedicatory instruments, which means the board's calendar is whatever the board writes down and follows.
Statute text and section summaries reproduced from the Texas Property Code as published by the Texas Legislature; editorial summaries by the Common Elements editorial team. Not legal advice; not a substitute for Texas counsel.
Your documents are the calendar
The first task of Texas budget season is not a spreadsheet. It is reading the declaration and bylaws and writing down, in one place, what they require: how much notice a budget meeting takes, what quorum it needs, whether the membership approves anything, and whether there is a cap on the increase the board can adopt without a vote.
Once you have that, adopt it as a written board budget calendar and put it in the minutes. Texas boards turn over, managers change, and an unwritten calendar is a calendar that gets shorter every year until something is missed.
The schedule below is a working default for an association on a December fiscal year end. It is practice, not law. Adjust the notice row to match whatever your documents actually require, which is the only row in the table that could be mandatory for your community.
The statutory clock the code does impose
Tex. Prop. Code § 82.112(a) requires assessments to be made at least annually and to be based on a budget adopted at least annually. That is a cadence requirement rather than a date. A board that adopts every year, on a schedule it wrote down, satisfies it; a board that lets a year go by without a fresh adoption does not.
Section 82.102(a) provides the enforcement lever that most affects the collections side of your budget: the association may suspend an owner's voting rights or common element use after thirty days of delinquency. If you plan to use it, the calendar for doing so should be set in the same policy as the budget calendar rather than improvised per owner.
Three clocks that cut across budget season
The resale certificate. Under § 82.157(b) the association must furnish it within ten days of a written request, and under § 82.157(a) it includes the current operating budget, the periodic assessment, unpaid common expenses or special assessments, and the capital expenditures approved for the next twelve months along with reserves. During budget season, sales are still closing, and a certificate issued mid-adoption has to be accurate about what has and has not been adopted.
Records requests. Under § 209.005(e) a written request by certified mail starts a ten business day clock to provide inspection dates or copies, or written notice setting a date by the fifteenth business day if the association cannot meet the first. Budget season generates records requests. Assemble the working file as you go.
The management certificate. Under § 209.004(b) an amended certificate must be recorded within thirty days of notice of a change, with the same seven-day electronic filing duty to the state. A budget-season change of manager, address, or transfer fee triggers it, and § 209.004(d) and (e) attach real consequences to a gap.
What to publish even though you do not have to
Texas does not require the proposed budget to be mailed to owners in advance. Sending it anyway, with a one-page summary of what changed, is the cheapest goodwill a Texas board can buy, and it puts the association on the same footing as an owner who has previously lived in a state that requires it.
Publish the per-unit assessment in monthly terms, publish the change in dollars as well as in percent, and publish the date the new rate starts. Then update coupon books, payment instructions, and autopay authorizations before the first billing period, because an owner on autopay who is not told will underpay.
The calendar
Rows with a citation are set by statute. The rest are the working schedule we recommend, and you can compress them.
| When | What has to happen |
|---|---|
| 6 months before fiscal year end | Read the declaration and bylaws for the budget procedure, and confirm the reserve study status. Practice, not statute. |
| 5 months before | Request insurance renewal indications and a current replacement cost valuation for the § 82.111(a) coverage floor. Practice, not statute. |
| 4 months before | Pull twelve months of actuals by vendor, and list every contract renewal date and escalation term. Practice, not statute. |
| 3 months before | First board budget workshop on draft one. Practice, not statute. |
| 6 to 8 weeks before adoption | Second workshop with bound quotes and the reserve funding plan. Set the adoption meeting date. Practice, not statute. |
| Notice period set by your dedicatory instruments | Give the meeting notice the declaration and bylaws require. This is the row that can be mandatory for your community; the Property Code does not set it. |
| Recommended: 14 days before adoption | Circulate the proposed budget and a one-page summary to owners even though Texas does not require it. Practice, not statute. |
| Adoption meeting | Adopt the annual budget by board vote and record it in the minutes. The assessment has to rest on a budget adopted at least annually.Tex. Prop. Code § 82.112(a) |
| Before the first billing period | Publish the new rate, update coupon books and autopay authorizations. Practice, not statute. |
| Within 10 days of a written request, all year | Furnish the resale certificate, including the current operating budget, reserves, and next-12-month approved capital expenditures.Tex. Prop. Code § 82.157(a), (b) |
| Within 10 business days of a records request | Provide inspection dates or copies, or written notice setting a date by the 15th business day.Tex. Prop. Code § 209.005(e), (f) |
| Within 30 days of notice of a change | Record an amended management certificate, and file it electronically with the state within 7 days of recording.Tex. Prop. Code § 209.004(b), (b-1) |
Tools that do this arithmetic
Questions boards ask
When does a Texas HOA have to adopt its budget?
The Property Code sets a cadence rather than a date. For condominiums, § 82.112(a) requires assessments to be made at least annually and to be based on a budget adopted at least annually. The specific timing, notice, and meeting procedure come from the dedicatory instruments, so read the declaration and bylaws and adopt a written budget calendar from them.
Does Texas require the proposed budget to be sent to owners before adoption?
Not by statute. Texas has no analogue to the Florida fourteen-day proposed budget mailing. Your declaration or bylaws may impose one, so check them. Circulating the proposed budget in advance is strongly recommended practice regardless: it is the cheapest way to avoid an adversarial adoption meeting.
How long does a Texas association have to produce records?
Ten business days from a written request sent by certified mail to the address on the current management certificate, to provide inspection dates or copies, under § 209.005(e). If the association cannot meet that, § 209.005(f) requires written notice setting a date by the fifteenth business day. Business day excludes weekends and state or federal holidays.
How quickly must a resale certificate be furnished?
Within ten days of a written request, under § 82.157(b). The certificate must be prepared within the prior three months and includes the current operating budget, the periodic assessment, unpaid common expenses or special assessments, reserves, and capital expenditures approved for the next twelve months. If the association misses the deadline, the seller may use a sworn affidavit.
What happens if the management certificate is out of date?
Under § 209.004(d) and (e), a bona fide purchaser is not liable for amounts due on the transfer date, the lien is enforceable only for amounts incurred after the sale, and the owner is not liable for collection attorney's fees or interest that accrued during the gap. An amended certificate must be recorded within thirty days of notice of a change under § 209.004(b), with electronic filing to the state within seven days of recording.
Citations behind this guide
Every statutory statement above traces to one of these sections. Follow the link to read the section reference.
- Tex. Prop. Code § 82.112(a)
Assessments at least annually, based on a budget adopted at least annually.
- Tex. Prop. Code § 82.157(a), (b)
Resale certificate contents including the current operating budget and reserves, furnished within 10 days of a written request.
- Tex. Prop. Code § 209.005(e), (f)
10 business days to provide inspection dates or copies, or written notice setting a date by the 15th business day.
- Tex. Prop. Code § 209.004(b), (b-1), (d), (e)
Amended management certificate within 30 days of notice of a change, 7-day state filing, and the consequences of a gap.
- Tex. Prop. Code § 82.102(a)
Board power to adopt budgets and collect assessments, and to suspend voting or common element use after 30 days delinquent.
Compare notes with other Texas boards before you adopt
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Keep reading
- How to build a Texas HOA or condo annual budget. The method behind the calendar.
- Budget packet checklist for Texas boards. What to circulate even though the code does not require it.
- Tex. Prop. Code § 209.005: association records. The production deadlines and the cost policy requirement.
- Tex. Prop. Code § 209.004: management certificate. Recording, state filing, and the cost of a gap.
The same question in another state
Budget rules are state law. If your community is not in Texas, start here instead.