HOA ByLaw Format -- Texas

Oh honey, God bless your soul for trying...Your best bet was to modify the ones you already had. It's a mess for sure but in the end the best option. We had to update our CC&R's, By-laws, and Incorporation documents. It took over 2 years over $2k. I was sooooooo glad I was able to finish it. It just had about 5 changes in it too.

What we had to do is according to the documentation, was to have a special meeting to make any changes. It was a 75% vote of the membership to change the By-laws and Incorporation. It was 90% to change the CC&R's. Wish that requirement had been part of the changes! What we had to do to get out of the special meeting requirement was to have 2 documents. 1 stating the member forgo their rights to gather at a special meeting and the 2nd to accept the changes. This way we could go door to door gathering signatures.

Our changes included: Removing ALL references to the Developer and replacing our name. We had a single water meter and if you didn't pay your dues we could shut the water off. We changed to SEPARATE water meters where EACH person was responsible for their own water. We also reduced the number of Board members from 9 to 5. There were just a few other minor changes. (I'd recommend checking for any technology changes such as satellite dishes or solar energy)

Our lawyer made us two copies. The original and the one with changes. Plus the two petition sheets to submit. Technically, you only have to file the CC&R's at the Local Courthouse and the Incorporation at State level. The by-laws aren't necessary to be filed but are a good idea to do so. They are the outline of rules but it's the CC&R's that really have the teeth.

Believe it or not -- the first tasking to the ByLaw committee is to determine if they want to keep the outdated Bylaws as they are written or update them. Their second tasking is to determine the level of updating. Do they just want to change the names from the site developers to the current HOA, as a minimum, or proceed with a complete workover. Getting approval for the updated Bylaws will not be a difficult tasking. All we need is a quorum (11 homeowners) at the designated meeting and then have approval by a majority vote. My personal opinion is the updated Bylaws we presented at this week's meeting was a very good product. I am hoping the committee will keep the majority of information in their draft. Several of the homeowners after the meeting indicated sending the Bylaws to a committee was a fantastic idea, since the changes would no longer have my name all over them and the committee would have to defend their words.

In Texas the State HOA laws and protection rule in the absence of Bylaws. In other words, you need to make sure you do not have gaps in your Bylaws that will default to the Texas laws. This is a legal change that requires a community vote. You need to hire a Real Estate lawyer that specialized in community law. We did this and they were swift and helpful of what we needed and what we could remove.