No bylaws and No enforcement

Hopefully some of our Texas posters will respond, but just in general:

* Covenants can exist independent of an HOA and typically "run with the land". If the developer "filed them", which I understand to mean the necessary legal work was done to record the covenants, then they are in effect.

* Typically the HOA would be created along with the covenants. If you can find a document with the Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions (CC&Rs), there should be language in them describing the HOA, if one exists.

* Usually the presence of an HOA must be disclosed to buyers.

* A single homeowner can't form an HOA by himself. This is a legal process, and at the very least it would require the affirmative vote from all owners who would become members. This is assuming it's not a voluntary HOA, in which case the HOA structure would only apply to those who agree to be members.

* Bylaws are separate from CC&Rs, and they describe how a corporation or other legal entity is to be governed. If you have no bylaws, then your "HOA" would default to Texas statutes. Exactly *which* statutes depends on whether or not your "HOA" is incorporated or if you're in a condo community vs. an HOA (I can't tell from what you've written).

* The bylaws are where the rules concerning elections, the numbers of board members and officers, and similar things are found. If you have no bylaws, then again you're likely to default to the appropriate Texas statutes.

I agree that it doesn't sound like people know what they're doing.

We are not a condo community.

We have no common areas or amenities. It is filed with the state as a non profit corporation for the purpose of enforcing the deed restrictions. No bylaws have been created to date. They have yet to enforce a single violation. The BOD have fences and outbuildings in violation but they plan to grandfather themselves in. It’s truly a 💩 show.

I think that goes for 90% of all imaginable human activity.

Well , here in Michigan, if you don’t file your annual report with the state, the corporation loses its status And is considered to be dissolved.

So maybe that’s what happen with the developer. He just let the corporation dissolve. Now someone has started up a new corporation ( or re- instated the old one) whose mission is to enforce the restrictions in the deed. Good luck . With all that has happened before, I doubt if you can go back and correct things that have been done Since this corporation lapsed.

Fresh deck, new deal.

I say if an HOA and Covenants exist but has been dormant, it can be reactivated but I not an attorney.

Individual homeowners can sue one another to enforce the covenants here. Because of the cost to do that, most won’t. I personally couldn’t care less what my neighbors do or don’t do.

The corporation didn’t lapse, it was never formed prior to closing escrow.
What’s been established now is long after we all closed on our homes by a homeowner on a mission.

Correct. Covenants were filed without a certificate of formation ever being filed by the developer.
He did absolutely nothing that the covenants say he’ll do.
He was to establish an ACC, collect assessments, appoint the board, etc etc. He didn’t do anything.
We all bought and closed and over a year after the last home sold, one homeowner decided to file a certificate of formation. And here we are. Still no bylaws. No rules.