voting

Is this a condominium?

What year was your HOA established? Use the date on the Declaration for this.

Right now, what exactly do your covenants say about renting?

Texas statutes have a lot to say on this subject. But which statute to use depends on your answers to the questions above. For now, it's highly unlikely that the HOA can lawfully prohibit renting without an owners' vote amending the covenants.

This is a subdivision with 24 single family homes. (HOA) established 10/31/1984
The covenants mention nothing about lease / renting other than the allowance of a sign to sell or rent.)
That is my/our problem: Stopping the Directors from having a meeting without informing ALL 24 HOMEOWNERS of this meeting and the determination of NOT allowing homeowners to lease / rent their property. The Directors have not sent a proxy form or an absentee form for those who cannot attend. Plus we will never truthfully know the total vote tally.

How and when (during the meeting?) do we insist that the vote be taken and counted in front of everyone?
The special meeting is scheduled for September 23, 2023. The Directors will not send a proxy form nor an absentee form. They have not informed all 24 homeowners of this meeting nor the lease / rent topic to be voted on. Only a few have received a meeting announcement via e-mail and some have been called. THE PROBLEM IS THAT WE ARE TRYING TO STOP THE DIRECTORS FROM AMENDING THE DEED RESTRICTIONS AND NOT BEING ALLOWED TO LEASE / RENT OUR PROPERTY. THE DEED RESTRICTIONS (COVENANTS DATED 10/31/1984) DID NOT MENTION RESTRICTING LEASE / RENT OF HOMEOWNERS' HOMES. WE WOULD LIKE TO KEEP IT THAT WAY.

Again it will stop the vote and from passing if you get a letter from a lawyer stating the law. They can't violate the law. Plus no matter what they write in the CC&R's it has to be compliant with state, local, and federal laws. If its against the law to not allow renting then they can't enforce the rule. A good lawyer of the owner who wants to rent can certainly make them back down from enforcing.

With Shelia, read your Bylaws, which probably state how election must occur. Read the difference between special meeting of the Members (owners) and special meeting of the board. Read in your Bylaws about how owners must receive notices for elections. And how owners may vote. They also should say if a "quorum" is required before ballots even may be counted. The quorum requirement may be 50% of all elgible voters or, say, 20%. The meeting to count ballots and for owners to vote in person is a Members Meeting, which means owners should be allowed to "talk."

If your Bylaws don't tell you that information, you must find it in Texas statutes. They probably say that Owners can witness the ballot counting. They might say that a neutral 3rd party must count the ballots and announce the results. looks like Elle is willing to help, but she just have the info she asked for.

In general, however, no change or additions or deletions can happen to the covenants without a majority of owners approving the "amendment." Your convents will tell you, often near the end, the correct way to amend. Often there would need to be 2/3rds or 75% majority voting in favor to amend.

Are you sure the Board is not just trying to make a rule?

Texas statutes are pretty exacting (relative to many other states) about what it takes to amend covenants. I advise writing the board something like the following:

Dear Board of Directors,

A special meeting of the owners is scheduled for September 23. The purpose of the special meeting is to vote on a proposed amendment to the covenants. If passed, the amendment would prohibit leasing. I am not an attorney. But I understand that Texas statutes TPC 201, TPC 209 and TPC 211 speak to amendments and special meetings. Below are some highlights from the statutes.

TPC 209.0056 (a) (1) requires that all owners be given notice of any special meeting.

After an owners' vote, TPC 209.0057 allows an owner to require the HOA to do a recount of the ballots (costs to be born by the owner).

TPC 209.0058 has fairly strict requirements for ballots.

TPC 209.00592 (a-1) requires, with caveats, that the HOA offer owners the option to vote by absentee ballot or proxy.

TPC 211.004(g) requires that the "presiding officer of the property owners' association shall appoint an election canvassing committee and a committee chairperson to canvass and count the votes and determine the outcome."

TPC 211.004(h) states: "If the amendment procedure receives the number of votes required under Subsection (b), the election canvassing committee chairperson shall certify the result to the presiding officer of the property owners' association. The presiding officer shall file in the real property records of each county in which all or part of the subdivision is located an instrument that indicates that the procedure was adopted."

I request that you ensure the HOA is complying with all Texas statutory requirements.

Thank you for your service,

name
address
phone
email addie

Send the letter certified mail, return receipt requested to the manager or registered agent of the HOA.

Be prepared for the board to become hostile. This forum sees many reports of severe retaliation by boards. On the other hand amending the covenants is a big deal. Nationwide adding a rental restriction has received much attention since the Covid-era housing bubble.

To continue your understanding of what Texas statutes require, I urge you to keyword search the following:

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.209.htm
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.211.htm
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.201.htm (see the applicability section. this statute might not apply)

I am not an attorney.

Only the members can amend the Declaration by a vote percentage specified in your Declaration - by a minimum of 51% of lots. Also in California the amendment has to be reasonable. Zero renting is not reasonable. It seems you would have enough votes to prevent an amendment. Don't know if you have election rules but maybe the state does. Sounds like this board might be averse to the law.

Thank you all for the help and advice. Problem solved and the Directors are not prohibiting leasing / renting of our property. Thank you again.

Thank you all for the help and advice. Problem solved and the Directors are not prohibiting leasing / renting of our property. Thank you again.