Voting Rights

Started by JonT • 4 replies • 1181 views

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JonT (Texas)
Posts: 2

Posted:

I need to know if there is Texas law that prevents suspension of voting rights for dilinquent members. Our property manager states there is Texas law that protects delinquent homeowners from being suspended from voting or serving on committees. I suspect collusion of some deliquent homeowners and our property manager. I thought we could govern as a corporation and not a municipality. Any help appreciated.

BruceF1 (Connecticut)
Posts: 2,535

Posted:

The laws of many states are available on line. Each state organizes their laws or statutes differently, so I cannot tell anyone, precisely, how to find what they want. Some states may place laws concerning community associations under their real estates laws, some may place them under property laws, and other states may have a different way of doing it.

I tried such a search for Texas and I found Chapter 82 which is a Texas statute governing condominiums. Maybe this is what you're looking for.

Start by simply going to Google, or your favorite internet search engine, and look for "texas statutes". (Those of you that want to find the laws of your own state, simply substitute your state name in the search query.)

If they are available online, this should, hopefully, get you some result that points to your state's laws. In the case of Texas, I clicked on the one that said "Texas Statutes", or something like that, and I got to a page that listed all of the Texas "codes". I finally found Chapter 82 under the "Property Code". Getting to what I was looking for was easy and only took a couple of minutes. Try it.

PaulM (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 1,347

Posted:

JonT: Just ask the manager to point you to the actual state requirement for HOAs they are referencing. State law overrides assn. documents. You can also access from this site to the left, yellow panel: Comm.Assn.Network, key in state and search for your official assn. documents; refer to voting.

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

Jon I posted this on another thread where you posted this question but I'll also post it here:

Jon I would ask the person that claims this "law" is in effect to show you where and what it is. As far as the past due members go; file liens on them and if that doesn't make them pay up, start foreclosure procedures and see if that doesn't make them anti up. BTW in Ohio the refusal to pay over services doesn't fly, at least in condo communities:

5311.18 (6) In any foreclosure action, it is not a defense, set off, counterclaim, or crossclaim that the unit owners association has failed to provide the unit owner with any service, goods, work, or material, or failed in any other duty.
Check and see if Texas has something similar or consult a HOA attorney on this matter.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

BrianB (California)
Posts: 2,820

Posted:

If texas does indeed have such a law, i would immediately start looking for publicly traded businesses based in texas.

Then, i would say to the business: Hey, I am an owner/shareholder in your business. I just bought 52% of your stock, and I intend to vote in your CEO elections. Granted, i didn't actually PAY you for those shares yet, but I will....And, Texas law forbids you from disqualifying my vote simply because i haven't actually PAID for those shares, so... i name myself CEO, I have 52% of the votes, and I want donuts every morning at my new office.

bottom line, it's ridiculous to think that you could run a business where anyone could "vote their shares" regardless of whether they had paid for them or not. And in an association business, you don't own your share, and voting right, until you paid for it.

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