Texas HOA board meeting notice: 144 hours, 72 hours, or 10 days — and the 15 things that need an open meeting

What this guide covers

Texas gives a property owners’ association board two ways to notice a meeting — a mailed window or a posted-and-emailed countdown — and a list of fifteen decisions that can only be made in an open meeting that owners were told about. This guide covers boards of property owners’ associations of residential subdivisions under the Residential Property Owners Protection Act; a small class of associations that fall under the state’s governmental open-meetings act are excluded from the section (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(a)). Condominium boards follow a different section, noted at the end (Tex. Prop. Code § 82.108). Owner meetings and elections are covered in our annual meeting and election notice guide.

The short answer

• Regular and special board meetings must be open to owners, subject to the board’s right to adjourn into closed executive session for the listed topics (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(c)).
• Notice states the date, hour, place and general subject, including a general description of any executive-session item, and is either mailed to each owner not later than the 10th day and not earlier than the 60th day before the meeting, or provided at least 144 hours before a regular meeting and 72 hours before a special meeting by posting on common property or an association website and emailing every owner with a registered address (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(e)).
• Every decision made in executive session is summarised orally and placed in the minutes in general terms, including a general explanation of expenditures approved (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(c)).
• The board may act outside a meeting, including by electronic vote, if every director has a reasonable chance to speak and vote — but fifteen categories of decision, from fines to the budget to filling a vacancy, may only be taken in an open meeting with prior notice (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(h)).
• The board keeps written minutes of each meeting and makes them available to a member for inspection and copying on written request (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(d)).
• Condominiums: board meetings are open to unit owners, with executive session for the listed topics, and the general nature of executive-session business is announced first in the open meeting (Tex. Prop. Code § 82.108(b)).

Step by step

1. Know what a board meeting is

A board meeting is a deliberation between a quorum of the voting board — or between a quorum and someone else — during which association business is considered and the board takes formal action (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(b)(1)). A quorum at a social function, a convention, a ceremonial event or a press conference is not a meeting if no formal action is taken and any discussion of association business is incidental (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(b)(2)). Except for an electronic or telephonic meeting, a board meeting is held in a county where all or part of the subdivision lies, or in an adjacent county (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(c-1)).

2. Pick a notice route and meet its clock

Members must be given notice of the date, hour, place and general subject of a regular or special board meeting, including a general description of any matter to be brought up in executive session (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(e)). The board has two routes. It may mail the notice to each property owner not later than the 10th day and not earlier than the 60th day before the meeting (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(e)(1)). Or it may provide the notice at least 144 hours before a regular board meeting and at least 72 hours before a special board meeting by doing both of two things: posting it conspicuously on the association’s common property, on private property in the subdivision with the owner’s consent, or on any website available to members that the association or its management company maintains; and emailing it to each owner who has registered an email address with the association (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(e)(2)). Keeping a current email address registered is the owner’s duty (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(f)).

If the board recesses a meeting to continue on the following regular business day, in good faith and not to dodge the rule, no new notice is needed; if it then continues to yet another day, notice of the continuation goes up by one of the posting methods within two hours of adjourning (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(g)).

3. Run a remote meeting that owners can hear

A board meeting may be held by electronic or telephonic means if each board member can hear and be heard by every other member; if, outside executive session, all owners in attendance can hear all board members and owners are allowed to listen by any method a board member uses or is expected to use; and if the notice includes instructions for owners to access that method (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(c-2)).

4. Use executive session only for the listed topics, then report

The board may adjourn an open meeting and reconvene in closed executive session to consider actions involving personnel, pending or threatened litigation, contract negotiations, enforcement actions, confidential communications with the association’s attorney, matters involving the invasion of an individual owner’s privacy, or matters that are to remain confidential by request of the affected parties and agreement of the board (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(c)). Following the executive session, any decision made there must be summarised orally and placed in the minutes in general terms — without breaching an owner’s privacy, a privilege, or a confidence the affected parties asked for — and the oral summary must include a general explanation of expenditures approved in executive session (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(c)).

5. Know the fifteen decisions that need an open, noticed meeting

The board may take action outside a meeting, including by electronic or telephonic vote, without prior notice to owners, as long as each board member has a reasonable opportunity to express an opinion to all the others and to vote; any action taken that way is summarised orally, with an explanation of any known or estimated expenditures approved, and documented in the minutes of the next regular or special meeting (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(h)). But the board may not consider or vote on the following unless it does so in an open meeting for which owners were given prior notice: fines; damage assessments; starting a foreclosure; starting an enforcement action, other than a temporary restraining order or a health-or-safety violation; increasing assessments; levying a special assessment; an appeal from a denial of architectural approval; suspending an owner’s rights before the owner has had a chance to attend a board meeting and present a defence; lending or borrowing money; adopting or amending a dedicatory instrument; approving or amending the annual budget; buying or selling real property; building capital improvements beyond repair, replacement or enhancement of existing ones; filling a board vacancy; and electing an officer (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(h)(1)–(15)).

6. Keep minutes and hand them over on request

The board keeps a record of each regular or special board meeting in the form of written minutes, and makes meeting records including approved minutes available to a member for inspection and copying on the member’s written request to the managing agent at the address on the most recently filed management certificate — or to the board, if there is no managing agent (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(d)).

During a declarant’s development period the section applies only to meetings held to adopt or amend governing documents, to raise regular assessments or adopt or increase a special assessment, to elect non-developer board members or set up how they are elected, or to change members’ voting rights (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(i)).

7. If you are a condominium

Meetings of a condominium association and its board must be open to unit owners, subject to the board’s right to adjourn and reconvene in closed executive session for personnel, pending litigation, contract negotiations, enforcement actions, invasion of an owner’s privacy, or matters kept confidential by request and agreement — and the general nature of any executive-session business must first be announced at the open meeting (Tex. Prop. Code § 82.108(b)). A condo board may meet electronically if notice was given, each director can hear and be heard, and the meeting does not involve voting on a fine, a damage assessment, an architectural appeal, or a suspension of a member’s rights before that member has had a chance to be heard (Tex. Prop. Code § 82.108(c)). The board may act by unanimous written consent without a meeting on the same conditions, filing the record with the minutes (Tex. Prop. Code § 82.108(c-1)). Notice of a condo board meeting is given as the bylaws provide, or, if they are silent, as the Business Organizations Code provides for a nonprofit corporation’s board; and on a unit owner’s written request the association must tell the owner when and where the next board meeting will be (Tex. Prop. Code § 82.108(e)–(f)).

Common mistakes

• Posting only, or emailing only. The short-notice route requires both the posting and the email to every registered owner (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(e)(2)).
• Treating every meeting as “regular”. A special meeting may be noticed on the shorter countdown, but only if it is a special meeting (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(e)(2)).
• Approving a fine or the budget by email. Both are on the list of decisions that require an open, noticed meeting (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(h)(1), (11)).
• Leaving executive-session spending out of the minutes. Expenditures approved in executive session are explained in general terms in the minutes (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(c)).
• Meeting in the wrong county. An in-person board meeting is held in a county the subdivision touches, or one adjacent (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(c-1)).

Where software fits

Platforms that post notices, keep owner email registrations current and store minutes are compared in our best-of roundups; this page stays with what the law says.

When to involve counsel

Talk to counsel before starting any foreclosure or enforcement action, before suspending any owner’s rights, and whenever the board is unsure whether a matter belongs in executive session — each of those is on the list of decisions the law confines to an open, noticed meeting (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0051(h)).

Corrections and review history

• 2026-09-09: citations checked against the Property Code on statutes.capitol.texas.gov (text served from the Legislature’s file server at tcss.legis.texas.gov). Not yet published.

Sources

1. Texas Property Code § 209.0051 — Open board meetings — accessed 2026-09-09
2. Texas Property Code § 82.108 — Condominium meetings — accessed 2026-09-09