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State Guide · Texas

Texas HOA Rental Compliance: What You Can (and Can't) Collect from Tenants

Texas doesn't cap how much of a community may be rented—but it strictly limits what an association may demand when a home is rented, and its Supreme Court has held that generic covenant language can't stop short-term rentals. Texas compliance is about collecting exactly what the statute permits, no more, and being able to prove your leasing rules trace to explicit covenant text.

Last reviewed July 2026. General information, not legal advice—confirm current statutory text with your association's attorney.

The statutes that create tracking duties

Each of these laws requires your association to be able to prove something. That's a record-keeping obligation, whether or not anyone calls it that.

Tex. Prop. Code § 209.016 (HB 2489, 2015; amended SB 1588, eff. Sept. 1, 2021)

Hard limits on tenant information

An association may not require lease approval of tenants, may not require a consumer or credit report, and may not require a copy of the lease or rental application. It may require the resident's name, mailing address, phone number, and email, plus the lease commencement date and term.

What your association must track:

  • A tenant registry scoped to exactly the permitted fields—over-collection is the most common Texas violation
  • Lease commencement dates and terms per rented property
  • That no intake form, rule, or manager practice demands prohibited documents

Tarr v. Timberwood Park Owners Ass'n, 556 S.W.3d 274 (Tex. 2018)

Generic covenants don't stop short-term rentals

The Texas Supreme Court held that a standard "residential use" covenant does not prohibit short-term rentals. An association that wants to restrict STRs needs express covenant language—and then a consistent, documented enforcement record.

What your association must track:

  • Whether your governing documents contain express short-term rental language, and its adoption record
  • Consistent enforcement files—selective STR enforcement invites the next Tarr

SB 711 (2025, eff. Sept. 1, 2025)

Governing documents must be posted

Associations with 60 or more lots, or those using a management company, must make current governing documents available online. The act also tightened definitions around management companies.

What your association must track:

  • That posted governing documents—including leasing rules—are current after every amendment

The test: could your board produce this tomorrow?

If a dispute, an audit, or a new manager asked for the following, a compliant Texas association should be able to hand it over without a scramble:

A tenant registry containing only §209.016-permitted data—and nothing else
Lease start dates and terms for every rented property
The covenant text behind every leasing restriction you enforce, with its adoption history
Current governing documents posted where the statute requires

Watch this space

The Legislature does not reconvene until 2027; the 2025 session's assessment-cap and rental bills died. Texas associations have a stable statutory window to get registries and covenant language in order.

Built for Texas associations

Every record above, kept automatically

RentTrac360 tracks rental status, grandfathering, caps, and enforcement records continuously—onboard in about 15 minutes, and the platform keeps the file current from then on.

Texas is the second-largest HOA market in the country—RentTrac360's tenant registry is scoped to what §209.016 permits.

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