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Important note: Your property owners' association's bylaws and Articles of Incorporation (hereafter referred to as "governing documents") are the best sources of information for who is eligible to be a director, how the directors are elected, and how long they will serve. This page will provide citations to Texas law that provide guidance for nonprofit corporation property owners' associations if the governing documents do NOT discuss these topics.
For more information on how to read the governing documents of your property owners' association, please see the Bylaws and Records page of this guide.
In general, Texas law does not contain any specific requirements in order for someone to be eligible to serve on the Board of Directors — they don't even have to be a member of the organization. However, many property owners' associations put their own eligibility requirements in place in the governing documents, including the requirement that they be an owner or resident of property in the association.
In fact, the Texas Property Code states that there are very few restrictions that can be put into effect regarding eligibility for the Board. These include:
For complete details, please see the full text of Section 209.00591 of the Property Code linked below.
If a property owners' association's governing documents do not state how many people the Board of Directors must consist of, Texas law states that there will be as many as the initial number of directors stated in the Articles of Incorporation. However, there must be at least three people on the Board of Directors.
The governing documents of a property owners' association may describe the procedure for electing the Board of Directors. Section 22.206 of the Texas Business Organizations Code states that if the governing documents do not contain this information, the directors are elected by the Board of Directors.
Section 209.00593 of the Texas Property Code provides a little more information about the election of board members, including how vacant positions may be filled and how candidates can get on the ballot for a Board of Directors position. Key points of this section:
Please see the complete text of the law linked below for more details.
If the governing documents of a property owners' association do not specify a term of office, then the Texas Business Organizations Code states that the directors shall serve "until the next annual election of directors and until a successor is elected, appointed, or designated and qualified."
If the governing documents of a property owners' association do not give instructions for how to remove a director, the Texas Business Organizations Code states that "the persons entitled to elect, designate, or appoint the director" may remove them. If an election was required to appoint the director, a vote must also be taken to remove them. The number of votes necessary to remove the director must equal the number of votes required to elect them.
Unless the governing documents state otherwise, a director may also resign at anytime by submitting their resignation in writing.