7 Things a Texas HOA Can’t Do About a Car Parked on the Street

About 32% of occupied homes in Texas answer to a property owners association, according to the Foundation for Community Association Research’s 2024 Fact Book.

The HOA letter addressed to you comes folded in thirds, with a dollar amount in the second paragraph.

But here’s the thing: Your board may not get to collect it.

These are the things a Texas HOA can’t do about a car parked on the street.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Association rules and towing requirements vary by community and are subject to change, so check your community’s governing documents.

1. Towing It off a Public Street

A Texas homeowners association has no say over a street the city already owns.

That 32% works out to roughly one in three occupied homes in the state.

Property Code Chapter 209 sets the limits on what that association can enforce.

Local Government Code Section 212.004 lets a subdivision’s developer mark, on the recorded plat, which streets the developer intends for public use.

The city still has to accept that dedication before the street turns public, so marking the plat is only the first step.

That handoff matters.

Once a street is public, city police and local traffic ordinances decide who can park where, not the association’s declaration.

2. Towing It From a Private Street

Private streets inside a Texas HOA can still see a nonconsent tow, but only once a sign goes up that meets the state’s exact requirements.

The rule is exact.

Occupations Code Section 2308.301, part of the Texas Towing and Booting Act, spells out the size, wording, and placement that sign must carry.

That includes a phone number answered 24 hours a day.

That sign has to run at least 18 inches wide and 24 inches tall, mounted five to eight feet off the ground where a driver can spot it.

Skip any one of those specs, and the sign doesn’t count, no matter how many times that same car parks in the wrong spot.

3. Calling Just Any Truck

A Texas HOA can’t hand a parking problem to whoever answers the phone fastest.

Occupations Code Section 2308.255 limits a nonconsent tow to a company carrying liability insurance for property damage.

The tow also has to come from the property owner’s request or a standing written agreement that authorizes it.

A neighbor’s cousin with a flatbed doesn’t qualify, no matter how annoyed the block gets.

Occupations Code Subchapter D, Section 2308.151, requires that same company to hold a license from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

A company running without one has no legal standing to remove the car at all.

No license, no tow.

4. Fining You Without Notice First

Fining a homeowner over a parked car isn’t something a Texas HOA can do the moment a board member notices it.

Property Code Section 209.006 requires written notice by certified mail first, describing the violation and, when the problem can be fixed, giving a reasonable window to fix it.

Cure it in time, and the fine never happens.

That notice requirement has one exception: The association skips it when it already sent the same notice within the past six months for the same violation.

Otherwise, the certified letter comes first.

No notice, no fine.

5. Refusing a Hearing You Request

A Texas HOA loses the option to move straight to enforcement once a homeowner requests a hearing.

Property Code Section 209.006(b)(2)(B) gives an owner until the 30th day after the notice was mailed to request that hearing.

Property Code Section 209.007 then gives the board 30 days to hold that hearing after receiving the request.

It also has to give at least 10 days’ notice of when and where.

Skip that hearing, and the fine doesn’t stick.

6. Reporting It to a Credit Bureau

Under Texas law, an HOA can’t send an unpaid parking fine to a credit bureau while the notice period is still running.

Section 209.006 lists reporting a delinquency to a credit reporting service among the exact actions that require that same certified-mail notice and cure period.

The fine and the credit report both wait on the same notice, not two separate tracks.

One notice, two consequences.

7. Having the Final Word

Whether a tow was legal isn't a Texas HOA's call to make on its own.

Occupations Code Section 2308.458 lets the vehicle's owner take that question to a Justice of the Peace court.

A judge there decides whether probable cause existed for the tow in the first place.

Lose that argument, and the consequences land on whoever ordered the truck.

The court can award court costs and attorney's fees to the vehicle owner, plus a refund of what the owner already paid.

The court adds back any amount the towing charge ran over what state or local law allows, too.

The board foots that bill.