Texas Voids HOA Bans on Drought-Resistant Landscaping

Under Section 202.007(a)(4), a property owners' association may not include or enforce a dedicatory instrument provision that prohibits or restricts an owner from using drought-resistant landscaping or water-conserving natural turf; Subsection (b) makes any such provision void. The same subsection also voids bans on composting, uncollected grass clippings, rain barrels, rainwater harvesting systems, and efficient drip irrigation, so a full landscaping plan built around xeriscaping and rainwater capture is protected as a package.

The right is not unlimited. Section 202.007(c) lets an association restrict the type of turf a homeowner plants when installing new turf, so it can steer new plantings toward water-conserving varieties. Subsection (d)(4) preserves an association's power to regulate gravel, rock, or cactus installations, and (d)(5) preserves ordinary yard-maintenance rules as long as they do not restrict landscaping design that promotes water conservation. Under (d)(8), an association can still require an owner to submit a plan for drought-resistant landscaping or water-conserving turf for aesthetic-compatibility review, but (d-1), added by the 2013 amendment, bars the association from unreasonably denying approval or unreasonably calling the plan incompatible with the subdivision.

Section 202.008, added effective September 1, 2025 by House Bill 517, layers on a drought-period fine moratorium: an association may not fine an owner for violating a covenant that requires live grass or green vegetation, or that bars discolored or brown turf, while the property is under a municipal or water-utility watering restriction that could reasonably cause the discoloration, and for 60 days after that restriction lifts. Section 202.007(e) exempts associations in a municipality over 175,000 people, sited in a county where a city over one million predominates, that manage at least 4,000 acres restricted to commercial, multifamily, or open-space use, so a handful of large master-planned commercial developments fall outside these protections.

An HOA that fines or cites an owner under a void covenant, or that keeps enforcing a turf-color rule after a drought-watering restriction is issued (or within 60 days of one lifting), is acting outside its authority under Sections 202.007(b) and 202.008(b); the fine or enforcement action is unenforceable. An owner denied a landscaping plan unreasonably under Subsection (d-1) can challenge that denial in court, where Section 202.004(a) presumes an association's discretionary decisions reasonable unless shown arbitrary, capricious, or discriminatory by a preponderance of the evidence.