Current through: Texas 89th Legislature, 2025. This guide is general education, not legal advice.
The common fence and landscaping rules
A notice about fence height, a dead patch of lawn, or a flower bed is not a final decision. Most fence and yard notices fall into a short list of recurring categories: fence height and material, fence condition, lawn condition, weeds, plant choices, and architectural approval before you make a change.
Where a rule has to come from
An association can generally enforce only a restriction that exists in its recorded declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions, the CC&Rs, or in properly adopted rules. A board member's preference is not an enforceable rule. The notice itself must identify the exact rule it relies on. When it does not, that gap is the first thing to put back to the association in writing.
Why most of these are curable
Most fence and yard issues describe an ongoing condition rather than a single past act, which makes them curable under the law. The association must give you a reasonable period to cure before it can charge a fine. Fix the problem inside that period and you avoid the fine. Remember the limit: if you receive another notice for the same issue within six months, the association does not have to offer a new cure period.
Documenting that you complied
Your strongest move is to fix the issue and prove that you did.
- Take dated before-and-after photos.
- Keep receipts for mulch, stain, or lawn service.
- Note the date you finished.
- Send a short written confirmation to the association.
Statutory protections for certain landscaping
Texas Property Code Section 202.007 places firm limits on how far an association's landscaping restrictions can reach. An association cannot outright ban any of the following:
- Composting of vegetation or yard waste.
- Rain barrels or rainwater harvesting systems.
- Implementation of efficient irrigation systems.
- Drought-resistant landscaping or water-conserving natural turf.
A protection is not a blank check. Even though an association cannot flatly ban drought-resistant turf, it can still require you to submit a detailed description or plan for architectural review before installation, and it can enforce reasonable aesthetic standards. It cannot, however, unreasonably deny that plan or call water-conserving landscaping aesthetically incompatible without a real basis.
A separate 2025 law, HB 517, strengthens these protections further. It bars an association from fining you for a brown or dormant lawn during a water-use restriction imposed by your city or water provider, and for 60 days after that restriction ends so you have time to revive the lawn. It also lets you submit your own landscaping plan rather than a professionally prepared one for review.
What SB 711 changed about fences
Recent legislation, SB 711, updated the security-fencing rules in Section 202.023, effective September 1, 2025. Under it, an association may now prohibit fencing that obstructs a sidewalk built for public use, a drainage easement, or a similar licensed area. It may also require a driveway gate to sit at least 10 feet back from the right-of-way where a driveway meets a laned roadway.
An association may also prohibit fencing in front of a home's front-most building line, but with three exceptions. The prohibition does not reach fencing that was installed before September 1, 2025, fencing at a home whose residential address is legally exempt from public disclosure, or fencing at a home where the owner has given the association documentation from a law enforcement agency supporting a need for enhanced security. Separately, an owner may keep perimeter fencing that was already in place before September 1, 2025.
Knowing which protection actually covers your yard, and which one the notice overlooked, is the difference between a response that holds and a guess.