Resale Certificates and Assessments to Request Before an Offer in Montebello

The promulgated condominium certificate form calls for three attachments: the association's current operating budget, a summary from the association's insurance agent, and the balance sheet. Check that all three arrived with your copy. The budget matters most, because Texas requires assessments to rest on a budget adopted at least annually. A copy missing any of the three leaves part of the association's finances unexplained.

The form's insurance line records whether the association does or does not provide coverage for the benefit of unit owners, as the attached summary describes. Read that summary beside your own insurance quote. Read the balance sheet next to the reserve figure. If a page is missing, ask the seller for it in writing before you sign.

Generally no, for debts that existed when the certificate was prepared. A buyer, lender or title insurer who relies on a resale certificate is not liable for a debt or claim it fails to disclose. The association cannot deny a statement in it. Where a properly executed certificate understates the seller's delinquencies, the buyer is not liable for the excess unpaid on the preparation date.

Two things sit outside that protection. The association keeps its right to recover debts or claims that arise or become due after the certificate was prepared. Its lien securing future assessments also stays in place. A certificate prepared weeks before closing therefore covers less ground than one prepared closer to it. Check the preparation date on the copy you hold.

Texas gives you a way out. Say the declaration, bylaws and rules had not reached you before you signed, or the contract lacks the bold or underlined acknowledgment of receipt. You may then cancel before the sixth day after you receive them. A missing resale certificate works the same way, counted from receipt of it or your waiver, whichever comes first.

Cancellation carries no penalty, and payments made before it are refunded. Give written notice by hand delivery, or by certified mail with return receipt requested, inside the cancellation period. A selling owner also cannot require you to close until the declaration, bylaws and any rules have been given. TREC's Residential Condominium Contract (Resale) carries its own version. Where the seller delivers the documents after the effective date, the buyer has seven days from receipt to terminate. The earnest money is then refunded.

Yes. It states whether the board knows of alterations to the unit or its assigned limited common elements that breach the declaration, bylaws or rules. It states whether the board has had notice from a governmental authority about health or building code violations. It also names the managing agent, if any, and describes pending suits and unsatisfied judgments against the association.

It also states any right of first refusal or other restraint in the declaration that restricts a transfer. If one appears, TREC's condominium resale contract moves the effective date. The new date is when the buyer receives the association's certification that the seller complied and nobody exercised the right. If that certification does not arrive in time, or the right is exercised, the contract terminates and the earnest money is refunded.

Fannie Mae, one buyer of mortgage loans, requires a lender to establish six things about a special assessment. They are its purpose, its approval date, and whether it is planned or already being collected. They also include the original amount, the amount still to collect, and the expected payoff date. Ask the association all six in writing before you write an offer.

The same guide treats a project as needing critical repairs where repairs significantly affect safety, soundness, structural integrity or habitability, or financial viability or marketability. Its example is unfunded repairs over $10,000 a unit that should be undertaken within 12 months. That example excludes repairs owners make and repairs funded through a special assessment. A lender reads board minutes, engineer reports, inspection reports and reserve studies, so ask for the recent minutes as well.

It can. Where the master policy carries a per unit deductible, Fannie Mae requires the borrower to hold a unit owners policy covering at least that amount. For loan applications dated on or after 1 July 2026, it caps the per unit deductible at $50,000 for all required property perils. Ask the association for the per unit figure in writing.

A per occurrence ceiling applies as well: the deductible may not exceed 5 percent of the master policy coverage amount. A deductible buy-back policy the association buys can meet those limits, provided it meets the other property insurance requirements. Your own policy's deductible may not exceed the greater of 5 percent of its coverage or $2,500.