## Facts

- A developer recorded a declaration of covenants and restrictions for a subdivision, stating the covenants would run with the land and bind subsequent purchasers.
- The declaration created a nonprofit homeowners’ association to enforce the restrictions and maintain the subdivision’s common areas.
- The declaration required each lot owner to pay annual and special assessments and provided that unpaid assessments, interest, and collection costs would be a charge on the land secured by a “continuing Vendor’s Lien” on the lot.
- Homeowners purchased lots through deeds that either specifically referenced the maintenance charges or incorporated the recorded declaration by reference.
- Several homeowners became delinquent, and the association sued to collect unpaid assessments and to foreclose the stated vendor’s lien.
- The trial court entered default judgments for amounts owed but refused to permit foreclosure, based on homestead protection concerns; the court of appeals affirmed.

## Issues

1. Whether Texas homestead protections bar foreclosure for unpaid homeowners’ association assessments.
2. Whether the recorded declaration and deed references created a valid, enforceable vendor’s lien securing the assessment obligation.
3. If a valid lien existed, whether it fell within an exception permitting foreclosure notwithstanding homestead status.

## Decision

- The Texas Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals and remanded.
- The Court held the declaration and deeds created a valid vendor’s lien securing the assessment obligation.
- The Court held the lien could be enforced by foreclosure even if the property was claimed as a homestead.

## Legal Principles

- A recorded declaration requiring mandatory subdivision assessments and providing they are secured by a continuing vendor’s lien, when incorporated or referenced in purchasers’ deeds, creates a contractual lien that runs with the land.
- Texas homestead protections do not bar foreclosure of valid, contractually created liens that fall within recognized constitutional and statutory exceptions.
- Purchasers who take title with notice of recorded covenants and liens take the property subject to those obligations and associated enforcement remedies, including foreclosure.

## Conclusion

The court recognized that properly recorded subdivision assessment covenants and deed references can create a valid vendor’s lien, and that such a lien may be foreclosed to collect unpaid assessments despite a homeowner’s homestead claim.


Inwood N. Homeowners' Ass'n, Inc. v. Harris, 736 S.W.2d 632 (Tex. 1987)