The Texas Board of Legal Specialization approved the specialty area of "property owners association law" in 2018. At last count, 32 attorneys are certified in Property Owners Association (POA) Law in Texas.
Property Owner Association (POA) law involves services dealing with common-interest developments such as:
Property owners association law has been recognized since 1979, when the State Bar's Real Estate, Probate, and Trust Law Section sponsored its application and appointed a Committee on Condominium and Common Interest Ownership.
The certification standards name POA law as a sub-category of the current real estate law specialty area alongside commercial, residential, and farm and ranch.
More generally, Real Estate Law involves providing advice and services concerning the laws applicable to land and the improvements and appurtenances (including air and subsurface estates) to land.
Real estate law also includes the acquisition, transfer, development, financing and use of land, including knowledge of restrictions.
To become board certified in Property Owner Association (POA) law, the following qualifications must be established:
The purpose of the certification exam is to require an applicant to demonstrate substantial knowledge of significant legal concepts and corresponding skills in the overall area of real estate law, and specifically, the sub-categories of commercial real estate law, farm and ranch real estate law, residential real estate law, and property owners association law as applicable.
The questions on the Property Owners Association Law examination generally deal with the real property law specific to condominiums, subdivisions, and property owners associations, nonprofit entity law, fair housing law, and debt collection and foreclosure laws including:
To become board certified in property owner association law, the Standards for Attorney Certification require theattorney to demonstrate a substantial breadth of experience in the practice area by:
To demonstrate a substantial breadth of experience, the attorney must provide a written description of at least 20 substantive tasks or services performed by the attorney in at least three of the categories listed below during each year of the 3 years immediately preceding application.
The written description for each of the 60 or more substantive tasks or services must identify the following: