Texas required every condo association to post its governing documents online. New York has no equivalent.

Texas has more HOA-governed homes than any other state. In June 2025, its legislature did something New York has not done in 62 years of condominium law: it required associations to post their governing documents online, file a management certificate naming the person running the building, and give owners a statutory right to cast a vote electronically. New York Senate Bill S7541, which would have created a narrower version of the document disclosure requirement, passed the Senate 58-1 in June 2025. The Assembly sponsor withdrew the companion bill before a floor vote. Albany adjourned June 18, 2026 without action.

What Texas enacted in 2025.

The 89th Texas Legislature passed two bills that took effect September 1, 2025. Senate Bill 711 applies to every condominium unit owners' association and property owners' association that either has 60 or more units or employs a management company. Those associations must make their governing documents available on a website maintained by the association or its management company. Member access is required; public access is not mandated by the statute.

SB711 also restructured Texas's management certificate requirement. Management certificates have existed in Texas property law since 2001, but SB711 added three new items that must appear in each certificate: the website URL where governing documents are posted; the name and contact information of the person currently managing the association; and the amount of any transfer fee charged when a unit changes hands. Associations must file the certificate with the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) within seven days of recording it with the county clerk. The filing enters a searchable public database. A condo association that fails to file on time loses the right to collect attorney's fees or interest on unpaid assessments for the period of noncompliance.

Senate Bill 2629 authorized condominium associations to hold meetings by any electronic or telephonic method and required every association to offer owners at least one alternative to in-person voting: an electronic ballot, an absentee ballot, or a proxy. The bill amended both Chapter 82 (condominiums) and Chapter 209 (property owners' associations) of the Texas Property Code. Fines, damage assessments, and rights suspensions still cannot be decided electronically without giving the owner a chance to be heard in person.

What New York requires instead.

New York's Condominium Act, codified at Real Property Law Article 9-B, Section 339-w, gives condo unit owners the right to inspect books and records of account, minutes, and the names and addresses of other unit owners. Inspection is reactive: the owner must make a written demand; the board decides whether to comply; if it declines, the owner's only recourse is a court proceeding. No statute requires any document to be posted anywhere online. No statute requires a management certificate, a board contact address, or a transfer fee disclosure to appear in any public registry.

Business Corporation Law Section 624 gives co-op shareholders a parallel right to inspect corporate books and records. The same enforcement gap applies: the shareholder must go to court if the board refuses. Courts have enforced this right, but a shareholder who does not know what records exist cannot request records they cannot name. The managing agent in most NYC buildings controls the physical documents, and that agent holds no state license, files no public registration, and has no statutory duty to post any document in any format.

New York has no equivalent to the TREC management certificate database. There is no state or city registry where a prospective buyer can look up who manages a building, what fee will be charged at closing, or where governing documents are available. The person running a building with 200 units and a $3 million annual budget is legally identical, in terms of public accountability, to someone who manages no building at all.

The transaction gap.

SB711's transfer fee disclosure provision addresses a moment that New York law leaves entirely unregulated. When a Texas condo is sold, the buyer can request a resale certificate from the association before signing. SB711 requires the management certificate to disclose what the transfer fee is. State law sets timelines for delivery of the resale certificate. A buyer who checks the TREC database before signing a contract can find the name of the management company, its contact information, and the web address where the governing documents are posted.

New York Real Property Law Section 461 explicitly excludes condominium units and cooperative apartments from the Property Condition Disclosure Act. No state statute requires condo or co-op boards to disclose engineering reports, reserve fund balances, pending litigation, or insurance deficiencies to buyers before contract signing. Senate Bill S7541 (Bynoe) and its Assembly companion A8337 (Rosenthal) would have required boards to provide buyers with the most recent inspection and engineering reports at the time of signing. The Senate passed S7541 58-1 in June 2025. The Assembly sponsor withdrew A8337 before it reached the floor. This is now covered separately in the post NY's condo transparency bill: 58-1 Senate, Assembly sponsor withdrew it.

Managing agents in both states.

SB711 directly names the management company as a responsible party for governing document access. If an association employs a management company, that company must maintain the website where the documents are posted. The management certificate must identify the company by name and contact information. Noncompliance has a financial consequence: the association cannot collect attorney's fees or interest for the period it failed to file.

Texas has not licensed managing agents. But it has built a paper trail that New York lacks. A Texas buyer or owner can search TREC and find the management company name, the company's contact address, and the website where the association's declaration, bylaws, and rules are available. The information is public, current, and updated on every change.

In New York, Senate Bill S.71 (Kavanagh) would require managing agents to register with the Department of State, creating a public registry with the name of the agent, the buildings they manage, and contact information. S.71 has not received a committee hearing in ten consecutive sessions. The managing agent who controls access to your building's financial records, vendor contracts, and reserve fund data holds no state registration and appears in no searchable public database. The managing-agent licensure gap and the absence of a public managing agent registry are tracked separately in the CCNYC issues inventory.

What the NY bills would have done.

The 2025-2026 Albany session ended with several transparency bills in committee. S7541/A8337 would have required disclosure of inspection and engineering reports to buyers. A8945 and S7600 would have mandated 30-year reserve studies from a credentialed preparer. S7745, the condo and co-op ombudsman bill, would have created a state office to mediate board disputes, monitor elections, and maintain a registry. None received a floor vote in either chamber before the session closed June 18, 2026.

The Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums (CNYC) 2026 Legislative Scorecard, published this month, lists "Financial Information for Prospective Purchasers" (Int. 426-2026, a pending NYC Council intro) as a measure the industry opposes, citing "increased cost and liability." Texas enacted the equivalent in SB711, not as a burden, but as a condition of employing a management company. The documents Texas now requires associations to post online are the same documents New York associations have always been required to maintain; the difference is only whether owners can access them without filing a court proceeding.

Bottom line.

Texas gave condo owners a searchable public registry, online access to governing documents, and a statutory right to vote electronically. New York has none of the three, and the Albany bills that would have moved the state closer did not advance before the 2025-2026 session closed. The gap here is not structural in the sense of being technically difficult to close. Texas closed it in a single 89th-legislature session. New York's condominium law dates to 1964, and the access rights it extends to unit owners have not been updated to match what Texas now treats as a minimum for any association that employs a management company. The information the industry opposes disclosing to buyers and owners is the information a buyer or owner in Texas can read on a website before signing anything.

Companion resources: What NYC condo and co-op owners can legally demand from the board · S.71: the NY managing-agent licensure bill · NY's condo transparency bill: 58-1 Senate, Assembly sponsor withdrew it · Washington's 26-item resale disclosure law vs. New York · No mandatory financial disclosure to buyers · Managing-agent licensure gap