Property Owners Associates
PURPOSE STATEMENT
The purpose of the Property Owners Associations is to serve as a forum for attorneys interested in issues affecting condominiums and property owners associations -- both the development and operation of such properties. The committee tries to increase the State Bar's awareness of common interest properties as a unique and emerging area of law. The committee expects to network with other committees of the State Bar and with other organizations, and to serve as a neutral resource on POA - related legislation.
COMMITTEE NAME
In a Fall 1996 poll of potential committee members, the name most preferred was the Committee on Property Owners Associations, which utilizes the term used by the Texas Property Code. The committee's nickname is the "POA Committee." The 1989 version of this same committee was named the Committee on Condominiums and Common Interest Ownership, which was nicknamed the "Condo Committee." Also, our POA Committee must be distinguished from the State Bar's Committee on Powers of Attorney (another POA Committee).
COMMITTEE ORIGINS
The POA Committee is a revival of the Condo Committee that was formed in 1989 by Frank A. St. Claire under the auspices of the State Bar's Real Estate Section. In August 1996, Sharon Reuler asked the State Bar Real Estate Section for permission to organize a new committee to serve the same purpose. The Section formally authorized the POA Committee at its January 1997 meeting. The first state-wide notice of the POA Committee was published in the January 1998 issue of the REPTL Reporter. The organizational meeting of the Committee was held March 10, 1998, in Dallas, Texas. The Section "sunsetted" the POA Committee in December 2001, and reinstated it in January 2002.