How does an HOA board remove discriminatory covenants from its recorded documents?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 3, 2026

How an HOA board removes racial and other discriminatory covenants from recorded deed restrictions: no-vote routes in CO, FL and NY, and the free Texas court motion.

Part of the HOA board handbook: running the board.

The short answer

Older subdivisions can still carry recorded deed restrictions that bar sale to or occupancy by people of a certain race or religion. That language is void. Texas Property Code section 5.026(a) has voided it since January 1, 1984, and Florida Statutes section 712.065(2) declares it null and void. But void language stays in the county records, and it shows up in every resale packet and title commitment until someone removes it. Removing it is a board job, and in most of the states covered here the board can do it without an owner vote. Colorado and Florida let the board amend the documents on its own. New York now requires boards to do it by about June 3, 2027. Texas uses a different route: a short court motion that costs nothing to file. Rules vary by state and by your governing documents, and this guide is education, not legal advice. Have the association's attorney review the amendment or motion before anything is recorded.

Find every recorded document first

The declaration on your website is rarely the whole record. The language you are looking for usually sits in older papers: - Deed restrictions the developer recorded for each section or phase, often years before the HOA was formed - Supplemental declarations that added later phases - Plats, which sometimes carry restriction notes - Amendments and restatements, which can repeat the old text word for word - The deed that conveyed the common area to the association Start with the recording references cited in your declaration, then search the county clerk's index under the developer's name. A title commitment from a recent sale in the neighborhood is a useful shortcut, because it lists the recorded restrictions the title company found. Order certified copies. Build a simple list with one row per document: title, recording date, book and page or instrument number, county, and the article and paragraph that holds the language. That list becomes the exhibit for the amendment or the court motion, and it keeps the board from missing a phase.

Decide which words to strike

The easy cases are clauses that limit who may buy, rent or live in a home by race, color, religion or national origin, including any exception carved out for domestic servants. Strike those. The statutes differ on what else counts. Texas section 5.026(a) covers race, color, religion and national origin. Florida section 712.065(1) covers characteristics held protected under the Fourteenth Amendment or the Florida Constitution, and lists race, color, national origin, religion, gender and physical disability as examples. Colorado's definition in C.R.S. 38-36.5-102(14) adds sex, familial status, disability and other personal characteristics protected by state or federal fair housing law. New York ties its rule to the protected classes in Executive Law section 296(5). Every one of these laws leaves lawful restrictions alone, so strike only the unlawful words. Leave single-family use, setbacks and architectural rules in place. Be careful with age language. A clause barring children is unlawful familial status discrimination in most communities, but 42 U.S.C. 3607(b) exempts housing for older persons: communities occupied only by people 62 and older, or 55-and-older communities where at least 80 percent of occupied units have an occupant 55 or older and the community publishes and follows age policies. If your community claims that exemption, let the attorney decide what stays.

Colorado, Florida and New York: the board amends without a vote

Colorado. C.R.S. 38-36.5-104, added by SB 24-145 and in effect since August 7, 2024, lets the board amend the declaration to remove an unlawful restriction without a member vote, even if the declaration requires one. If an owner asks in writing and identifies the language, the board has 90 days to decide reasonably and in good faith whether the declaration contains it, and if it does, 90 more days to amend. The designated officer, or the president if no one is designated, prepares, signs, records and certifies the amendment. Section 38-36.5-105 requires the community and association names, a description of the property, a reference to the recorded document, a set conspicuous statement, a notarized signature and recording in every county where the original is recorded. Section 38-36.5-106(2) supplies the form. The owner's version of that form says it is not effective for property under a governing instrument, so in an HOA the board is the route. Florida. Section 712.065(3) lets the board remove a discriminatory restriction by an amendment approved by a majority vote of the directors, on the request of a parcel owner, notwithstanding any other approval requirement. A director who owns a parcel can make the written request. One catch: a removal-only amendment does not count as a new title transaction under the Marketable Record Title Act, so it does nothing to preserve your other covenants. Preservation stays a separate filing. New York. Real Property Law section 327-a was added by chapter 578 of 2025 (signed December 5, 2025) and amended by chapter 43 of 2026 (signed February 13, 2026). It took effect on the 180th day after signing, June 3, 2026. Section 327-a(3) requires condo, co-op and HOA boards to delete or amend unlawful restrictions in recorded documents within one year, and says the change needs no owner approval. The modification document must reference the original by book and page or instrument number and recording date.

Texas: a free court motion

Texas Property Code chapter 202 has no board-only amendment for this. The tool is section 5.0261, added by SB 30 in 2021. An owner whose chain of title includes the recorded instrument, or another person with the owner's permission, files a motion with the district clerk in the county where the instrument is recorded. The statute supplies the motion and a notarized affidavit form. The clerk may not charge a filing fee. The court may rule on the document alone, with no hearing or notice, and if it does not rule within 15 days the motion is deemed granted. The court clerk sends the finding to the county clerk within 10 days, and the county clerk records it with the original at no charge. The board's job is to make this easy. If the association holds title to common area under the restrictions, ask the attorney whether it can file in its own name. If not, find an owner willing to sign and hand them a finished packet: certified copy, recording details and the completed motion. File one motion for each recorded instrument, so each phase's restrictions get their own. The Texas definition reaches only race, color, religion and national origin. Other discriminatory language needs the attorney's advice on a regular amendment.

Wording the board can copy

Board motion (Colorado or Florida): "The board finds that Paragraph 9 of the Restrictions for Section Two, recorded June 4, 1958, as instrument 123456 in the county records, restricts the sale or occupancy of lots by race and is void. Under [C.R.S. 38-36.5-104 or Fla. Stat. 712.065(3)], the board approves the attached amendment, which removes only that language, and directs the president to sign it before a notary, record it in each county where the restrictions are recorded, and add it to every copy of the governing documents the association provides." Colorado's conspicuous statement, required in substantially this form: "This amendment removes from this deed or other document affecting title to real property an unlawful restriction as defined under the Uniform Unlawful Restrictions in Land Records Act. This amendment does not affect the validity or enforceability of a restriction that is not an unlawful restriction." Notice to owners: "The board has recorded an amendment removing language from our 1958 deed restrictions that tried to limit who could buy or live in our homes based on race. That language has been void for decades and this association does not enforce it. No other covenant changed and no owner vote was needed. The recorded amendment is posted with the governing documents."

A sample timeline

For a 60-home Colorado association whose 1958 restrictions contain the language: - Week 1: The secretary orders certified copies of every recorded instrument and builds the document list. - Week 2: The attorney reviews the flagged paragraphs and drafts the amendment on the section 38-36.5-106(2) form. - Week 4: The board adopts the motion at an open meeting and the minutes record the vote. - Week 5: The president signs before a notary and records the amendment in each county. - Week 7: The recorded copy comes back. It goes into the document library and the resale packet, and the notice goes to owners. If an owner's written request started the process, seven weeks sits well inside the statute's 90 days. A Florida board follows the same steps, starting from the owner's written request. A New York board should plan to record well before June 3, 2027.

Mistakes boards make

- Retyping the declaration with the language quietly dropped and posting it as the official version. Keep the recorded original and the recorded amendment together, and hand out both. Our guide on fixing an error in recorded HOA documents explains why two versions cause trouble. - Fixing the master declaration and missing the phase restrictions, supplemental declarations or plat notes. - Striking lawful covenants along with the unlawful ones. An overreaching amendment invites a challenge to the whole filing. - Touching age language in a 55-and-older community without the attorney's review. - Recording in one county when the community crosses a county line. Colorado requires recording in each one. - Letting a Colorado owner's written request sit. The 90-day clock runs from receipt. - Quoting the old language in letters or newsletters. Describe it instead. Once the amendment is recorded, update the files owners actually see. Our guide on setting up an HOA document library owners can search covers where the amendment belongs next to the original.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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