As Texas markets continue to evolve, so too do the legal and structural tools available to developers. One such tool—the site condominium—has gained traction as a creative alternative to traditional subdivision platting. While the concept has existed since the adoption of the Texas Uniform Condominium Act (TUCA) in 1994, site condominiums have become especially popular as a way to obtain project approvals, increase flexibility, and accommodate modern residential and mixed-use designs.
What Is a Site Condominium?
Unlike traditional condominiums that define ownership within a building (typically by walls, floors, and ceilings), a site condominium defines a unit as a discrete area of land—essentially functioning as a platted lot but created through a condominium declaration and condominium plans rather than through traditional subdivision platting. Each unit can include both the land and any improvements located on it, and there are no shared walls or vertically stacked units.
Because of TUCA’s flexibility, a developer may configure units to fit the project’s layout, market needs, or site conditions—without conforming to the rigid rectilinear boundaries of a standard subdivision plat. This allows developers to preserve trees, optimize views, and allocate impervious cover more efficiently, all while maintaining fee-simple ownership for purchasers.
The 2019 Legislative Change
House Bill 2569, enacted in 2019, clarified that a site condominium unit does not require upper or lower (horizontal) boundaries unless the project design necessitates them. This change, which I authored, removed a long-standing technical uncertainty in Chapter 82 and aligned Texas law with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) requirements for site condominium eligibility.
Why Developers Use Site Condominiums
Developers increasingly turn to the site condominium model for both residential and commercial projects because it offers:
- Regulatory efficiency: In many jurisdictions, a site plan can be approved faster than a subdivision plat.
- Design flexibility: Units can be irregularly shaped to respond to topography or aesthetic considerations.
- Market versatility: The structure accommodates detached, attached, and mixed-use products.
- Consumer familiarity: Purchasers hold title to their own land area and improvements—similar to lot ownership—but within a legally cohesive framework that can assign shared maintenance or architectural controls.
For attached townhome developments, the site condominium structure also mitigates construction-defect risk by allowing the exterior building envelope to be included within the unit itself, thereby narrowing the association’s repair and claim responsibilities.
The Subdivision Question
A recurring issue for developers is whether creating multiple land-based condominium units constitutes a “subdivision” that triggers local platting requirements. While the Texas Uniform Condominium Act allows a condominium declaration and plat to be recorded without prior approval, counties and cities retain the right to apply subdivision and development regulations under Section 82.051(e) of the Property Code.
In a 2004 Attorney General opinion (GA-0223), the State clarified that counties have authority to treat certain condominium developments—especially those dividing land into distinct sites—as subdivisions for regulatory purposes. The opinion emphasized that how property is owned (for example, by condominium form rather than fee simple) does not, by itself, exempt a project from county oversight. Counties may still require platting under Local Government Code Chapter 232 when they determine that a condominium layout effectively divides land for separate ownership or occupancy.
That said, the opinion also reaffirmed that Chapter 82 prohibits local governments from discriminating against condominiums or imposing more burdensome requirements than would apply to a physically identical subdivision. The balance struck by the statute and the opinion is practical: while a county may regulate a site condominium as a subdivision, it must do so on equal terms.
Texas has 254 counties, and each applies these principles differently. Some treat site condominiums as a distinct category and simply review them as site plans; others require full subdivision approval. For developers, the takeaway is simple— a brief jurisdictional check early in the process can save weeks of delay later. Site condominiums remain a flexible, legally sound option throughout Texas, but local practice still matters.
While this balance was intended to provide counties with reasonable discretion, the result has been a patchwork of inconsistent treatment across the state. With 254 counties interpreting the same statutory framework differently, developers face significant uncertainty as to whether a proposed site condominium will be processed as a subdivision, a site plan, or something in between. In some jurisdictions, this inconsistency has become outcome-determinative—effectively prohibiting site condominiums altogether by requiring that the land be platted into individual lots. This approach undermines the purpose of the Texas Uniform Condominium Act, which was designed to offer an alternative ownership structure expressly recognized under state law. Greater consistency in local interpretation would help ensure that developers and property owners can rely on the condominium form as the Legislature intended, without unnecessary procedural barriers or duplicative regulation.
The site condominium form has become a valuable option in Texas development, allowing projects to achieve flexibility, density, and efficiency while preserving consumer protections under TUCA. Whether used for small infill tracts, townhome clusters, or commercial enclaves, the model offers a sophisticated balance between traditional subdivision principles and modern ownership structures.
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