Two Texas forms in a condominium resale
Selling a Unit at The Royalton: The Seller's Disclosure Notice and the Condominium Resale Certificate
Updated October 2026
When you sell a unit at The Royalton, what do the Texas seller's disclosure notice and the condominium resale certificate cover?
In October 2026, TREC's Seller's Disclosure Notice covers Section 5.008's material facts and physical condition, and the condominium association prepares and signs the resale certificate.
Paige Martin, Houston Properties Team, The Royalton
Source: Texas Real Estate Commission, Seller's Disclosure Notice form (55-1), May 2026.
What do the Texas seller's disclosure notice and the condominium resale certificate each cover?
The Texas Real Estate Commission publishes both forms, and they come from different hands. TREC's Seller's Disclosure Notice, form 55-1, carries the disclosures Section 5.008 of the Texas Property Code requires about material facts and the property's physical condition.
The notice sets its own scope in two conditions: the kind of property and the date of the contract. Whether a unit in a condominium tower falls inside that wording is a question to put to your attorney.
The Condominium Resale Certificate, form 32-5, belongs to the association. TREC describes it as used in connection with the sale of a condominium, prepared and signed by the condominium association.
So one form carries the seller's disclosures about the property. The other carries the association's own signed statement about its finances and the unit.
This disclosure form is required by sellers of previously occupied single family residences and is to be used in conjunction with a contract for the sale of real property entered into on or after September 1, 2023.
What does a Royalton buyer read on the resale certificate?
At The Royalton the certificate is where a buyer learns what one home actually owes. Fees here follow each home's allocated interest in the recorded condominium declaration rather than its square footage. A per-square-foot rate quoted for the building is an average, and the certificate's assessment line is the figure for your unit.
The assessment is one of fourteen statements the certificate must carry. The others describe the association: unpaid amounts the seller owes, capital spending approved for the next twelve months, and reserves with any part designated for a named project.
It also states unsatisfied judgments, pending suits, insurance carried for owners, known alterations that breach the governing documents, and government notices about code violations. The managing agent's details, the operating budget and balance sheet, and every transfer fee with its recipient complete the list.
For a seller here, those lines are the questions a buyer will bring to the option period. Reading them before listing lets your agent answer from the document rather than from memory.
How does the August 2022 record reach the Royalton paperwork?
An underground water line serving the building's fire sprinkler system broke on 11 August 2022, and the 33-story tower was evacuated. Engineers who inspected the next day did not identify conditions representing an immediate concern to the structural integrity of the primary vertical and lateral systems. They also noted that further conditions could be exposed once repairs were opened up.
On the certificate, four lines carry the aftermath of an event like that: reserves, approved capital spending, unsatisfied judgments and pending suits. Buyers here often ask for three records outside it as well: board minutes and engineering reports on the repair, the insurance history, and the current reserve study.
Those three are requested from the association rather than furnished under statute. A seller who gathers them early has answers ready when a buyer asks.
When should a Royalton seller start on the documents?
Before a contract is executed, a selling owner here must furnish the declaration, the bylaws, any association rules and a current resale certificate. The association has ten days from the owner's written request to produce the certificate.
The copy a buyer receives must have been prepared no earlier than three months before delivery. Together those rules set a window: ask close enough to listing that the certificate stays current, and early enough that it stays off the critical path.
Buyers price a unit here against sold homes of its own plan, and the monthly assessment belongs in that same calculation. Having the certificate in hand lets your listing answer the fee question with the association's own figure.
Questions & answers
The Royalton questions, answered
If an estate or a trust is selling a Royalton unit, does it give the seller's disclosure notice?
Section 5.008 of the Texas Property Code does not apply to a transfer by a fiduciary administering a decedent's estate, a guardianship, a conservatorship or a trust. That exemption removes a form. The duty to give a buyer truthful answers stays in place, and so do the association's documents and their usual schedule.
The exemption turns on the capacity of the seller: a fiduciary acting for an estate, a guardianship, a conservatorship or a trust. Paige Martin specializes in probate and estate sales and sales made by a trust. The association package moves on the same terms as any other sale here. Two statements on the certificate often answer what an estate cannot answer from its own files. One is any right of first refusal or other restraint on transfer in the declaration. The other is the amount the selling owner currently owes the association.
Which Texas law governs The Royalton's condominium association?
The Texas State Law Library places condominium associations under the Texas Uniform Condominium Act, Chapter 82 of the Texas Property Code. That chapter governs how condominiums are created, altered and terminated, how they are managed, and the protections a purchaser holds. The Royalton's declaration was recorded after the December 2004 conversion, so Chapter 82 reaches the building in full.
The same guide notes that condominium owners' associations are legally distinct from other property owners' associations, such as residential subdivision POAs. Chapter 209, the statute many Texas homeowners have heard of, applies to residential subdivisions. Section 209.003(d) keeps it away from a condominium as defined by Section 81.002 or 82.003. So a rule you read about a subdivision HOA may not carry over to a unit here. The certificate requirement a Royalton buyer relies on comes from Chapter 82, and the purchase protections in that chapter sit beside it.
Can the Texas Real Estate Commission answer legal questions about the forms in my Royalton sale?
No. TREC states that it cannot provide legal advice to the public on private contractual matters. Anyone obtaining its forms for a possible transaction, it says, should contact a real estate license holder or an attorney for assistance. The Texas State Law Library adds that only an attorney can provide legal advice for a specific situation.
That leaves two kinds of help with different jobs. A license holder can walk you through how the paperwork moves in a Royalton sale: what the association produces, when it arrives, and which lines buyers here tend to question. A question about your own rights or duties under the contract belongs with your attorney. Bring the declaration, the bylaws, the rules and the certificate to that meeting.
Does my listing agent have to use the TREC forms when I sell at The Royalton?
TREC states that real estate license holders are required to use its forms. The Seller's Disclosure Notice is form 55-1 and the Condominium Resale Certificate is form 32-5. A license holder handling your sale works from those promulgated versions, so the documents a buyer receives follow a layout every party already knows.
The certificate form in use is TREC No. 32-5, effective 25 November 2024, and its lettered boxes give each statement a fixed place. That fixed layout lets a buyer, a lender and your agent read the same line the same way. Box C shows assessments the seller owes. Box E shows capital spending approved for the next year, box F the reserves, and box O the fees charged on the transfer.
What happens if the association is late with the resale certificate on my Royalton sale?
If the association misses its ten-day window, the selling owner may give the buyer a sworn affidavit instead. The affidavit states that the owner asked for the association's financial information and did not receive it in time. Buyer and seller may then agree in writing to waive the certificate requirement.
A buyer who signs that waiver goes forward with the association's position unread. Unpaid amounts, reserves, pending suits and the transfer-fee table all stay out of view. At a building with a 2022 repair record, that gap is a real decision for the buyer. The statutory cancellation clock runs from receipt of the certificate or execution of a waiver, whichever comes first. A seller can also send the association a fresh written request.
Who pays for the resale certificate when I sell my Royalton unit, and what can the association charge?
Under TREC's Residential Condominium Contract (Resale), the certificate is prepared at the seller's expense. The declaration, bylaws and rules are delivered at the seller's expense too. Texas law caps what the association may charge to furnish the certificate at a reasonable and necessary fee of no more than $375.
That ceiling covers the certificate alone. Fees tied to the transfer of ownership appear in their own table on the certificate, each with a description, a recipient and an amount. A required contribution to the capital reserves account gets a separate line again. The association's recorded management certificate also lists the transfer fees charged to a seller or a buyer, and it is public record before any contract exists.
Once a buyer has the resale certificate, can the association come back for debts it left off?
Not for debts it left off as of the preparation date. A purchaser, lender or title insurer who relies on a resale certificate is not liable for any debt or claim it leaves undisclosed. The association may not deny the validity of any statement in it. That protection stops at the date the certificate was prepared.
Debts and claims that arise or become due after that date stay recoverable, and so does the association's lien securing future assessments. A separate rule covers an error in the delinquency figure. Where a properly executed certificate understates what the seller owes, the purchaser is not liable for the excess unpaid on the preparation date. For a seller the practical point is accuracy: settle any balance the certificate shows before closing.