A Texas woman wanted a 160-square-foot office in her backyard, and 6 years later her HOA faces a $153,264 bill

A Texas homeowners association now faces a bill topping $153,000 after losing a six-year legal battle against a resident who wanted to build a small backyard office. Masha Davis said the association owed $153,264 in attorney’s fees, court costs, and interest as of early November, per the New York Post.

Interest continues to build at about $34 a day, and Davis said an attorney has started collection efforts to recover the money. Residents of the 570 homes represented by the association have not received a clear explanation of how the judgment will be paid.

The dispute began in July 2020, when Davis submitted plans for a 160-square-foot structure behind her home in the Davis Spring subdivision in Austin. The office was designed to be 10 feet by 16 feet with a roof height of 9 feet, 6 inches.

The courts kept siding with Davis

Davis planned to use the space for consulting work and as a place where family members could isolate during the pandemic. She said the building would have electricity and air conditioning but no plumbing, and it would not have been visible from the street.

The architectural review committee rejected the application anyway. It cited concerns about the structure’s height and argued it could function as a separate dwelling, which would violate single-family housing restrictions. Davis challenged the decision, arguing that the height restriction was not legally in effect when she applied.

She sued the association in January 2021. A Williamson County district court ruled in August 2022 that the applicable architectural guidelines contained no height restriction prohibiting the structure, and that the committee lacked the authority to reject her application on those grounds. A second ruling in January 2024 confirmed that no restrictive covenant prevented the construction.

The court awarded Davis $100,000 in attorney’s fees, though she said her actual legal expenses were closer to $150,000. The HOA appealed the fee award rather than the rulings that allowed the office to be built. The Third Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the award and added $30,000 in conditional appellate attorney’s fees.

Davis previously served as vice president of the HOA board before resigning in July 2020. She said that at a recent board meeting, a former HOA president asked about the financial impact, but the board did not give a clear answer. The HOA’s legal defense was covered by insurance, but Davis said it remains unclear whether the insurer will pay this judgment or the association must use its own funds.

“It’s their association and their money,” Davis said. “I kept going because I believed the HOA was wrong, and I didn’t want them to be able to win just by making the process too expensive for me.”

Davis is now pushing for changes to Texas HOA laws, including stronger accountability for association directors and limits on how much insurance can cover in legal defense costs. “An HOA should have to follow the rules it expects its homeowners to follow,” Davis said. “That shouldn’t be a controversial idea.”

In a separate dispute, a TikTok creator said his HOA cited his lawn stripes for looking too professional.