First published 11 Nov 2026, 5:00am
A Texas homeowner wins a six-year battle over tiny home office. Photo: Supplied
A Texas homeowner’s fight to build a tiny backyard office spiralled into a six-year legal nightmare for the neighbourhood’s homeowners association — which now faces a bill topping $US153,000 ($221,000) after losing in court.
Masha Davis wanted to construct a modest 160-square-foot office behind a home in the Davis Spring subdivision in Austin, Texas, back in 2020.
But the homeowners association rejected the proposal, The Post has learned, setting off a bitter legal battle that ultimately ended in Davis’s favour.
Masha Davis inside the backyard office she fought to build.
As of Nov. 5, the association owed approximately $US153,264 ($221,000) in attorney’s fees, court costs and interest, according to calculations provided by Davis’s lawyer.
Interest is continuing to accrue at roughly $US34 ($49) a day.
The association represents about 570 homes, and Davis says residents still haven’t received a clear explanation of how the judgment will be paid.
“It’s their association and their money,” Davis told The Post.
The dispute began in July 2020, when Davis submitted plans for a detached backyard office measuring just 10 feet (3 metres) by 16 feet (4.8 metres), with a roof height of 9 feet, 6 inches (2.9 metres).
The proposed structure would have electricity and airconditioning but no plumbing, and Davis said it would not have been visible from the street.
Workers pour the foundation for the disputed backyard office.
Construction begins on the 10-by-16-foot structure.
The homeowner, who had retired, planned to use the building for consulting work and as a separate space where family members could isolate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the HOA’s architectural review committee rejected the application, citing the structure’s height and concerns that it could function as a separate dwelling in violation of the community’s single-family housing restrictions.
Davis argued that the height restriction wasn’t included in the architectural guidelines legally in effect when the application was submitted.
The homeowner sued the association in January 2021, launching a legal fight that would stretch across multiple court rulings and an appeal.
The backyard office takes shape during construction.
In August 2022, a Williamson County district court ruled that the applicable architectural guidelines contained no height restriction prohibiting the proposed structure and that the committee lacked authority to reject the application on those grounds.
A second ruling in January 2024 determined that no restrictive covenant prohibited Davis from constructing the backyard office as proposed.
The court subsequently awarded Davis $US100,000 ($144,000) in attorney’s fees, although the homeowner said legal expenses had reached approximately $US150,000 ($216,000).
Rather than challenge the rulings allowing the structure, the HOA appealed the attorney’s-fee award.
On Sept. 29, 2026, Texas’s Third Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the award, including an additional $US30,000 ($43,000) in conditional appellate attorney’s fees.
The office’s interior during construction. Photo: Supplied
Davis said the association has since agreed to pay the judgment.
The homeowner said the HOA’s legal defence had been covered by insurance and questioned whether the insurer would also pay the judgment, or whether the association would have to tap its own funds.
Davis said an lawyer has begun collection efforts to recover the money.
At a Nov. 3 board meeting, a former HOA president raised questions about the lawsuit’s financial consequences, but Davis said the board did not provide a clear answer about how the payment would be funded.
The Post has reached out to the association for comment.
The backyard office sparked a years-long legal battle with the homeowners association.
For Davis, who previously served as vice president of the HOA board before resigning in July 2020, the case has become an example of how costly it can be for individual homeowners to challenge the associations governing their neighbourhoods.
“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 said.
The homeowner is now pushing for changes to Texas HOA laws, including stronger accountability requirements for association directors and limits on how much of their legal defence expenses can be covered by insurance.
The HOA now faces a bill exceeding $US153,000 ($221,000) in legal fees, costs and interest. Photos: Supplied
“An HOA should have to follow the rules it expects its homeowners to follow,” Davis said. “That shouldn’t be a controversial idea.”
The case adds to a growing string of HOA battles nationwide. In September, a Texas homeowner emerged victorious from a three-year war with an HOA, while California condo owners were blindsided by a $US26,000 ($37,000) special assessment for emergency roof repairs.
This was first published in the New York Post – and republished win permission.
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