Requesting a § 209.007 hearing isn’t about winning the hearing. It’s about triggering § 209.008(b) — the fee bar that erased every dollar of attorney’s fees in Dao v. Mission Bend. The protection works even when you lose on the merits.
Section 209.007(d) takes away your Sec. 209.007 hearing the moment the HOA sues for foreclosure — then says a party “may file a motion to compel mediation.” When a homeowner filed it, the judge denied it as “premature.” The statute contains no timing limit.
Before 2015, HOAs had to prove you actually received the notice. Then the law changed. Now they only have to prove they mailed it — and that one-word shift can cost you your home.