The recorded plan, and what the fee is assessed against
Montebello Floor Plans and What the Monthly Fee Actually Covers
Updated September 2026
How large are the homes at Montebello, where is a particular home's floor plan actually recorded, and what does the monthly fee pay for?
Each of the 98 homes at Montebello has its dimensions fixed in a recorded plat and plan, which Texas has required since 1 January 1994 to carry that home's identifying number and a licensed professional's certification.
Paige Martin, Houston Properties Team, Montebello
Source: Texas Property Code, Section 82.059, Plats and Plans, January 1994.
How large are the homes at Montebello, and how many are on a floor?
The operator's building record, read in September 2026, gives the homes at Montebello as 2,000 to more than 4,800 square feet, and puts four homes on a floor in this building.
Set that against the building specification: 98 homes across 30 floors and 360,000 square feet. The larger figure measures the building, corridors, cores, lobbies, parking and amenity space included, so dividing it by 98 gives an average that describes no home here.
The same record counts four two-level penthouses, which is why 98 homes across 30 floors and four to a floor is not exact arithmetic. A floor-by-floor count of the homes belongs to the recorded plans for the condominium.
The record also lists what the homes were built with: 10-foot ceilings, large kitchens with premium appliances, large balconies, jacuzzi tubs with outside views and dual pane windows. Those are the operator's own published descriptions of the homes rather than a survey of any one of them.
Where is a particular home's floor plan actually recorded?
A home's dimensions are recorded in the plats and plans that form part of the condominium declaration. Under Section 82.059 of the Texas Property Code, plats and plans are a part of the declaration and may be recorded as a part of it or separately, and each one must be legible and carry a certification that it contains all the information the section requires.
Those documents fix the location and dimensions of the vertical boundaries of each unit together with the unit's identifying number, the horizontal boundaries, if any, where the declaration does not describe them, and the location and dimensions of limited common elements other than those described by Sections 82.052(2) and (4). An independent licensed surveyor or engineer certifies at least one plat showing all perimeter land boundaries of the condominium, except for additional real property, and certification of any other plat or plan required by the chapter is a certification by an independent licensed architect, surveyor or engineer.
Getting from a home to its plan starts with the identifying number. Section 82.054 of the Texas Property Code treats a description as a sufficient legal description of a unit where it contains the name of the condominium, the recording data for the declaration, including any amendments, plats, and plans, the county in which the condominium is located, and the identifying number of the unit. Those four items are also the search terms for pulling the recorded document.
This has been the rule under the Texas Uniform Condominium Act since 1 January 1994, so a certified, recorded instrument is what carries the dimensions of a home here.
Why do two square-foot figures for the same home disagree?
Two honest measurements can stop at different surfaces. Section 82.052 of the Texas Property Code provides that, except as otherwise provided by the declaration or plat, where walls, floors or ceilings are designated as boundaries of a unit, the finished surfaces (plasterboard, plaster, paneling, tiles, wallpaper, paint, finished flooring and the rest) are part of the unit, and all other portions of the walls, floors, or ceilings are a part of the common elements.
So a figure measured to the finished face of the wall and a figure measured to the structure describe one home and still differ. Reported living area in the marketplace comes from the appraisal district or from a listing, and the two are not always consistent with each other.
The recorded plan looks different again from a marketing plan, because interior walls and partitions within a unit need not be included in the plats or plans. The recorded plan fixes boundaries and identifying numbers, while the room-by-room drawing a seller hands you is doing another job.
A balcony that serves one home and sits outside that home's boundaries is a limited common element allocated to that home, unless the declaration or plat provides otherwise, and a balcony treated that way falls outside the measured area. Which way a particular balcony falls is settled by the declaration and the plat, and the plats need not show limited common elements of that kind at all.
What is the monthly fee assessed against, and how is it set each year?
The fee is assessed against each home's allocated common expense liability, and it answers to a budget. Section 82.112 of the Texas Property Code provides that, after an initial assessment by an association, assessments must be made at least annually and must be based on a budget adopted at least annually by the association.
Common expenses are assessed in accordance with the common expense liability allocated to each unit, so the annual exercise has two moving parts: the budget the association adopts, and the allocation each home carries. In Texas, a condominium's declaration is the instrument that carries that allocation.
Two mechanical points come with the statute. If common expense liabilities are reallocated, common expense assessments and an assessment installment not yet due are recomputed in accordance with the reallocated liabilities. A past due assessment or installment of an assessment may bear interest at a lawful rate established by the association.
Because the figure is set each year against a budget adopted each year, the number that matters is the current one for a specific home, and the statute puts that number in a document you can request.
What does the fee fund, and where does it stop?
The fee funds the shared parts of the building, and it stops at each home's own equipment. Under Section 82.107 of the Texas Property Code, except as provided by the declaration or by Subsections (b) and (c) of that section, the association is responsible for maintenance, repair, and replacement of the common elements, and each unit owner is responsible for maintenance, repair, and replacement of the owner's unit.
Those two subsections put two categories expressly on the owner's side, and the declaration can vary either one. Except as provided by the declaration, the cost of any utility installation or equipment serving only the owner's unit is the owner's, without regard to whether the installation or equipment is located wholly or partially outside the designated boundaries of the unit, and the statute names electricity, water, sewage, gas, water heaters, heating and air conditioning equipment and television antennas. The cost of windows and doors serving only the owner's unit sits on the owner's side on the same terms, again except as provided by the declaration.
Work on a limited common element runs the other way. Except as provided by the declaration and Section 82.107, a common expense for the maintenance, repair, or replacement of a limited common element is assessed against all the units as if it were for a general common element, so repairs to something allocated to one home can be funded by every home.
Reserves are permitted and left to the association. A declaration may allow the accumulation of reserve funds for an unspecified period to provide for any anticipated expense of the condominium, and Chapter 82 of the Texas Property Code sets no reserve study requirement and no funding level, which makes the reserve figure something to read in the documents.
How do you find the figure for one home rather than for the building?
Ask the association in writing for the resale certificate, which states the amount of the periodic common expense assessment and the unpaid common expenses or special assessments currently due and payable from the selling unit owner. Section 82.157 of the Texas Property Code requires the association to furnish it not later than the tenth day after receiving a written request by a unit owner, and it permits a reasonable and necessary fee of no more than $375 for doing so. That section is in force as amended from 1 September 2025.
The certificate arrives with the rest of the picture: the association's current operating budget and balance sheet, the amount of reserves for capital expenditures and any portion of those reserves designated for a specified project, capital expenditures approved for the next twelve months, and all fees payable on a transfer of ownership, with a description of each fee, to whom it is paid and the amount.
For dimensions rather than dollars, the route runs from the home's identifying number to the recorded plat and plan filed against that number, then to the home's own appraisal account for reported living area. Read the two sets of documents together and you know what the home measures and what it costs to run.
Send your unit number and ask for the certificate and the recorded plan to be read side by side while your option period still has room in it.
What can this page not tell you?
A plan-by-plan schedule of the floor plans at Montebello lives in the recorded plats and plans for the condominium, filed against each home's identifying number. The floor area of any specific home is on that home's own recorded plan and on its own appraisal account.
This building's monthly figure, its reserves, its budget and any special assessment come from the association's own current documents, starting with the resale certificate. What Montebello's declaration allocates to a given home, and the formula it used, sits in the declaration itself, a recorded instrument that has to be read in full.
What the fee will be next year answers to a budget adopted next year, since assessments are made at least annually against a budget the association adopts at least annually.
Questions & answers
Montebello questions, answered
How many square feet is a home at Montebello?
The operator's building record, read in September 2026, gives living spaces of 2,000 square feet up to more than 4,800, across 98 homes with four to a floor. The building itself measures 360,000 square feet across 30 floors, and that total includes corridors, cores, lobbies, parking and amenity space, so dividing it by 98 produces an average that describes no home in the building.
The record also counts four penthouses built across two levels, which is why 98 homes, 30 floors and four to a floor is not exact arithmetic. A floor-by-floor count belongs to the recorded plans for the condominium. The same record lists what the homes were built with: 10-foot ceilings, large kitchens with premium appliances, large balconies, jacuzzi tubs with outside views and dual pane windows. Those are the operator's own published descriptions of the homes rather than a survey of any one of them. For the dimensions of one home, the figure that governs is on that home's recorded plan, filed against its identifying number and carrying a licensed professional's certification.
Where can I see the floor plan for a specific home at Montebello?
In the plats and plans recorded with the condominium declaration. Section 82.059 of the Texas Property Code requires them to show the location and dimensions of each unit's vertical boundaries together with the unit's identifying number, the horizontal boundaries, if any, where the declaration does not describe them, and the limited common elements other than those described by Sections 82.052(2) and (4). Start with the unit number, then pull the recorded document.
Section 82.054 of the Texas Property Code sets out what identifies a home in the records: the name of the condominium, the declaration's recording data, including amendments, plats and plans, the county, and the identifying number of the unit. Those four items are a sufficient legal description of the unit, and they are also the search terms for locating the plan. A recorded plan and a marketing plan will not look alike. Interior walls and partitions within a unit need not be included in the plats or plans, so the recorded document can show a boundary and an identifying number where a brochure shows rooms and furniture. Both can be accurate about different things. Certification is the other difference. Any plat or plan the chapter requires apart from the perimeter-boundary plat is certified by an independent licensed architect, surveyor or engineer, and the plat showing all perimeter land boundaries, except for additional real property, is certified by an independent licensed surveyor or engineer. That requirement has stood since 1 January 1994.
Why does the square footage in a listing differ from the county's figure?
Two honest measurements can stop at different surfaces. Under Section 82.052 of the Texas Property Code, where walls, floors or ceilings are designated as boundaries of a unit, and except as the declaration or plat provides otherwise, the finished surfaces inside a home (paint, wallpaper, tiles, paneling, finished flooring) are part of the unit and the rest of the wall, floor or ceiling counts as common element. A figure measured to the finished face and a figure measured to the structure will differ.
Source is the other half of it. Reported living area comes from the appraisal district or from the listing, and the two are not always consistent with each other, so a listing figure and a county figure can disagree without either being careless. What settles the question for a given home is the recorded plan filed against that home's identifying number, together with the home's own appraisal account. Price per square foot inherits the problem. Use it to frame a conversation about value, and start from closed sales of homes with the same exposure, floor plan and level of finish rather than multiplying an average against a square footage.
Is a balcony part of a home's square footage at Montebello?
By default, no. Section 82.052 of the Texas Property Code treats shutters, awnings, window boxes, doorsteps, stoops, porches, balconies, patios and exterior doors and windows that serve a single unit, where they are located outside the unit's boundaries, as limited common elements allocated exclusively to that unit, except as the declaration or plat provides otherwise. So the recorded documents settle it for a given home.
That allocation has a cost consequence worth knowing. Except as provided by the declaration and Section 82.107, a common expense for the maintenance, repair, or replacement of a limited common element is assessed against all the units as if it were for a general common element, so work on one home's balcony can be funded by every home. Section 82.059 adds two drafting points. A plat must show the location and dimensions of limited common elements other than those described by Sections 82.052(2) and (4), so a balcony allocated under Subdivision (4) is one the plats need not depict. Unless the declaration provides otherwise, the horizontal boundaries of part of a unit located outside a building have the same elevation as the horizontal boundaries of the inside part, and they need not be depicted on the plats and plans. The practical step stays the same: read the recorded plat and plan for the identifying number, and read the declaration for anything it varies.
How is the monthly assessment at Montebello set each year?
Section 82.112 of the Texas Property Code sets the method: after an initial assessment, assessments must be made at least annually and must rest on a budget the association adopts at least annually, and they are levied in accordance with the common expense liability allocated to each unit. So the figure follows two inputs each year, the adopted budget and the allocation in the declaration.
Reallocation triggers recalculation. If common expense liabilities are reallocated, common expense assessments and an assessment installment not yet due are recomputed in accordance with the reallocated liabilities. Arrears carry a cost. A past due assessment or installment of an assessment may bear interest at a lawful rate established by the association, which is a rate the association sets rather than one the statute fixes. Because the exercise repeats annually, next year's figure is unknowable today, and the current figure for a specific home is stated on the resale certificate for that home. Ask for it in writing and read the adopted budget beside it.
Does Texas require a condominium association to fund reserves?
Texas permits reserves and leaves the level to the association. Under Section 82.112 of the Texas Property Code, a declaration may allow reserves to accumulate for an unspecified period to provide for any anticipated expense of the condominium, and Chapter 82 of the Texas Property Code sets no reserve study requirement and no funding level. What a given association holds is a question for its own documents.
The resale certificate is where the numbers appear. It must state the amount of reserves, if any, for capital expenditures and of portions of those reserves designated by the association for a specified project, along with capital expenditures approved for the next twelve months. It also arrives with the association's current operating budget and balance sheet, so the reserve figure can be read against what the association plans to spend. Request the certificate in writing, and put your follow-up questions in writing as well, while there is still time to act on the answers.
Who pays to replace the windows and the air conditioning in a Montebello home?
Under Section 82.107 of the Texas Property Code, the owner does, except as the declaration provides otherwise. The owner carries the cost of maintenance, repair and replacement of the windows and the doors that serve only that home, and of any utility installation or equipment that serves only that home, without regard to whether the equipment is located wholly or partially outside the designated boundaries of the unit.
The statute's list of utility installations and equipment includes electricity, water, sewage, gas, water heaters, heating and air conditioning equipment, and television antennas. Equipment sitting in a shaft or on a roof is still the owner's cost where it serves one home alone. The association's side of the line is the common elements: their maintenance, repair and replacement. Each owner's side is the owner's unit. Every one of those defaults opens with the same qualifier, except as provided by the declaration, so the declaration and the resale certificate are what settle a particular item in a particular building. Ask for both before your option period runs, and ask which line of the adopted budget covers any item you expect the association to carry.
How do I find out what a particular home at Montebello pays each month?
Ask the association in writing for that home's resale certificate. Section 82.157 of the Texas Property Code requires it to state the amount of the periodic common expense assessment and the unpaid common expenses or special assessments currently due and payable from the selling unit owner, and the association must furnish it within ten days after receiving a written request from a unit owner. The permitted fee for it is capped at $375.
The certificate is signed and dated by an officer or authorized agent of the association, and it comes with the association's current operating budget and balance sheet, the reserve amounts and any portion designated for a specified project, capital expenditures approved for the next twelve months, and all fees payable to the association or its agent on a transfer of ownership, including a description of each fee, to whom it is paid and the amount. That section is in force as amended from 1 September 2025. Pair the certificate with the recorded plat and plan for the home's identifying number, and the monthly figure and the dimensions both come from documents that carry them.