Selling a San Antonio Home in a PID or MUD: The § 5.014 Notice, Assessments, and Buyer Surprises

If your San Antonio home sits inside a Public Improvement District (PID) or Municipal Utility District (MUD), you owe the buyer a very specific written notice before they sign the contract — not at option, not at closing. Get the timing wrong and the buyer keeps a right to terminate that can survive all the way to funding. Get the numbers wrong on the notice and you have a disclosure problem on top of it.

This is one of the most common late-stage deal blowups on the north and far northwest side, because most sellers do not realize their subdivision is a PID until the title commitment comes back and a Schedule B assessment lien shows up.

PID vs MUD — they are not the same thing

Both are special districts that let a developer front the cost of infrastructure (roads, drainage, amenities, sometimes water/sewer) and pass the cost to future homeowners. But they are created and billed differently.

• PID (Public Improvement District). Created by a city or county under Chapter 372 of the Texas Local Government Code. In San Antonio, City Council creates them. The assessment is a lien on the property, usually amortized over 20–30 years, and typically collected on your Bexar County tax bill as a separate line item — but sometimes billed directly by an assessment administrator. Common in far northwest developments.
• MUD (Municipal Utility District). A political subdivision under Chapter 49 of the Texas Water Code. It can issue bonds, levy an ad valorem tax, and provide water, sewer, and drainage. Bexar County has far fewer true MUDs than Harris or Montgomery County, but they exist in ETJ pockets — and the notice obligation is real when they do.

The seller's disclosure obligation is triggered by which district it is, so identify it correctly before you draft anything.

Where these show up around San Antonio

• Alamo Ranch (78253) — large PID on the far northwest side inside NISD boundaries. Assessments are on the county tax roll as a separate line.
• Cibolo Canyons (78261) — PID plus a TIRZ near the JW Marriott resort, NEISD schools.
• Various far NW and far NE developments off 1604 — many newer master-planned sections were built with PID financing to pay for arterial roads and drainage.
• ETJ subdivisions in far south and southwest Bexar — a handful of MUDs and Water Control and Improvement Districts.

Do not assume. Pull your most recent Bexar County tax statement and look for a line that is not ISD, not City of San Antonio, not County, not ACCD, not University Health, and not the flood control. Anything else — "SA PID," "Assessment," a district name — is your flag. Then confirm with the assessment administrator (the City of San Antonio publishes a PID list) or with your title company.

The § 5.014 PID notice

Texas Property Code § 5.014 requires the seller of property in a PID to give the buyer a specific written notice, in a form set by statute, disclosing that the property is subject to assessments and stating the current annual assessment amount. Key mechanics:

• Delivery must be before the buyer executes the contract. Not at option, not with the seller's disclosure package a week later. Before signature.
• If it is delivered late, the buyer has a statutory right to terminate the contract, and that right can extend until closing depending on facts.
• The notice is form-specific. Use the statutory form. Do not draft your own. The City of San Antonio's PID administrator can provide the current annual assessment figure; the title company usually has the notice template.
• The buyer signs the notice. That signed notice is what the title company wants in the file.

On the TREC One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale) — currently version 20-17 — the PID paragraph (Paragraph 6) has a box the seller marks if the property is in a district requiring notice. Mark it. Attach the notice. Do not rely on the buyer's agent to catch it.

The MUD notice under Water Code § 49.452

If the property is in a MUD, § 49.452 of the Water Code requires a separate statutory notice stating the district's tax rate, bonded indebtedness, and standby fee if any. Same principle: deliver before contract execution, use the statutory form, get it signed. The MUD itself (or its bookkeeper) publishes the current numbers annually — do not guess the tax rate.

What the buyer actually sees at the title commitment

Assume the buyer opens Schedule B of the title commitment about a week into the option period. They will see:

• The PID assessment lien recorded against the property.
• Any transfer or estoppel requirement from the PID administrator.
• The remaining assessment balance if the PID publishes it (some do, some don't).

Buyers who did not understand the PID at contract signing often panic at this stage. That panic is the deal-killer, not the assessment itself. Sellers who front-loaded the disclosure — annual amount, remaining term, how it appears on the tax bill — rarely lose the buyer here. Sellers who let it come as a surprise almost always end up renegotiating price or credit.

Payoff, transfer, and closing mechanics

Some PIDs allow prepayment of the remaining assessment; some do not. If yours does, get the payoff quote early — the administrator can take 5–10 business days to produce it, and the title company needs it before they can prepare the CD. Whether you prepay or leave it in place is a pricing decision:

• Leave it in place. Buyer assumes future annual payments. You price the home to reflect that ongoing cost. Most common.
• Prepay at closing. You take the payoff off your net proceeds; the buyer gets a clean tax bill. Rarely worth it unless a specific buyer demands it.

Many PIDs also charge a transfer or estoppel fee at closing — usually a few hundred dollars. That is a Schedule B item the title company will collect; know whether it is seller-paid or buyer-paid under your contract (default is negotiable — TREC 20-17 Paragraph 6 addresses district-related expenses).

What most people get wrong

• Confusing a PID with an HOA. They are separate obligations. Alamo Ranch homeowners often pay both an HOA assessment and a PID assessment. The HOA resale certificate does not cover the PID. You need the PID disclosure and the resale certificate.
• Delivering the notice at option instead of before signing. The statute says before execution. Delivering it with the seller's disclosure three days after the effective date preserves the buyer's termination right. Fix this by giving the notice as part of the listing package, before offers.
• Guessing the annual assessment. Use the current figure from the administrator. Last year's number is not this year's number, and a wrong amount on a statutory notice is worse than no notice.
• Assuming the assessment shows up on Zestimates or generic listing math. It does not. A buyer running a PITI calculation without the PID line will feel deceived when the escrow analysis comes back higher. Put the annual PID amount in the MLS remarks and the seller's disclosure.
• Marking the TREC 20-17 PID box "No" because you never got a bill. Some PIDs bill through the county tax collector and the line item is easy to miss. Confirm with the City of San Antonio PID list before you check that box — mismarking it is a misrepresentation claim waiting to happen.
• Forgetting the transfer fee at closing. Small dollars, but it will hold up funding if no one ordered the estoppel letter. Ask your title officer to order it the day you go under contract.

Before you list

Pull the tax bill, identify every non-standard line, and confirm the district in writing. Have your title company or agent generate the statutory notice with current-year numbers, and deliver it with the MLS listing package so the first offer arrives already acknowledging it. That single move eliminates the most common late-stage renegotiation on north-side sales.

If you want to compare active PID-area listings before you price, browse San Antonio homes on HomeFinder at /homes-for-sale, list your home FSBO free at /list-your-home, or find a listing agent who has closed in your specific PID at /agents.