"Exceed the number of bedrooms in the Unit, unless stated otherwise per your Lease." That clause comes from the University Heights HOA community policies dated July 1, 2025. It now does more to set how many people can live in a home here than any City of College Station zoning map. That change matters when you price a University Heights house as a rental, because the rule that used to set this subdivision apart from the rest of the city is gone.
The overlay came off in September 2025
University Heights is a student-oriented subdivision off Holleman Drive South. The city's own description of the zoning area is about 28.4 acres covering Phases 1, 2 and 3, generally bounded by Paloma Ridge Drive, Feather Run, Davidson Drive and Holleman Drive South. Those phases were zoned Middle Housing with a High Occupancy Overlay on top. Under College Station's pre-2025 system, the HOO allowed "Shared Housing" with more than four unrelated occupants. The ordinary citywide limit was four unrelated occupants, and the Restricted Occupancy Overlay cut that to two.
Texas Senate Bill 1567 took effect September 1, 2025. It bars cities like College Station from basing occupancy limits on relationship status, occupation, familial status or kinship. Instead, it sets a floor-area standard of one person per sleeping room of at least 70 square feet, plus one more person for each additional 50 square feet in that room. On September 25, 2025, the College Station City Council agenda listed University Heights among the properties moving from "MH Middle Housing and HOO High Occupancy Overlay to MH Middle Housing." Council approved the overlay removals unanimously that night.
For an investor, the result is simple. The city permission that once made a University Heights house unusual now covers most of the city's housing stock. Any older house in College Station can now be leased by the bedroom under the same state rule. University Heights still has its purpose-built layouts, but it no longer has a zoning advantage over other houses.
The line that still binds sits in the HOA documents
SB 1567 says nothing in it prevents an HOA or other private agreement from enforcing its own restrictions. So in University Heights, the occupancy and parking limits an owner actually runs into come from private documents:
- Occupancy: the July 2025 policies cap residents at the unit's bedroom count unless the lease states otherwise.
- Vehicles: the Phase I covenants allow parking only in the garage, the driveway or Board-approved paved areas, with a maximum of four occupant vehicles outside the garage per lot.
- Prohibited parking: the May 2026 HOA handout bans parking on grass and bans boats, trailers, motorhomes and other large vehicles. The July 2025 community policies add that violators can be towed.
- Trash: bagged trash goes inside the provided trash bins. Recycling is every other Tuesday and bulk pickup is Thursday.
These rules cover parking and trash, the same issues KBTX reported College Station residents raising after the law changed. The city said it was considering an overnight-parking strategy, but that was a possible response, not an adopted rule. In University Heights, the HOA's rules already cover that ground.
One caution for buyers: the uploaded covenants are the Phase I declaration, effective February 6, 2012, from declarant UHCS Development, Ltd. A lot in Phase II or III may sit under a different recorded declaration or amendments. Pull the documents for the specific lot.
What the 2026 budget says about an owner's costs
With the HOA now setting the rules that matter, its budget becomes the most useful document in a University Heights deal. The board approved the 2026 budget on January 16, 2026.
| Line item | 2025 actual | 2026 budget |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly dues, townhouse (91 units) | n/a | $265 |
| Monthly dues, house (77 units) | n/a | $185 |
| Property insurance | $66,846 | $125,000 |
| Internet/cable, Optimum | $101,843 | $102,000 |
| Landscaping, mowing | $73,881 | $75,000 |
| Reserves for future major repairs, including the pool | n/a | $10,080 |
| Total expenses | $402,896 | $467,830 |
| Total income | $444,378 | $468,320 |
Three numbers matter most for an owner.
Insurance nearly doubled. The association budgeted $125,000 for property insurance in 2026, up from $66,846 actually spent in 2025. That works out to about $62 per home per month across 168 units. Insurance is the biggest single reason the budget grew.
Reserves are thin. Reserves are budgeted at $5 per unit per month, or $10,080 a year, for future major repairs, including the pool. The 2026 budget leaves a planned surplus of $490 on about $468,000 of income. The covenants let the board levy special assessments when it decides they are needed. With a $490 cushion and a $10,080 reserve line, a large pool repair or another insurance jump would likely be paid by owners directly.
Dues don't cover the building. HOA assessments cover broadband, pool upkeep, landscaping and certain irrigation. Owners remain responsible for their own unit insurance and exterior repairs. Single-family roofs are not covered by the HOA. So a house owner pays $185 a month to the association and still carries the roof, the exterior and a separate insurance policy.
Owners do get one benefit. Household utilities are split equally among residents and billed through the resident portal, so tenants carry that cost.
Advertised rents dropped this month
The cost side is rising while the income side is easing. The University Heights leasing pages show reduced starting rents per bedroom per month. The two house rates were posted as of October 5, 2026, and the townhome rate on a page dated June 25, 2026:
- 4x3 house, 1,782 sq. ft.: $730, down from $780
- 4x4 house, 1,817 sq. ft.: $740, down from $790
- 4x4 townhome, 1,867 sq. ft.: $670, down from $720
The 3x3 townhome and the 4x4.5 luxury townhome show as sold out. Texas A&M's off-campus housing listing, last updated in late September 2026, puts the 4x4 house at $740 to $825 per bedroom.
On a four-bedroom house, a $50 cut per bed is $200 a month of gross rent, or $2,400 over a full 12-month lease at the starting rate. That's more than the house's entire $2,220 in annual HOA dues. Leasing is handled centrally by The Arena Group on individual 12-month leases. The traditional term runs August 10 through July 31. The public pages don't say whether these prices apply to a specific lease year. They also don't say whether the cut reflects one property's pricing or a market-wide decline in College Station.
New beds near campus are the competition
National data offers one explanation for the cuts. Yardi Matrix's student housing report, published September 22, 2026 with August 2026 data, found that communities more than 2 miles from campus were 88.7% preleased for 2026–27, 110 basis points behind the prior year. Properties within a quarter mile of campus reached 93.4%. Advertised rent nationally slipped to $927 per bed. Those are national figures from Yardi's 200-school sample, not College Station numbers. Even so, University Heights' own marketing describes an eight-minute trip to Texas A&M and a spot on the A&M bus route. That makes it a drive-or-bus community.
The planned supply near campus is large:
- The Jay, 313 College Ave: 953 beds, delivery in 2027, from LV Collective
- The Penny, 415 College Main: 605 beds from Pinecrest, leasing starting fall 2026 with move-ins in late summer 2027
- EVER College Station: 545 beds, summer 2027, from Subtext and Larson Capital Management
- VERVE College Station, 311 Stasney Street: 1,193 beds, summer 2028
- Hub College Station: a planned 2,201-bed Northgate project from Core Spaces, with no confirmed delivery date
The first three alone add 2,103 beds targeted for 2027, the lease year that University Heights homes will be priced against this coming season. For scale, Texas A&M reported 74,407 students at College Station in fall 2025, the latest campus figure the university has published.
What to check before you write an offer
Because the binding rules and costs here come from the HOA rather than the city, due diligence starts with the association's documents:
- Get the recorded declaration and any amendments for the specific phase. Don't rely on the 2012 Phase I covenants for a Phase II or III lot.
- Read the current approved budget and ask the board how it plans to fund pool and common-area repairs with a $5 per unit monthly reserve.
- Get a current insurance quote for the house itself, roof included, since the HOA doesn't cover it.
- Confirm current HOA rules with management. The July 2025 policies let bins stay out until Tuesday morning, while the May 2026 handout says to put them away on pickup day. The FAQ and the February 2026 assessments sheet also disagree on whether modem hardware is included.
- Underwrite rent at the reduced starting rates, not the struck-through ones.
FAQ
Is University Heights the same as The Heights at College Station? No. The Heights is a separate 797-bed cottage community at 3055 Holleman Drive South. LV Collective bought it in 2025 and planned a $4.2 million renovation program, with work targeted for summer 2026. It's nearby rental supply, not part of University Heights.
Can an owner lease to more people than there are bedrooms now that the overlay is gone? The HOA policy caps residents at the bedroom count unless the lease states otherwise, and SB 1567 leaves HOA restrictions enforceable. Check the current policy and your lease structure before assuming more occupants.
Are homes here individually owned? The bylaws provide for separate lot ownership and individual lot taxation. Public records reviewed for this post didn't show how many owners hold the 168 lots or what recent resales sold for.
A University Heights house now has to be priced on HOA costs and on rents for a home students drive to, which is the work Maurey Bell Group does every leasing season. We can review the association documents for your lot, build a pro forma at today's per-bedroom rates, and quote what professional management would cost. Request a Free Home Valuation & Property Management Quote.
