85th Recap: Landlord Tenant
There were several bills that made it all the way through the legislature and Governor Abbott signed into law impacting various areas of general landlord tenant law. S.B. 873 directly impacts submetering utilities in an apartment complex or a manufactured home community. The remaining bills makes changes that will impact the manufactured home communites that have rental homes where both the lot and the home are leased.
S.B. 873 - Relating to the authority and liability of owners and managers of apartment houses, manufactured home rental communities, condominiums, and multiple use facilities in charging tenants
This bill was championed by the Texas Apartment Association and worked on by TMHA to lobby for its passage. The genesis of S.B. 873 derived from disputes over apartment water submetering billing, including several class action law suits. The bill removes from the Water Code the provision allowing a tenant to sue in court for improper billing and recover as damages: three times the amount of any overcharge, a civil penalty equal to one month's rent, reasonable attorney's fees, and court costs from the owner. The bill limits the jurisdiction exclusively to the Public Utility Commission for disputes about overcharging a tenant in a submetering situation. If the PUC determines an overcharge has occurred, they will require the owner to return to the tenant the overcharged amount.
The bill became effective on June 1st, 2017.
H.B. 804 - Relating to the duty of a property owner to send a lessee of the property who is required to pay the ad valorem taxes on the property a copy of any notice of appraised value received by the property owner
H.B. 804 only involves leases that require the tenant to pay for the property taxes or is contractually obligated to reimburse the property owner for the property taxes. The bill addresses the issue of tenants finding out taxes have increased after the period to contest property tax increases has expired. The new law requires a property owner to send to a person leasing property a copy of any notice of appraised value of the property received by the property owner. The property owner must send the notice no later than the 10th day after the date the property owner receives the notice. The law would allow the property owner and person leasing the property to waive the notice requirements in the contract.
The law goes into effect September 1, 2017.
H.B. 1099 - Relating to a residential tenant's right to summon police or other emergency assistance
This law change only impacts home rental situations. The current law under Chapter 92, Property Code, already prohibits landlords from prohibiting residential from summoning the police or emergency assistance. H.B. 1099 expands the protection to now include situations were tenants summon police or emergency assistance for family violence based on the tenant's belief that an individual needs intervention or emergency assistance.
The law change should not require any lease changes unless a lease specifically previously prohibited tenants from summoning police or attempted to exempt the landlord from any liability based on these conditions. If such exemptions are in a lease those provisions are void under the law.
The law goes into effect September 1, 2017.
H.B. 3879 - Relating to nonlawyer representation in an appeal of an eviction suit
H.B. 3879 expands the option to use a person who is not an attorney to represent a property owner in an appeal of an eviction suit for nonpayment of rent in a county or district court. The previous law allowed for nonlawyer representation at the justice court level, but if the eviction was appealed a lawyer was required to argue the matter in county or district court.
The bill was signed by the governor on June 15, and will become effect September 1, 2017.
S.B. 920 - Relating to access to a residence or former residence to retrieve personal property, including access based on danger of family violence
S.B. 920 modifies the law under Chapter 24, Property Code, and allows a justice of the peace to issue a writ that authorizes the entry and retrieval of property while accompanied by a peace officer if the occupant poses a danger of family violence against the person applying for the writ.
The law goes into effect September 1, 2017.
S.B. 1229 - Relating to solid waste services for rental property and solid waste management programs in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of municipalities in certain counties
This bill derived from serious problems with trash and debris filled streets bringing along rat and roach infestations in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City of San Antonio. An elementary school in one of the trash ridden areas stopped letting kids play outside during recess because of rats in the playground.
In unincorporated areas, solid waste services are voluntary, which can lead to unwanted proliferation of trash and debris in neighborhoods.
S.B. 1229 creates a means to address this issue by providing for solid waste management programs in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of municipalities in Bexar county.
The bill was signed by the governor on May 22 and went into effect immediately when he signed it.
This is one of TMHA's 85th Legislative Session Recap posts. The series includes these additional posts: