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House Bill 1086 |
House Author: Rodriguez, Eddie et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-13 |
Senate Sponsor: Eltife et al. |
House Bill 1086 amends the Property Code to increase the amount that a tenant is authorized to recover from a landlord if the landlord or the landlord's agent violates restrictions on the interruption of utility services by including as part of that amount one month's rent plus $1,000, rather than the greater amount of one month's rent or $500.
House Bill 1086 authorizes a landlord who submeters electricity or allocates or prorates nonsubmetered master metered electricity to interrupt a tenant's electric service for nonpayment of an electric bill if the landlord's right to interrupt electric service is authorized in the tenant's lease, if the tenant's electric bill is not paid on or before the 12th day after the date the electric bill is issued, and if electricity termination notices are appropriately delivered to the tenant. The bill sets out the landlord's notice requirements and the conditions under which the landlord is prohibited from interrupting a tenant's electric service for nonpayment of an electric bill and provides for a deferred payment option. If a delinquent electric bill is paid or a deferred payment plan is entered into during normal business hours, the landlord is required to reconnect the tenant's electric service within two hours of payment or entry into the deferred payment plan. The bill prohibits a landlord from applying a payment made by a tenant to avoid interruption of electric service or reestablish electric service to rent or any other amounts owed under the lease. The bill prohibits a landlord from evicting a tenant for failure to pay an electric bill when the landlord has interrupted the tenant's electric service unless the tenant fails to pay for the electric service after the electric service has been interrupted for at least two days. The bill authorizes a reconnection fee to be applied if electric service to a tenant is disconnected for nonpayment of bills, subject to certain conditions.