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House Bill 2344 |
House Author: Giddings et al. |
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Effective: 6-19-09 |
Senate Sponsor: West |
House Bill 2344 amends Local Government Code provisions that apply only to a home-rule municipality that has a population of 1.18 million or more, is located predominantly in a county that has a total area of less than 1,000 square miles, and has adopted the Urban Land Bank Demonstration Program Act to authorize the private sale to a land bank of property that is ordered sold pursuant to foreclosure of a tax lien, regardless of current zoning, and on development authorizes the property to be zoned for more than one use that must include residential housing in accordance with that act. The bill exempts property determined by the land bank to not be appropriate for residential development and sold by the bank to an adjacent property owner from statutory provisions governing the subsequent resale of property by a land bank. The bill increases from three years to four years the period following the date of acquisition during which a land bank must sell a property to a qualified participating developer without the property being transferred from the bank to certain taxing units and increases from two years to three years the period during which a qualified participating developer must apply for a construction permit and close on any construction financing without the property reverting to the bank for subsequent resale or conveyance. If the property is replatted by a qualified participating developer, the right of reverter applies to the entire property as replatted. The bill expands a current requirement for a land bank to impose deed restrictions on property sold to qualified participating developers requiring the development and sale or rental of the property to low income households to include the option of a lease-purchase of the property. The bill authorizes a land bank to permit a qualified participating developer to exchange a property purchased from the bank with any other property owned by the developer if the developer agrees to construct on the other property affordable housing for low income households and if the property will be located in either a planned development incorporating the property originally purchased from the bank or another location approved by the bank. The bill requires the land bank to adjust the required deed restrictions for each of the properties exchanged by the developer.
House Bill 2344 requires a land bank, if the bank determines that a property is not appropriate for residential development, to offer the property for sale first to an eligible adjacent property owner according to terms and conditions developed by the bank. To qualify as an eligible adjacent property owner, the person must have owned and continuously occupied as a primary residence, for the two-year period preceding the date of the sale, property adjacent to the land bank's property and satisfy eligibility requirements adopted by the bank. The bill requires the land bank to sell the property to an eligible adjacent property owner at the fair market value as determined by the applicable appraisal district or at the sales price recorded in the annual plan, whichever value is lower and, with exceptions, prohibits an adjacent property owner from leasing, selling, or transferring the property to another person before the third anniversary of the date the owner purchased the property from the land bank. The bill requires information relating to the sale of property to an eligible adjacent property owner to be included in the bank's annual performance report to the municipality.
The bill authorizes the land bank to sell two adjacent properties that are owned by the bank to a qualified participating developer if at least one of the properties is appropriate for residential development and the developer agrees to replat the two adjacent properties as one property that is appropriate for residential development.