By:  Cain                                             H.B. No. 1664
       73R4421 MJW-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to a penalty in a residential lease for the late payment
    1-3  of rent.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 92, Property Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Section 92.010 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 92.010.  PENALTY FOR LATE PAYMENT OF RENT.  (a)  A
    1-8  penalty imposed on a tenant for the late payment of rent may not
    1-9  begin to accrue until the sixth day after the date on which the
   1-10  payment is due.
   1-11        (b)  A lease provision that imposes a penalty for the late
   1-12  payment of rent is void to the extent that the penalty exceeds, for
   1-13  each day the rent is late, an amount equal to 10 percent of the pro
   1-14  rata portion of the rent for each day, based on a 30-day month.
   1-15        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
   1-16  applies only to a lease that is executed or renewed on or after
   1-17  that date.
   1-18        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-19  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-20  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-21  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-22  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.