By: Brown S.B. No. 1426
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to security devices in certain rental dwellings.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Section 92.151, Property Code, is amended to read
1-4 as follows:
1-5 Sec. 92.151. Definitions. In this subchapter:
1-6 (1) "Doorknob lock" means a lock in a doorknob, with
1-7 the lock operated from the exterior by a key, card, or combination
1-8 and from the interior without a key, card, or combination.
1-9 (2) "Door viewer" means a permanently installed device
1-10 in an exterior door that allows a person inside the dwelling to
1-11 view a person outside the door. The device must be:
1-12 (A) a clear glass pane or one-way mirror; or
1-13 (B) a peephole having a barrel with a one-way
1-14 lens of glass or other substance providing an angle view of not
1-15 less than 160 degrees.
1-16 (3) "Exterior door" means a door providing access from
1-17 a dwelling interior to the exterior. The term includes a door
1-18 between a living area and a garage but does not include a sliding
1-19 glass door or a screen door.
1-20 (4) "Floor-mounted bolting device" means a steel
1-21 sleeve in the floor, on the inside of an in-swinging door, two
1-22 inches in from the center of the door with a kick plate installed
1-23 with screws and a storage bracket on the inside of the door. When
1-24 the steel bar is inserted into its hole in the floor it must be
2-1 capable of preventing the door from moving inward. The steel bar
2-2 must be additionally capable of being adjusted from the inside so
2-3 that the door can be opened from the inside two inches to serve as
2-4 a viewing space while still preventing the door from being opened
2-5 inwardly further than two inches.
2-6 (5) "French doors" means a set of two exterior doors
2-7 in which each door is hinged and abuts the other door when closed.
2-8 The term includes double-hinged patio doors.
2-9 (6) <(5)> "Keyed dead bolt" means:
2-10 (A) a door lock not in the doorknob that:
2-11 (i) locks with a bolt into the doorjamb;
2-12 and
2-13 (ii) is operated from the exterior by a
2-14 key, card, or combination and from the interior by a knob or lever
2-15 without a key, card, or combination; or
2-16 (B) a doorknob lock that contains a bolt with at
2-17 least a one-inch throw.
2-18 (7) <(6)> "Keyless bolting device" means a door lock
2-19 not in the doorknob that locks:
2-20 (A) with a bolt into a strike plate screwed into
2-21 the portion of the doorjamb surface that faces the edge of the door
2-22 when the door is closed or into a metal doorjamb that serves as the
2-23 strike plate, operable only by knob or lever from the door's
2-24 interior and not in any manner from the door's exterior, and that
2-25 is commonly known as a keyless dead bolt;
2-26 (B) by a drop bolt system operated by placing a
2-27 central metal plate over a metal doorjamb restraint that protrudes
3-1 from the doorjamb and that is affixed to the doorjamb frame by
3-2 means of three case-hardened screws at least three inches in
3-3 length. One-half of the central plate must overlap the interior
3-4 surface of the door and the other half of the central plate must
3-5 overlap the doorjamb when the plate is placed over the doorjamb
3-6 restraint. The drop bolt system must prevent the door from being
3-7 opened unless the central plate is lifted off of the doorjamb
3-8 restraint by a person who is on the interior side of the door.
3-9 The term "keyless bolting device" does not include a chain
3-10 latch, flip latch, surface-mounted slide bolt, mortise door bolt,
3-11 surface-mounted barrel bolt, surface-mounted swing bar door guard,
3-12 spring-loaded nightlatch, foot bolt, or other lock or latch; or
3-13 (C) by a metal bar or metal tube that is placed
3-14 across the entire interior side of the door and secured in place at
3-15 each end of the bar or tube by heavy-duty metal screw hooks. The
3-16 screw hooks must be at least three inches in length and must be
3-17 screwed into the door frame stud or wall stud on each side of the
3-18 door. The bar or tube must be capable of being secured to both of
3-19 the screw hooks and must be permanently attached in some way to the
3-20 door frame stud or wall stud. When secured to the screw hooks, the
3-21 bar or tube must prevent the door from being opened unless the bar
3-22 or tube is removed by a person who is on the interior side of the
3-23 door.
3-24 (8) <(7)> "Landlord" means a dwelling owner, lessor,
3-25 sublessor, management company, or managing agent, including an
3-26 on-site manager.
3-27 (9) <(8)> "Multiunit complex" means two or more
4-1 dwellings in one or more buildings that are:
4-2 (A) under common ownership;
4-3 (B) managed by the same owner, agent, or
4-4 management company; and
4-5 (C) located on the same lot or tract or adjacent
4-6 lots or tracts of land.
4-7 (10) <(9)> "Possession of a dwelling" means occupancy
4-8 by a tenant under a lease, including occupancy until the time the
4-9 tenant moves out or a writ of possession is issued by a court. The
4-10 term does not include occupancy before the initial occupancy date
4-11 authorized under a lease.
4-12 (11) <(10)> "Rekey" means to change or alter a
4-13 security device that is operated by a key, card, or combination so
4-14 that a different key, card, or combination is necessary to operate
4-15 the security device.
4-16 (12) <(11)> "Security device" means a doorknob lock,
4-17 door viewer, keyed dead bolt, keyless bolting device, sliding door
4-18 handle latch, sliding door pin lock, sliding door security bar, or
4-19 window latch in a dwelling.
4-20 (13) <(12)> "Sliding door handle latch" means a latch
4-21 or lock:
4-22 (A) located near the handle on a sliding glass
4-23 door;
4-24 (B) operated with or without a key; and
4-25 (C) designed to prevent the door from being
4-26 opened.
4-27 (14) <(13)> "Sliding door pin lock" means a lock on a
5-1 sliding glass door that consists of a pin or nail inserted from the
5-2 interior side of the door at the side opposite the door's handle
5-3 and that is designed to prevent the door from being opened or
5-4 lifted.
5-5 (15) <(14)> "Sliding door security bar" means a bar or
5-6 rod that can be placed at the bottom of or across the interior side
5-7 of the fixed panel of a sliding glass door and that is designed to
5-8 prevent the door from being opened.
5-9 (16) <(15)> "Tenant turnover date" means the date a
5-10 new tenant moves into a dwelling under a lease after all previous
5-11 tenants have moved out. The term does not include dates of entry
5-12 or occupation not authorized by the landlord.
5-13 (17) <(16)> "Window latch" means a device on a window
5-14 that prevents the window from being opened and that is operated
5-15 without a key and only from the interior.
5-16 SECTION 2. Section 92.157, Property Code, is amended to read
5-17 as follows:
5-18 Sec. 92.157. Security Devices Requested by Tenant. (a) At
5-19 a tenant's request made at any time, a landlord, at the tenant's
5-20 expense, shall install:
5-21 (1) a keyed dead bolt on an exterior door if the door
5-22 has:
5-23 (A) a doorknob lock but not a keyed dead bolt;
5-24 or
5-25 (B) a keyless bolting device but not a keyed
5-26 dead bolt or doorknob lock; and
5-27 (2) a sliding door pin lock or sliding door security
6-1 bar if the door is an exterior sliding glass door without a sliding
6-2 door pin lock or sliding door security bar.
6-3 (b) At a tenant's request made at any time, a landlord, at
6-4 the landlord's expense, shall install a floor-mounted bolting
6-5 device, installed in accordance with the manufacturer's recommended
6-6 procedures and purchased at the tenant's expense.
6-7 (c) At a tenant's request made before January 1, 1995, a
6-8 landlord, at the tenant's expense, shall install on an exterior
6-9 door of a dwelling constructed before September 1, 1993:
6-10 (1) a keyless bolting device if the door does not have
6-11 a keyless bolting device; and
6-12 (2) a door viewer if the door does not have a door
6-13 viewer.
6-14 (d) <(c)> If a security device required by Section 92.153 to
6-15 be installed on or after January 1, 1995, without necessity of a
6-16 tenant's request has not been installed by the landlord, the tenant
6-17 may request the landlord to immediately install it, and the
6-18 landlord shall immediately install it at the landlord's expense.
6-19 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
6-20 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
6-21 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-22 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-23 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-24 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
6-25 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
6-26 Amend S.B. 1426 as follows: by adding a new SECTION 2 on
6-27 Page 5, line 23, to read as follows and renumbering subsequent
7-1 sections appropriately:
7-2 SECTION 2. Amend Section 92.152, Property Code is amended to
7-3 read as follows:
7-4 (a) This subchapter does not apply to:
7-5 (1) a room in a hotel, motel, or inn or to similar
7-6 transient housing; <or>
7-7 (2) residential housing owned or operated by a public
7-8 or private college or university accredited under Section 61.003,
7-9 Education Code; <, or>
7-10 (3) residential housing operated by preparatory
7-11 schools accredited by the Texas Education Agency, a regional
7-12 accrediting agency, or any accrediting agency recognized by the
7-13 commission of education; or
7-14 (4) to a temporary residential tenancy created by a
7-15 contract for the sale of real estate in which the buyer occupies
7-16 the property prior to closing or the seller occupies the property
7-17 after closing for a contemplated term not to exceed 90 days.
7-18 (b) Except as provided by Subsection (a) of this section, a
7-19 <A> dwelling to which this subchapter applies includes:
7-20 (1) a room in a dormitory or rooming house <not
7-21 excluded by Subsection (a) of this section>;
7-22 (2) a mobile home;
7-23 (3) a single family house, duplex, or triplex; and
7-24 (4) a living unit in an apartment, condominium,
7-25 cooperative, or townhome project.
7-26 Solomons