By: Truan S.B. No. 1605
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the request of certain elderly or disabled tenants for
1-2 a landlord to deactivate or not install a keyless bolting device.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subsections (a), (e), (f), and (g), Section
1-5 92.153, Property Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-6 (a) Except as provided by Subsections (b), (e), (f), <and>
1-7 (g), and (h) and without necessity of request by the tenant, a
1-8 dwelling must be equipped with:
1-9 (1) a window latch on each exterior window of the
1-10 dwelling;
1-11 (2) a doorknob lock or keyed dead bolt on each
1-12 exterior door;
1-13 (3) a sliding door pin lock, a sliding door handle
1-14 latch, or a sliding door security bar on each exterior sliding
1-15 glass door of the dwelling, if construction of the dwelling was
1-16 completed before September 1, 1993, and the calendar date is before
1-17 January 1, 1995;
1-18 (4) a sliding door pin lock and a sliding door handle
1-19 latch or a sliding door security bar on each exterior sliding glass
1-20 door of the dwelling, if construction of the dwelling was completed
1-21 on or after September 1, 1993, or the calendar date is January 1,
1-22 1995, or later;
1-23 (5) a keyless bolting device and a door viewer on each
2-1 exterior door of the dwelling, if initial construction of the
2-2 dwelling was completed on or after September 1, 1993; and
2-3 (6) a keyless bolting device and a door viewer on each
2-4 exterior door of the dwelling, if the calendar date is January 1,
2-5 1995, or later.
2-6 (e) A keyless bolting device is not required to be installed
2-7 at the landlord's expense on an exterior door if:
2-8 (1) the dwelling is part of a multiunit complex in
2-9 which the majority of dwelling units are leased to tenants who are
2-10 over 55 years of age or who have a physical or mental disability;
2-11 (2) a <the> tenant or occupant in the dwelling is over
2-12 55 years of age or has a physical or mental disability; and
2-13 (3) the landlord is expressly required or permitted to
2-14 periodically check on the well-being or health of the tenant as a
2-15 part of a written lease or other written agreement.
2-16 (f) A keyless bolting device is not required to be installed
2-17 at the landlord's expense on an exterior door if:
2-18 (1) a tenant or occupant in the dwelling is over 55
2-19 years of age or has a physical or mental disability; and
2-20 (2) the tenant requests in writing that the landlord
2-21 deactivate or not install the keyless bolting device and certifies
2-22 in the request that the tenant or occupant meets the requirements
2-23 of Subdivision (1) of this subsection. The request must be in a
2-24 separate document and may not be included as a part of a lease or
2-25 rental agreement. The tenant's request and the landlord's
3-1 deactivation or noninstallation must be bona fide and not for the
3-2 purpose of evading a duty of the landlord under this subchapter.
3-3 (g) A keyed dead bolt or a doorknob lock is not required to
3-4 be installed at the landlord's expense on an exterior door if at
3-5 the time the tenant agrees to lease the dwelling:
3-6 (1) at least one exterior door usable for normal entry
3-7 into the dwelling has both a keyed dead bolt and a keyless bolting
3-8 device, installed in accordance with the height, strike plate, and
3-9 throw requirements of Section 92.154; and
3-10 (2) all other exterior doors have a keyless bolting
3-11 device installed in accordance with the height, strike plate, and
3-12 throw requirements of Section 92.154.
3-13 (h) <(g)> A security device required by this section must be
3-14 operable throughout the time a tenant is in possession of a
3-15 dwelling. However, a landlord may deactivate or remove the locking
3-16 mechanism of a doorknob lock or remove any device not qualifying as
3-17 a keyless bolting device if a keyed dead bolt has been installed on
3-18 the same door.
3-19 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
3-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-24 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-25 passage, and it is so enacted.