By Maxey                                               H.B. No. 818
         76R37 PAM-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to requiring a residential landlord to provide notice to
 1-3     tenants regarding the interruption of utilities in certain
 1-4     circumstances.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Sections 92.008(e), (f), and (g), Property Code,
 1-7     are amended to read as follows:
 1-8           (e)  A landlord who interrupts utility services for bona fide
 1-9     repairs or construction under this section shall deliver written
1-10     notice of  the impending interruption to each tenant affected by
1-11     the interruption not later than 24 hours before the time that
1-12     repair or construction work begins.
1-13           (f)  A landlord who interrupts electrical service under
1-14     Subsection (c) or (d) shall restore the service not later than two
1-15     hours after the  time the tenant tenders, during the landlord's
1-16     normal business hours, payment of the delinquent electric bill or
1-17     rent owed to the landlord.
1-18           (g) [(f)]  If a landlord or a landlord's agent violates this
1-19     section, the tenant may:
1-20                 (1)  either recover possession of the premises or
1-21     terminate the lease; and
1-22                 (2)  recover from the landlord an amount equal to the
1-23     sum of the tenant's actual damages, one month's rent or $500,
1-24     whichever is greater, reasonable attorney's fees, and court costs,
 2-1     less any delinquent rents or other sums for which the tenant is
 2-2     liable to the landlord.
 2-3           (h) [(g)]  A provision of a lease that purports to waive a
 2-4     right or to exempt a party from a liability or duty under this
 2-5     section is void.
 2-6           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-7           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-8     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-9     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-10     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-11     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.