1-1     By:  Pickett, Solomons (Senate Sponsor - Cain)        H.B. No. 2769
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 26, 1999;
 1-3     April 27, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on State
 1-4     Affairs; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the disposition of the personal property and security
 1-9     deposit of a deceased residential tenant.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 92, Property Code, is
1-12     amended by adding Section 92.013 to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 92.013.  PERSONAL PROPERTY AND SECURITY DEPOSIT OF
1-14     DECEASED TENANT.  (a)  Upon written request of a landlord, the
1-15     landlord's tenant shall:
1-16                 (1)  provide the landlord with the name, address, and
1-17     telephone number of a person to contact in the event of the
1-18     tenant's death; and
1-19                 (2)  sign a statement authorizing the landlord in the
1-20     event of the tenant's death to:
1-21                       (A)  grant to the person designated under
1-22     Subdivision (1) access to the premises at a reasonable time and in
1-23     the presence of the landlord or the landlord's agent;
1-24                       (B)  allow the person designated under
1-25     Subdivision (1) to remove any of the tenant's property found at the
1-26     leased premises; and
1-27                       (C)  refund the tenant's security deposit, less
1-28     lawful deductions, to the person designated under Subdivision (1).
1-29           (b)  A tenant may, without request from the landlord, provide
1-30     the landlord with the information in Subsection (a).
1-31           (c)  Except as provided in Subsection (d), in the event of
1-32     the death of a tenant who is the sole occupant of a rental
1-33     dwelling:
1-34                 (1)  the landlord may remove and store all property
1-35     found in the tenant's leased premises;
1-36                 (2)  the landlord shall turn over possession of the
1-37     property to the person who was designated by the tenant under
1-38     Subsection (a) or (b) or to any other person lawfully entitled to
1-39     the property if the request is made prior to the property being
1-40     discarded under Subdivision (5);
1-41                 (3)  the landlord shall refund the tenant's security
1-42     deposit, less lawful deductions, including the cost of removing and
1-43     storing the property, to the person designated under Subsection (a)
1-44     or (b) or to any other person lawfully entitled to the refund;
1-45                 (4)  the landlord may require any person who removes
1-46     the property from the tenant's leased premises to sign an inventory
1-47     of the property being removed; and
1-48                 (5)  the landlord may discard the property removed by
1-49     the landlord from the tenant's leased premises if:
1-50                       (A)  the landlord has mailed a written request by
1-51     certified mail, return receipt requested, to the person designated
1-52     under Subsection (a) or (b), requesting that the property be
1-53     removed;
1-54                       (B)  the person failed to remove the property by
1-55     the 30th day after the postmark date of the notice; and
1-56                       (C)  the landlord, prior to the date of
1-57     discarding the property, has not been contacted by anyone claiming
1-58     the property.
1-59           (d)  In a written lease or other agreement, a landlord and a
1-60     tenant may agree to a procedure different than the procedure in
1-61     this section for removing, storing, or disposing of property in the
1-62     leased premises of a deceased tenant.
1-63           (e)  If a tenant, after being furnished with a copy of this
1-64     subchapter, knowingly violates Subsection (a), the landlord shall
 2-1     have no responsibility after the tenant's death for removal,
 2-2     storage, disappearance, damage, or disposition of property in the
 2-3     tenant's leased premises.
 2-4           (f)  If a landlord, after being furnished with a copy of this
 2-5     subchapter, knowingly violates Subsection (c), the landlord shall
 2-6     be liable to the estate of the deceased tenant for actual damages.
 2-7           SECTION 2.  Section 92.005(a), Property Code, is amended to
 2-8     read as follows:
 2-9           (a)  A party who prevails in a suit brought under this
2-10     subchapter or Subchapter B, E, or F may recover the party's costs
2-11     of court and reasonable attorney's fees in relation to work
2-12     reasonably expended.
2-13           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-14           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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