By Harris                                              S.B. No. 772
         76R6025 KEL-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to exempting certain persons from requirements related to
 1-3     the sale, exchange, or lease-purchase of a manufactured home.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 7, Texas Manufactured Housing Standards
 1-6     Act (Article 5221f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
 1-7     adding Subsection (s) to read as follows:
 1-8           (s)  A person licensed as a real estate broker or salesperson
 1-9     under The Real Estate License Act (Article 6573a, Vernon's Texas
1-10     Civil Statutes) may act as a manufactured housing broker or
1-11     salesperson without holding a license under this Act or posting a
1-12     surety bond or other security under this Act, provided that:
1-13                 (1)  any negotiations for the sale, exchange, or
1-14     lease-purchase of a manufactured home are conducted for a consumer
1-15     for whom the person is also acting as a real estate broker or
1-16     salesperson; and
1-17                 (2)  the person complies with other applicable
1-18     requirements of this Act.
1-19           SECTION 2.  Section 8(b), Texas Manufactured Housing
1-20     Standards Act (Article 5221f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
1-21     amended to read as follows:
1-22           (b)  It is unlawful for a person to sell, exchange, or
1-23     lease-purchase any used manufactured home to a consumer for use as
1-24     a dwelling or residence without giving a written warranty that the
 2-1     manufactured home is habitable.  The consumer has 60 days after the
 2-2     date of the sale, exchange, or lease-purchase agreement to notify
 2-3     the seller in writing of any defects that make the home
 2-4     uninhabitable.  Failure to give this required notice terminates any
 2-5     obligations and liabilities of the seller under this section.  The
 2-6     warranty must conspicuously disclose this requirement to the
 2-7     consumer. If the sale, exchange, or lease-purchase is to a
 2-8     purchaser for the purchaser's business use, the manufactured home
 2-9     need not be habitable;  however, the title to the home shall be
2-10     surrendered to the department for cancellation by the seller.
2-11     "Business use" means any use other than for a dwelling or
2-12     residence.  The warranty requirement imposed by this subsection
2-13     does not apply to a sale, exchange, or lease-purchase in which the
2-14     seller obtained the manufactured home that is the subject of the
2-15     transaction as a consumer.
2-16           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-17           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.