By:  Cain                                             S.B. No. 1463
         99S0683/1                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the duty of the transferee of a mortgage on real
 1-2     property to file a transfer of lien with the county clerk within a
 1-3     certain period; providing a penalty.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Chapter 12, Property Code, is amended by adding
 1-6     Section 12.019 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 12.019.  DUTY TO FILE TRANSFER OF LIEN; PENALTY.
 1-8     (a)  In this section:
 1-9                 (1)  "Mortgagor" includes any subsequent purchaser of
1-10     mortgaged real estate.
1-11                 (2)  "Transferee" means any subsequent purchaser or
1-12     owner, holder, or assignee of the note secured by mortgaged real
1-13     estate.
1-14                 (3)  "Transfer of lien" means any instrument, including
1-15     an assignment of lien, that transfers partial or total control over
1-16     the note secured by mortgaged real estate.
1-17           (b)  A transferee of a mortgage on real property that has
1-18     been transferred from one mortgagee to another mortgagee shall file
1-19     the transfer of lien within 20 days after the date of transfer.
1-20     The transferee shall file the transfer of lien with the county
1-21     clerk of the county in which the property is located.
1-22           (c)  If at the end of the 20-day period the transferee has
1-23     failed to file the transfer of lien as prescribed by Subsection
1-24     (b), the mortgagor, or the title company which closed the
 2-1     transaction, may at any time thereafter request in writing that the
 2-2     transferee file the transfer of lien.
 2-3           (d)  A transferee who fails to file the transfer of lien
 2-4     within 10 days after the date of receipt of the written request to
 2-5     file the transfer of lien is liable to the mortgagor for a penalty
 2-6     of $100 a day, plus court costs and reasonable attorney's fees, for
 2-7     each day the transfer of lien goes unrecorded after the end of the
 2-8     10-day period.  The penalty shall be recovered in a civil action in
 2-9     any court having jurisdiction.
2-10           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-11     applies to the transfer of a mortgage made on or after that date.
2-12           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.