By:  Cain                                             S.B. No. 1465
         99S0764/1                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the duty of a mortgagee of real property to release a
 1-2     mortgage and to file a release of lien within a certain period;
 1-3     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 RELEASE MORTGAGE AND FILE LIEN;
 1-8     PENALTY.  (a)  In this section:
 1-9                 (1)  "Mortgagor" includes any subsequent purchaser of
1-10     mortgaged real estate.
1-11                 (2)  "Mortgagee" includes any subsequent purchaser,
1-12     successor, assignee, or holder of the note secured by mortgaged
1-13     real estate.
1-14           (b)  A mortgagee shall release a mortgage on real property
1-15     within 20 days after the date the mortgagee receives payment in
1-16     full of the debt secured by the mortgage.  The mortgagee shall file
1-17     the release of lien with the county clerk of the county in which
1-18     the property is located.
1-19           (c)  If at the end of the 20-day period the mortgagee has
1-20     failed to file the release of lien as prescribed by Subsection (b),
1-21     the mortgagor, or the title insurance company which closed the
1-22     transaction, may at any time thereafter request in writing that the
1-23     mortgagee release the mortgage.
1-24           (d)  A mortgagee who fails to file the release of lien within
 2-1     10 days after the date of receipt of the written request to file
 2-2     the release of lien is liable to the mortgagor for a penalty of
 2-3     $100 a day, plus court costs and reasonable attorney's fees, for
 2-4     each day the release of lien goes unrecorded after the end of the
 2-5     10-day period.  The penalty shall be recovered in a civil action in
 2-6     any court having jurisdiction.
 2-7           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
 2-8     applies to the release of a mortgage after full payment of debt
 2-9     made on or after that date.  Full payment made before the effective
2-10     date of this Act is covered by the law in effect on the date of
2-11     full payment, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
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.