79R7300 KCR-D
By: Zedler H.B. No. 1716
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the accuracy of certain tax liability estimates in
contracts for residential real property.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 5, Property Code, is
amended by adding Section 5.0101 to read as follows:
Sec. 5.0101. ACCURACY IN ESTIMATION OF TAX LIABILITY. (a)
In this section:
(1) "Builder" has the meaning assigned by Section
401.003.
(2) "Developer" means a person who owns a tract of land
and who has divided or proposes to divide the tract into two or more
parts to establish a subdivision.
(3) "Home" has the meaning assigned by Section
401.002.
(4) "Subdivision" has the meaning assigned by Section
207.001.
(b) If a builder or developer transfers the builder's or
developer's interest in a home or parcel of land located in a
subdivision to a homeowner or potential homeowner and the contract
includes an estimate of the ad valorem taxes to be assessed against
the parcel or home for a tax year following the tax year in which the
contract is entered into, the builder or developer must base the
estimate on the ad valorem taxes assessed against similar parcels
on which similar homes have been built and may not base the estimate
on the ad valorem taxes assessed against the parcel before
improvements, including a home, were made to or built on the parcel.
(c) A homeowner who, with a builder or developer, enters
into a contract that violates Subsection (b) is entitled to recover
from the builder or developer an amount equal to the difference
between the ad valorem taxes estimated in the contract and the
actual ad valorem taxes assessed if the estimated ad valorem taxes
are more than 20 percent less than the actual ad valorem taxes.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a contract entered into on or after the effective date of this
Act. A contract that is entered into before the effective date of
this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the contract
was entered into, and that law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.