Amend SB 1908 on third reading by adding the following
appropriately numbered SECTIONS to the bill and renumbering
subsequent SECTIONS of the bill accordingly:
SECTION ____. Section 214.003, Local Government Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (a), (b), (h), (k), (l), (n), (o),
and (p) and adding Subsection (h-1) to read as follows:
(a) A home-rule municipality may bring an action in district
court against an owner of [residential] property that is not in
substantial compliance with the municipal ordinances regarding:
(1) fire protection;
(2) structural integrity;
(3) zoning; or
(4) disposal of refuse.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), the court may
appoint as a receiver for the property a nonprofit organization
with a demonstrated record of rehabilitating [residential]
properties if the court finds that:
(1) the structures on the property are in violation of
the standards set forth in Section 214.001(b) and an ordinance
described by Subsection (a);
(2) notice of violation was given to the record owner
of the property; and
(3) a public hearing as required by Section 214.001(d)
has been conducted.
(h) On the completion of the restoration of [to] the
property to [of] the minimum code standards of the municipality or
guidelines for rehabilitating historic property, or before
petitioning a court for termination of the receivership under
Subsection (l):
(1) the receiver shall file with the court a full
accounting of all costs and expenses incurred in the repairs,
including reasonable costs for labor and supervision, [and] all
income received from the property, and, at the receiver's
discretion, a receivership fee of 10 percent of those costs and
expenses;
(2) if the income exceeds the total of the cost and
expense of rehabilitation and any receivership fee, the
rehabilitated property shall be restored to the owners and any net
income shall be returned to the owners; and
(3) if the total of the costs and expenses and any
receivership fee exceeds [exceed] the income received during the
receivership, the receiver may [shall] maintain control of the
property until the time all rehabilitation and maintenance costs
and any receivership fee are recovered, or until the receivership
is terminated.
(h-1) A receiver shall have a lien on the property under
receivership for all of the receiver's unreimbursed costs and
expenses and any receivership fee.
(k) The court may not appoint a receiver for any property
that[:
[(1)] is an owner-occupied, single-family residence[;
or
[(2) is zoned nonresidential and used in a
nonresidential character].
(l) A receiver appointed by a district court under this
section, or the home-rule municipality that filed the action under
which the receiver was appointed, may petition the court to
terminate the receivership and order the sale of the property[:
[(1) if the receiver has been in control of the
property for more than two years and no legal owner has been
identified after a diligent search; or
[(2)] after the receiver has been in control of the
property for more than one year [three years], if an owner has been
[identified and] served with notice [notices] but has failed to
assume control or repay all rehabilitation and maintenance costs
and any receivership fee of the receiver.
(n) The court may order the sale of the property if the court
finds that:
(1) notice was given to each record owner of the
property and each lienholder of record;
(2) the receiver has been in control of the property
for more than one year [two years and no legal owner has been
identified after a diligent search, or the receiver has been in
control of the property for more than three years] and an owner has
[been identified but has] failed to repay all rehabilitation and
maintenance costs and any receivership fee of the receiver; and
(3) no lienholder of record has intervened in the
action and offered to repay the costs and any receivership fee of
the receiver and assume control of the property.
(o) The court shall order the sale to be conducted by the
petitioner in the same manner that a sale is conducted under Chapter
51, Property Code. If the record owners and lienholders are
identified, notice of the date and time of the sale must be sent in
the same manner as provided by Chapter 51, Property Code. If the
owner cannot be located after due diligence, the owner may be served
notice by publication. The receiver may bid on the property at the
sale and may use a lien granted under Subsection (h-1) as credit
toward the purchase. The petitioner shall make a report of the sale
to the court.
(p) The court shall confirm the sale and order a
distribution of the proceeds of the sale in the following order:
(1) court costs;
(2) costs and expenses of the receiver, and any lien
held by the receiver; and
(3) other valid liens.
SECTION ____. The changes in law made by this Act to Section
214.003, Local Government Code, apply only to a receivership
established on or after the effective date of this Act. A
receivership established before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect when the receivership was
established, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.