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A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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AN ACT
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relating to a residential tenant's lease obligation after the loss |
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of the leased premises resulting from a natural disaster. |
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 92, Property Code, is |
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amended by adding Section 92.062 to read as follows: |
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Sec. 92.062. LEASE TERM AFTER NATURAL DISASTER. If a rental |
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premises is, as a practical matter, totally unusable for |
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residential purposes as a result of a natural disaster such as a |
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hurricane, tornado, flood, extended freeze, or widespread |
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windstorm, a landlord that allows a tenant to move to another rental |
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unit owned by the landlord may not require the tenant to execute a |
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lease for a term longer than the term remaining on the tenant's |
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lease on the date the premises was rendered unusable as a result of |
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the natural disaster. |
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SECTION 2. Section 92.062, Property Code, as added by this |
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Act, applies only to a lease that is executed or renewed on or after |
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January 1, 2014. A lease that is executed or renewed before January |
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1, 2014, is governed by the law in effect at the time the lease was |
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executed or renewed, and that law is continued in effect for that |
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purpose. |
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SECTION 3. This Act takes effect January 1, 2014. |