By: Shaheen (Senate Sponsor - Springer) H.B. No. 886

(In the Senate - Received from the House May 8, 2023; May 9, 2023, read first time and referred to Committee on Local Government; May 22, 2023, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 22, 2023, sent to printer.) Click here to see the committee vote

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to requirements to file a property owners' association assessment lien.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 209.0094, Property Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 209.0094. ASSESSMENT LIEN FILING. (a) In this section, "assessment lien" means a [A] lien, lien affidavit, or other lien instrument evidencing the nonpayment of assessments or other charges owed to a property owners' association.

(b) An assessment lien [and] filed in the official public records of a county is a legal instrument affecting title to real property.

(c) Before a property owners' association files an assessment lien, the association must provide notices of delinquency in accordance with Subsections (d) and (e).

(d) The first notice of delinquency must be provided:

(1) by first class mail to the property owner's last known mailing address, as reflected in records maintained by the association; or

(2) by e-mail to an e-mail address the property owner has provided to the property owners' association.

(e) The second notice of delinquency must be provided by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the property owner's last known mailing address, as reflected in the records maintained by the association, not earlier than the 30th day after notice is given under Subsection (d).

(f) A property owners' association may not file an assessment lien before the 90th day after the date notice of delinquency was sent to the property owner under Subsection (e).

(g) Subsections (c), (d), and (e) do not apply to a property owners' association providing a property owner covered by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. Section 3901 et seq.) the protections to which the owner is entitled under the Act.

SECTION 2. Section 209.0094, Property Code, as amended by this Act, applies only to an assessment that becomes delinquent on or after the effective date of this Act. An assessment that becomes delinquent before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.

* * * * *