By: West S.B. No. 240
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the enforcement of deed restrictions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (c), Section 202.004, Property Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(c) For a violation of a restrictive covenant of a planned
development governed by a property owners' association that existed
before January 1, 1974, and that does not have the authority under a
dedicatory instrument or other governing document to impose fines,
a [A] court may assess civil damages [for the violation of a
restrictive covenant] in an amount not to exceed $200 for each day
of the violation.
SECTION 2. Chapter 209, Property Code, is amended by adding
Sections 209.0061 through 209.0064 to read as follows:
Sec. 209.0061. ASSESSMENT OF FINES. (a) A fine assessed
by the property owners' association must be reasonable in the
context of the nature, frequency, and effect of the violation. If
the association allows fines for a continuing violation to
accumulate against a lot or an owner, the association must
establish a maximum fine amount for a continuing violation, not to
exceed 10 times the amount of the initial fine, at which point the
total fine amount is capped.
(b) If a lot occupant other than the owner violates a
provision of the dedicatory instrument, the property owners'
association, in addition to exercising any of the association's
powers against the owner, may assess a fine directly against the
nonowner occupant in the same manner as provided for an owner but
may not require payment from both the owner and a nonowner occupant
for the same violation.
(c) If the property owners' association assesses a fine
against a nonowner occupant under this section, the notice
provisions of Section 209.006 and the hearing provisions of Section
209.007 apply to the nonowner occupant in the same manner as those
provisions apply to an owner.
Sec. 209.0062. ALTERNATIVE PAYMENT SCHEDULE FOR CERTAIN
ASSESSMENTS. (a) A property owners' association shall adopt
reasonable guidelines to establish an alternative payment schedule
by which an owner may make partial payments to the property owners'
association for delinquent regular or special assessments or any
other amount owed to the association.
(b) A property owners' association is not required to allow
a payment plan that extends more than 12 months from the date of the
owner's request for a payment plan or to enter into a payment plan
with an owner during the five years following the owner's failure to
honor the terms of a previous payment plan.
(c) The property owners' association shall file the
association's guidelines under this section in the real property
records of each county in which the subdivision is located.
Sec. 209.0063. PRIORITY OF PAYMENTS. Unless otherwise
provided in a writing by the property owner, a payment received by a
property owners' association from the owner shall be applied to the
owner's debt in the following order of priority:
(1) any delinquent assessment;
(2) any current assessment;
(3) any attorney's fees incurred by the association
associated solely with assessments or any other charge that could
provide the basis for foreclosure;
(4) any fines assessed by the association;
(5) any attorney's fees incurred by the association
that are not subject to Subdivision (3); and
(6) any other amount owed to the association.
Sec. 209.0064. COLLECTIONS. A property owners' association
must bring suit or otherwise initiate against an owner a collection
action authorized by the dedicatory instruments or other law on or
before the 10th anniversary of the date on which the cause of action
for collection of the debt accrues. Section 16.004, Civil Practice
and Remedies Code, does not apply to the collection of a debt owed
by an owner to a property owners' association.
SECTION 3. (a) Subsection (c), Section 202.004, Property
Code, as amended by this Act, applies only to an action filed on or
after the effective date of this Act. An action filed 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.
(b) Sections 209.0061, 209.0062, and 209.0064, Property
Code, as added by this Act, apply only to an assessment or other
debt that becomes due on or after the effective date of this Act. An
assessment or other debt that becomes due 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.
(c) Section 209.0063, Property Code, as added by this Act,
applies only to a payment received by a property owners'
association on or after the effective date of this Act. A payment
received by a property owners' association 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 4. This Act takes effect January 1, 2010.