82R11399 PMO-D
By: Bohac H.B. No. 2799
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain property owners' exemption from modification
of existing deed restrictions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 201.007(a), Property Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) A petition filed under this chapter must contain or be
supplemented by one or more instruments containing:
(1) the name of the subdivision;
(2) a reference to the real property records or map or
plat records where the instrument or instruments that contain any
restriction sought to be extended, added to, or modified are
recorded or, in the case of the creation of a restriction, a
reference to the place where the map or other document identifying
the subdivision is recorded;
(3) a verbatim statement of any provisions for
extension of the term of, or addition to, the restriction;
(4) if a restriction is being amended or modified, the
text of the proposed instrument creating the amendment or
modification, together with a comparison of the original
restriction that is affected indicating by appropriate deletion and
insertion the change to the restriction that is proposed to be
amended or modified;
(5) if a restriction is being created, the text of the
proposed instrument creating the restriction;
(6) original acknowledged signatures of the required
number of owners as provided by Section 201.006; and
(7) [alternate boxes, clearly identified in a
conspicuous manner next to the place for signing the petition, that
enable each record owner to mark the appropriate box to show the
exercise of the owner's option of either including or excluding the
owner's property from being burdened by the restrictions being
extended, created, added to, or modified;
[(8)] a statement that owners who do not sign the
petition must file suit under Section 201.010 before the 181st day
after the date on which the certificate called for by Section
201.008(e) is filed in order to challenge the procedures followed
in extending, creating, adding to, or modifying a restriction[; and
[(9) a statement that owners who do not sign the
petition may delete their property from the operation of the
extended, created, added to, or modified restriction by filing a
statement described in the fourth listed category in Section
201.009(b) before one year after the date on which the owner
receives actual notice of the filing of the petition authorized by
this chapter].
SECTION 2. Section 201.009(b), Property Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) A restriction added, modified, created, or extended
under this chapter does not affect or encumber property within the
subdivision that is included within one of the following
categories:
(1) property exclusively dedicated for use by the
public or for use by utilities;
(2) [property of an owner who elected in the petition
to exclude the property from the restriction;
[(3)] property of an owner who did not sign the
petition and has not received actual notice of the filing of the
petition;
[(4) property of an owner who did not sign the petition
and who files, before one year after the date on which the owner
received actual notice of the filing of the petition, an
acknowledged statement describing the owner's property by
reference to the recorded map or plat of the subdivision and stating
that the owner elects to have the property deleted and excluded from
the operation of the extended, modified, changed, or created
restriction;] and
(3) [(5)] property owned by a minor or a person
judicially declared to be incompetent at the time the certificate
is filed, unless:
(A) actual notice of the filing of the petition
is given to a guardian of the minor or incompetent person[, and the
guardian has not filed the statement described in the fourth listed
category in this subsection];
(B) a predecessor in title to the minor or
incompetent person signed a petition that was filed while the
property was owned by the predecessor; or
(C) the incompetent person signed a petition that
was filed before the judicial declaration of the person's
incompetency.
SECTION 3. Sections 201.010(a) and (d), Property Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) If an owner and the owner's predecessors in interest
have not [neither] signed the petition [nor filed the statement
described in the fourth listed category in Section 201.009(b)], the
owner may file a suit for declaratory judgment in a court of
competent jurisdiction[:
[(1)] to challenge the completeness or regularity of
the procedures leading to the recordation of a certificate, if the
suit is filed before the 181st day after the date on which the
certificate is filed with the county clerk[; or
[(2) to exclude the owner's property from the
operation of the extended, modified, added to, or created
restriction].
(d) The remedies in this section are exclusive of all others
in actions brought to challenge a restriction extended, modified,
added to, or created under this chapter. The filing of an action
under [for the first listed purpose in] Subsection (a) does not
prevent the restriction from taking effect in accordance with its
terms pending a final judgment.
SECTION 4. Sections 201.009(c) and 201.010(c), Property
Code, are repealed.
SECTION 5. (a) The changes in law made by Sections 201.007
and 201.009, Property Code, as amended by this Act, apply only to a
petition filed on or after the effective date of this Act. A
petition filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by
the law in effect immediately before that date, and that law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
(b) The change in law made by Section 201.010, Property
Code, as amended by this Act, applies only to the remedies available
as a result of a petition filed on or after the effective date of
this Act. The remedies available as a result of a petition filed
before the effective date of this Act are governed by the law in
effect immediately before that date, and that law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.