| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the removal of a tenant's personal property after a writ |
|
|
of possession has been issued in an eviction suit. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 24.0061, Property Code, is amended by |
|
|
amending Subsection (d) and adding Subsection (d-1) to read as |
|
|
follows: |
|
|
(d) The writ of possession shall order the officer executing |
|
|
the writ to: |
|
|
(1) post a written warning of at least 8-1/2 by 11 |
|
|
inches on the exterior of the front door of the rental unit |
|
|
notifying the tenant that the writ has been issued and that the writ |
|
|
will be executed on or after a specific date and time stated in the |
|
|
warning not sooner than 24 hours after the warning is posted; and |
|
|
(2) when the writ is executed: |
|
|
(A) deliver possession of the premises to the |
|
|
landlord; |
|
|
(B) instruct the tenant and all persons claiming |
|
|
under the tenant to leave the premises immediately, and, if the |
|
|
persons fail to comply, physically remove them; |
|
|
(C) instruct the tenant to remove or to allow the |
|
|
landlord, the landlord's representatives, or other persons acting |
|
|
under the officer's supervision to remove all personal property |
|
|
from the rental unit other than personal property claimed to be |
|
|
owned by the landlord; and |
|
|
(D) place, or have an authorized person place, |
|
|
the removed personal property outside the rental unit at a nearby |
|
|
location, but not blocking a public sidewalk, passageway, or street |
|
|
and not while it is raining, sleeting, or snowing, except as |
|
|
provided by Subsection (d-1). |
|
|
(d-1) A municipality may provide, without charge to the |
|
|
landlord or to the owner of personal property removed from a rental |
|
|
unit under Subsection (d), a portable, closed container into which |
|
|
the removed personal property shall be placed by the officer |
|
|
executing the writ or by the authorized person. The municipality |
|
|
may remove the container from the location near the rental unit and |
|
|
dispose of the contents by any lawful means if the owner of the |
|
|
removed personal property does not recover the property from the |
|
|
container within a reasonable time after the time the property is |
|
|
placed in the container. |
|
|
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015. |