Property Management- New Texas Laws Effective September 1^st 2013

In Texas new or modified laws take affect the first day of September of each year.

September 7^th -11^th 2013, I attended the Texas Association REALTORS® Conference in Dallas Texas,  attended several seminars and took many educational classes on Property Managements during the five-day seminar. There were a lot of new laws, rules, and issues affecting Property Management effective September 1st, 2013. I have summarized and highlighted some (not necessarily all) of them here for your information:

Misappropriation:  was, as it was expected, one of the most important issues. As a reminder and emphasizes see the Trust Accounts requirements below:

Trust Accounts: As you all know you must have Trust Account to handle other people money. If you manage your own property too, you must have separate Trust Accounts one for managing other people’s properties and one for managing your own properties.

Statement: It is now the Law that you must provide account statements to the owner, every month.

New Protected Class from NAR: Gender Identification

Pets: You may ask Shots Records or even ask to meet the Pet first, before accepting the tenants!

if you are in leasing or property management business; Know the federal laws, state and local laws, city ordinances, and don’t forget the HOA (Home Owner Association) rules and restrictions about having pets, service animals, companion animals, Emotional Supporting Animals in the property. Read my other article about when Can a chicken be claimed to be a Service Animal.

It seems the size, weight, breed and how vicious and dangerous the animal could be is irrelevant. It comes down to the attorneys, expert witnesses (e.g., Doctor, Doctor’s note, etc) and the Judge. Just be aware of this kind of problems.

Rules on Service Animals Security Deposits:
Remember, Service Animals are not considered PETS and the owner should not fill the pet application nor pay pet security deposit. Service animals could be comforting animals too! - See an interesting court case about claiming chicken to be a service or comforting animal at:
Can a chicken be claimed to be a Service Animal.

Copy of the Lease: Starting September 1^st, 2013; At least one tenant must be given a copy of the lease within 3 days

Application Issues: Privacy is a big issue and causes a red flag. Per TREC (Texas Real Estate Commission) you must keep all applications for 4 years. However, if you keep it after 4 years and there is a need from a court, the court can ask and get it as evidence. Therefore, it was suggested to destroy the applications after 4 years.