Focus Report, Volume 87, Number 5, January 10, 2022 Page: PAGE15
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* Allowing multi-unit commercial property
tenants to vacate due to certain unlawful
activities
HB 2803 by S. Thompson (Huffman)Digest
HB 2803 would have specified that a landlord of
a multiunit commercial property, such as a strip mall,
shopping center, or office building that was owned or
managed as a single property, was in breach of a lease with
a tenant if:
the tenant reasonably believed that another tenant
in the same multiunit commercial property was
engaging in certain unlawful activity, such as
prostitution, human trafficking, or operating a
non-compliant massage establishment;
the complaining tenant made a report regarding
the unlawful activity to an applicable law
enforcement agency;
the complaining tenant gave the landlord written
notice of the offending tenant's engagement in the
unlawful activity; and
the landlord did not file a forcible detainer suit
against the offending tenant before the 30th day
after the date the notice was given.
If the landlord had been in breach of a tenant's lease,
the tenant could have terminated the tenant's rights and
obligations under the lease, vacated the leased premises,
and avoided liability for future rent and any other sums
due under the lease for terminating the lease and vacating
the premises before the end of the lease term.and landlords, and drawing in basic licensing rules that
are unrelated to trafficking. Texas law already allows
a landlord to seek forcible eviction upon a reasonable
belief that a tenant is engaging in prostitution or human
trafficking on the premises. Under House Bill 2803,
however, one tenant could have another tenant dragged
into court just by making an accusation to the landlord,
of something as mundane as sloppy recordkeeping by a
massage establishment. That is no basis for governmental
interference with a private contract between the landlord
and the finger-pointing tenant. And the landlord is
caught in the middle, practically forced to file against an
allegedly offending tenant to avoid the severe, artificial
consequences from inaction. The bill would be ripe for
abuse by a disgruntled tenant looking for a way to break
the lease or harass the neighbors.
"The unforeseen negative consequences of this bill
could be substantial, with no potential remedy until some
future legislative session would be able to fix the flaws in
the statute. But even then, there is never any certainty
that a proposed bill would pass. The better strategy is to
prepare a more narrowly tailored bill to achieve the end
sought while avoiding the potential adverse consequences."
Response
Neither Rep. Senfronia Thompson, the bill's author,
nor Sen. Joan Huffman, the Senate sponsor, had acomment on the veto.
Governor's reason for veto
"House Bill 2803 seeks to prevent human trafficking,
an aim I whole-heartedly share and applaud the author
and sponsor for advancing. I have fought against human
trafficking throughout my service as Attorney General
and Governor. But House Bill 2803 goes about it in
the wrong way, pitting tenants against other tenantsNotes
HB 2803 passed on the Local, Consent, and
Resolutions Calendar and was not analyzed in a Daily
Floor Report.House Research Organization
Page 15
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Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives. Research Organization. Focus Report, Volume 87, Number 5, January 10, 2022, periodical, January 10, 2022; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1543870/m1/15/?q=%22~1%22~1&rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.