Rep. Christian Protects Property Buyers from Contaminated Land

Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Many of my constituents made me aware of contamination issues on their property which they discovered only after purchasing the property. Consequently theyre not able to utilize their property for their intended reason said State Rep. Wayne Christian as his bill HB 3483 passed the Texas House with 129 yeas 7 nays and 3 present not voting.   With East Texas experiencing tremendous growth in the oil and gas industry ensuring that those purchasing property can use it for their intended purpose is a big issue said Christian. HB 3483 solves this problem and requires that a seller must disclose any and all known contaminations on the property and provides protections to the buyer if a seller did not disclose to the buyer a known contamination Christian said. HB 3483 will mandate a seller to notify the buyer before the completion of a sale if the property has any contamination. Furthermore if the seller fails to inform the purchaser the purchaser will have the consent to terminate the contract for any reason within seven days after they receive the notice or the date the transfer occurs. The seller will be required to give the purchaser written notice that specifies: the nature of any contamination on or under the property including the contaminate the source the location and the extent of the contamination if known.

We must strengthen the law to ensure those purchasing land receive full disclosure of any possible contamination. It is important we also enforce laws to protect purchasers from fraud and undisclosed information they should be made aware of prior to a purchase stated Rep. Christian.

 HB 3483 will next go to the Texas Senate for action.