Texas Trcca Rides Off Into the Sunset

The Texas Residential building Commission Act (Trcca) has joined the Alamo as a memorable lesson in Texas history. Like defenders of the Alamo, defenders of Trcca went down swinging. But the succeed was about the same: A commendable endeavor that came up a minuscule short.

Trcca was basically a good idea: provide every new home and every home correction task over ,000 with a detailed statutory warranty against defects - what's covered, what's not covered and for how long. Get an independent third-party plan if the asset owner and the undertaker of a package deal can't agree on a flaw claim. Then identify what a undertaker of a package deal has to do about any true defect.

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The considerable element in this task was the Trcca performance standards - 47 pages industrialized by knowledgeable professionals with the help of the building Science department at Texas A&M. These standards took most subjective plan out of the equation, leaving less room for dispute. I like that. And courts do too - freeing up dockets for more important work.

The rap on Trcca was that the claim process took too long (5 months) and didn't determine enough disputes (only 12%). Worse, Trcca didn't give anyone authority to levy decisions that go against Texas builders (or Texas home owners).

Like defenders at the Alamo, the Commission is gone. They aren't accepting new complaints, aren't manufacture inspections and aren't registering builders and remodelers.

But even with Trcca gone, Texas still has abundance of building flaw law on the books. The Texas Residential building Liability Act of 1989 gives builders the right to witness and heal after a claim of defect. There's a heavy incentive for builders to make a uncostly offer of settlement. If the dispute ends up in court, Texas may throw in attorney fees and the cost of temporary re-settlement if the owner has to relocate during repairs.

I believe the heritage of Trcca will be their performance standards. These standards won't be the law in Texas after August 31, 2010. But they're still the best authority on residential building defects. Texas is the only state that's made a conscientious endeavor to produce residential performance standards. Expect to see these standards recycled the next time legislators in Austin re-visit ways to protect Texas home owners.

With Trcca gone, Texas builders and remodelers need to make a few changes in their contracts. Title 16 notices and disclosures are obsolete. These include registration (§ 420.001), registration whole (§ 420.002), arbitration (§ 420.003) and dispute resolution (§ 426). But the right to heal notice in Texas asset Code § 27.007 must now appear in residential contracts because the exemption in Texas asset Code § 27.007(c) no longer applies. And, of course, the statutory Trcca warranty is now optional.

Texas Trcca Rides Off Into the Sunset

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