Sec. 232.008. CANCELLATION OF SUBDIVISION. (a) This section applies only to real property located outside municipalities and the extraterritorial jurisdiction of municipalities, as determined under Chapter 42.

(b) A person owning real property in this state that has been subdivided into lots and blocks or into small subdivisions may apply to the commissioners court of the county in which the property is located for permission to cancel all or part of the subdivision, including a dedicated easement or roadway, to reestablish the property as acreage tracts as it existed before the subdivision. If, on the application, it is shown that the cancellation of all or part of the subdivision does not interfere with the established rights of any purchaser who owns any part of the subdivision, or it is shown that the purchaser agrees to the cancellation, the commissioners court by order shall authorize the owner of the subdivision to file an instrument canceling the subdivision in whole or in part. The instrument must describe the subdivision or the part of it that is canceled. The court shall enter the order in its minutes. After the cancellation instrument is filed and recorded in the deed records of the county, the county tax assessor-collector shall assess the property as if it had never been subdivided.

(c) The commissioners court shall publish notice of an application for cancellation. The notice must be published in a newspaper, published in the English language, in the county for at least three weeks before the date on which action is taken on the application. The court shall take action on an application at a regular term. The published notice must direct any person who is interested in the property and who wishes to protest the proposed cancellation to appear at the time specified in the notice.

(d) If delinquent taxes are owed on the subdivided tract for any preceding year, and if the application to cancel the subdivision is granted as provided by this section, the owner of the tract may pay the delinquent taxes on an acreage basis as if the tract had not been subdivided. For the purpose of assessing the tract for a preceding year, the county tax assessor-collector shall back assess the tract on an acreage basis.

(e) On application for cancellation of a subdivision or any phase or identifiable part of a subdivision, including a dedicated easement or roadway, by the owners of 75 percent of the property included in the subdivision, phase, or identifiable part, the commissioners court by order shall authorize the cancellation in the manner and after notice and a hearing as provided by Subsections (b) and (c). However, if the owners of at least 10 percent of the property affected by the proposed cancellation file written objections to the cancellation with the court, the grant of an order of cancellation is at the discretion of the court.

(f) To maintain an action to enjoin the cancellation or closing of a roadway or easement in a subdivision, a person must own a lot or part of the subdivision that:

(1) abuts directly on the part of the roadway or easement to be canceled or closed; or

(2) is connected by the part of the roadway or easement to be canceled or closed, by the most direct feasible route, to:

(A) the nearest remaining public highway, county road, or access road to the public highway or county road; or

(B) any uncanceled common amenity of the subdivision.

(g) A person who appears before the commissioners court to protest the cancellation of all or part of a subdivision may maintain an action for damages against the person applying for the cancellation and may recover as damages an amount not to exceed the amount of the person's original purchase price for property in the canceled subdivision or part of the subdivision. The person must bring the action within one year after the date of the entry of the commissioners court's order granting the cancellation.

(h) Regardless of the date land is subdivided or a plat is filed for a subdivision, the commissioners court may deny a cancellation under this section if the commissioners court determines the cancellation will prevent the proposed interconnection of infrastructure to pending or existing development as defined by Section 232.0085.

Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987. Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 129, Sec. 7, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.

Amended by:

Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 829 (H.B. 3096), Sec. 1, eff. June 17, 2011.