Sec. 54.045. SALE OF PROPERTY. (a) Property seized under Section 54.044 may not be sold or otherwise disposed of unless the sale or disposition is authorized in a written lease.

(b) Before selling seized property, the landlord or the landlord's agent must give notice to the tenant not later than the 30th day before the date of the sale. The notice must be sent to the tenant by both first class mail and certified mail, return receipt requested, at the tenant's last known address. The notice must contain:

(1) the date, time, and place of the sale;

(2) an itemized account of the amount owed by the tenant to the landlord; and

(3) the name, address, and telephone number of the person the tenant may contact regarding the sale, the amount owed, and the right of the tenant to redeem the property under Subsection (e) of this section.

(c) A sale under this section is subject to a recorded chattel mortgage or financing statement. The property shall be sold to the highest cash bidder. Proceeds from the sale shall be applied first to delinquent rents and, if authorized by the written lease, reasonable packing, moving, storage, and sale costs.

(d) Any sale proceeds remaining after payment of the amounts authorized in Subsection (c) of this section shall be mailed to the tenant at the tenant's last known address not later than the 30th day after the date of the sale. The landlord shall provide the tenant with an accounting of all proceeds of the sale not later than the 30th day after the date on which the tenant makes a written request for the accounting.

(e) The tenant may redeem the property at any time before the property is sold by paying to the landlord or the landlord's agent all delinquent rents and, if authorized in the written lease, all reasonable packing, moving, storage, and sale costs.

Added by Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 305, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 26, 1985.