Sec. 94.255. INVALID COMPLAINTS. (a) If a tenant files or prosecutes a suit for retaliatory action based on a complaint asserted under Section 94.251(a)(3), and a government building or housing inspector or utility company representative visits the manufactured home community and determines in writing that a violation of a building or housing code does not exist or that a utility problem does not exist, there is a rebuttable presumption that the tenant acted in bad faith.

(b) If a tenant files or prosecutes a suit under this subchapter in bad faith, the landlord may recover possession of the leased premises and may recover from the tenant a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $500, court costs, and reasonable attorney's fees. If the tenant's rent payment to the landlord is subsidized in whole or in part by a governmental entity, the civil penalty granted under this subsection shall reflect the fair market rent of the leased premises plus $500.

Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 801, Sec. 1, eff. April 1, 2002.