The Texas Real Estate Inspector Committee (TREIC) met April 18.

It sounds like an ideal scenario if you’re a landlord or listing agent for a residential lease: A licensed sales agent submits a prospective tenant’s application to you with proof of a clean background check and great credit report. But is that tenant’s agent making life easier for you, or is it a scam?

A Rise in Leasing Fraud

The Texas Real Estate Commission’s Enforcement Division is urging license holders to do their own research to avoid being part of the rise in complaint investigations involving leasing fraud.

In a seller’s market, buyers may be tempted to waive an inspection entirely, or hire an inspector to do a walkthrough inspection of their ideal home to point out problems while the buyers take notes.

In a buyer’s market, sellers might think getting a similar inspection will make their listing stand out by disclosing information up front, so buyers will know what to expect.

Yes. A bill passed during the 87th Texas Legislative Session does not generally exempt landlords of temporary residential leases from providing a disclosure notice about whether the landlord is aware that the dwelling is located in a 100‐year floodplain or that the dwelling has flooded within the last five years.

It is now easier to find whether a license holder has a disciplinary history with the Texas Real Estate Commission. The newly launched Disciplinary Actions button at the top of each license holder’s page will take you to their specific Disciplinary Actions page if a disciplinary history exists.

Previously only indirect methods—such as searching the Disciplinary Actions section of trec.texas.gov—were available. These remain available along with the new button.

In recent months, I’ve had the privilege of presenting alongside Texas Real Estate Commission Executive Director Chelsea Buchholtz to license holders around Texas, many who are REALTORS®.

As some of you may know, I served as chairman of the Texas Association of REALTORS® in 2015 and have chaired more than a dozen other committees and task forces of the organization on local, state, and national levels.

The 87th Texas Legislature passed a bill requiring the Texas Real Estate Commission to collect management certificates and amended management certificates from property owners’ associations—also known as homeowners associations (HOAs)—and make the certificates publicly available online.

A bill passed during the 87th Texas Legislative Session moved the regulation of residential service companies, also known as home warranty companies, from the Texas Real Estate Commission to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR). TREC adopted a change to the Consumer Protection Notice (CPN) during its February meeting to remove a reference to home warranty companies being regulated by TREC.