Sec. 348.407. RETENTION OR DISPOSITION OF NONATTACHED PERSONAL PROPERTY. (a) If a retail installment contract authorizes the holder or a person acting on the holder's behalf to retain or dispose of tangible personal property acquired in the repossession of a motor vehicle that is not attached to the vehicle and not subject to a security interest, the contract or another writing must require the holder to send written notice of the acquisition of the property to the retail buyer in accordance with this section.
(b) The notice must be mailed or delivered to the most recent address of the retail buyer shown on the records of the holder not later than the 15th day after the date on which the holder discovers the property.
(c) The notice must:
(1) state that the retail buyer may identify and claim the property at a reasonable time before the 31st day after the date on which the notice was mailed or delivered; and
(2) give the location at which and reasonable times during the period that the retail buyer may identify and claim the property.
(d) If the property is not claimed before the date described by Subsection (c)(1), the holder may:
(1) retain the property subject to any legal rights of the retail buyer; or
(2) dispose of the property in a reasonable manner and distribute any proceeds of the disposition according to applicable law.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1008, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.