Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.305 – Sale or Sublease of Goods by Lessee
(a) Subject to the provisions of Section 2A.303, a buyer or sublessee from the lessee of goods under an existing lease contract obtains, to the extent of the interest transferred, the leasehold interest in the goods that the lessee had or had power to transfer, and except as provided by Subsection (b) and Section 2A.511, takes subject to the existing lease contract. A lessee with a voidable leasehold interest has power to transfer a good leasehold interest to a good faith buyer for value or a good faith sublessee for value, but only to the extent set forth in the preceding sentence. When goods have been delivered under a transaction of lease the lessee has that power even though:
(1) the lessor was deceived as to the identity of the lessee;
(2) the delivery was in exchange for a check which is later dishonored; or
(3) the delivery was procured through fraud punishable as larcenous under the criminal law.
(b) A buyer in the ordinary course of business or a sublessee in the ordinary course of business from a lessee who is a merchant dealing in goods of that kind to whom the goods were entrusted by the lessor obtains, to the extent of the interest transferred, all of the lessor’s and lessee’s rights to the goods, and takes free of the existing lease contract.
Terms Used In Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.305
- Buyer in the ordinary course of business: means a person who in good faith and without knowledge that the sale to him or her is in violation of the ownership rights or security interest or leasehold interest of a third party in the goods buys in the ordinary course from a person in the business of selling goods of that kind but does not include a pawnbroker. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
- Goods: means all things that are moveable at the time of identification to the lease contract, or are fixtures (Section Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Lease: means a transfer of the right to possession and use of goods for a term in return for consideration, but a sale, including a sale on approval or a sale or return, or retention or creation of a security interest is not a lease. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
- Lease contract: means the total legal obligation that results from the lease agreement as affected by this chapter and any other applicable rules of law. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
- Leasehold interest: means the interest of the lessor or the lessee under a lease contract. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
- Lessee: means a person who acquires the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
- Lessor: means a person who transfers the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
(c) A buyer or sublessee from the lessee of goods that are subject to an existing lease contract and are covered by a certificate of title issued under a statute of this state or of another jurisdiction takes no greater rights than those provided both by this section and by the certificate of title statute.