§ 16.013.Real Estate Appraisers and Appraisal Firms

Claims against real estate appraisers and appraisal firms run on a two-part clock, and the earlier of the two controls.

Two years from the day the person knew or should have known the facts the action is based on, or five years from the day the appraisal or appraisal review was completed — whichever comes first.

The five-year outer limit functions as repose: a claimant who discovers a bad appraisal in year six is barred even if they were entirely diligent, because the outer date has passed.

And the two-year branch can bar a claim well inside the five years. Someone who learned the facts in year one has until year three, not year five. Both branches must be satisfied.

Fraud and breach of contract claims are carved out and run on their own periods, which for both is four years. That exception does real work — a claimant facing the five-year outer bar will look hard at whether the facts support fraud, since that claim escapes this section entirely.

The section defines its terms by reference to the Occupations Code, so "appraisal", "appraisal review", and "real estate appraiser" carry their regulatory meanings. An appraiser is an individual licensed or certified under Chapter 1103 of that code.

The firm is covered as well as the individual. A "real estate appraisal firm" is an entity engaging an appraiser as an owner, member, shareholder, partner, employee, or independent contractor — so the independent-contractor arrangement common in the industry does not put the firm outside the section.

Appraisals underpin mortgage lending, so the parties relying on them are often not the ones who commissioned them. The short discovery branch puts a premium on acting once a valuation problem surfaces.