§ 16.035.Lien on Real Property

The provision that puts an outer limit on every mortgage and deed of trust in Texas.

Four years to bring suit for the recovery of real property under a real property lien or to foreclose one. And under subsection (b), a sale under a power of sale in a mortgage or deed of trust must be made within the same four years — so the non-judicial route carries the same deadline as the judicial one.

Subsection (d) is the consequence, and it is severe. On expiration of the four years, the lien and the power of sale become void. Not unenforceable — void. The debt may survive as a personal obligation, but the security is gone and the property is clear.

Subsection (e) answers when the clock starts on ordinary loans. Where a series of notes, or a note payable in installments, is secured by the lien, the four years does not begin until the maturity date of the last note, obligation, or installment. A thirty-year mortgage is therefore not at risk until thirty-four years in — unless the lender accelerates, which brings the maturity date forward and starts the clock.

That is why acceleration and its rescission matter so much in Texas foreclosure practice, and why the chapter contains a separate provision allowing a lender to unwind an acceleration.

Subsection (c) protects the innocent third party. The running of limitations is not suspended against a bona fide purchaser for value, a lienholder, or a lessee who takes an interest without notice or knowledge of the suspension, once a cause of action on an outstanding lien has accrued for more than four years — except for suspension on death, and recorded lien extensions.

Both exceptions are discoverable: death is a matter of record in probate, and an extension must be recorded to bind anyone.

Subsection (g) defines "real property lien" broadly — a vendor’s retained superior title or purchase money note, and a vendor’s lien, mortgage, deed of trust, or voluntary mechanic’s or materialman’s lien securing a written obligation. Subsection (f) confirms the Business and Commerce Code’s note provision does not alter the period.