Homeowners denounce Bob Perry-created housing agency

Wayne Slater/Reporter 
Tue, Mar 31, 2009

A succession of homeowner horror stories today at a House subcommittee considering legislation to abolish the state agency created at the behest of Houston homebuilder Bob Perry. Critics say the agency is designed to frustrate homeowners who have defective houses. They say the Texas Residential Construction Commmission is an expensive, time-consuming hurdle homeowners must jump before taking their disputes to arbitration or the courts.

That was the message today by Mansfield homeowner Bob Cull. He and wife Jane have been in a decade-long legal battle against the billionaire homebuilder. They won an arbitration award, but Perry refused to pay it -- and they've been in court ever since. The Culls were featured last weekend in an NPR two-part program about Bob Perry and his sizeable campaign contributions to the governor, the Texas Supreme Court and the Legislature - all of which have acted in his favor. Perry himself was in the Capitol on Monday, meeting with lawmakers. Perry spokesman Anthony Holm says the Houston homebuilder supports politicians and judges who are doing a good job.

In testimony presented to the House committee, Bob Cull said after Perry lost the arbitration award, he had the Legislature create the business-friendly Texas Residential Construction Commission: "Birthing the TRCC did nothing but give homebuilders a gatekeeper to control access and flow of complaints" against builders.

Texas Association of Builders executive director Scott Norman said his group supports tweaking the agency, but not abolishing it. He said the TRCC is doing a good job resolving homebuilder-homeowner disputes.