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Evictions Defined
An eviction refers to a lawsuit filed by a property owner or apartment complex manager to remove persons and belongings from the property owner’s property. In Texas law, these are also referred to as "forcible entry and detainer" or "forcible detainer" suits. There are hundreds filed every day with Texas justice courts (also called justice of the peace or J.P. courts).
A property owner or apartment complex manager should start this process by terminating a apartment resident's right to possession by giving a notice to the apartment resident. A property owner or apartment complex manager might do this for a number of reasons -- the number one reason is for nonpayment of rent. Sometimes a property owner or apartment complex manager may claim the apartment resident is staying past the agreed lease term ("holding over"). So long as a property owner or apartment complex manager is not discriminating in violation of the Fair Housing laws, or retaliating in violation of the Texas Property Code, a property owner or apartment complex manager can refuse to renew an apartment lease for any reason.
(If you are faced with an eviction from an apartment you should seriously consider getting advice and assistance from an attorney. If you have a very low income you may qualify for free or low cost legal aid from a nonprofit legal aid organization in your area.)
Court approval required
If an apartment resident refuses to move after a property owner or apartment complex manager asks the apartment resident to leave, the property owner or apartment complex manager must file an eviction case with the J.P. court to get approval to remove the apartment resident. The property owner or apartment complex manager must prove that the apartment resident has either violated the lease or has not moved after the property owner or apartment complex manager lawfully did not renew the apartment lease.
While it may be the property owner or apartment complex manager's property, before an apartment resident can actually be forced from their home a court rule for the property owner or apartment complex manager and a constable must supervise the actual eviction. Some property owners or apartment complex managers do not understand why a court must approve an eviction -- they always explain that they would never want to get rid of a truly good apartment resident. Court approval is required because property owner or apartment complex managers make mistakes and because they sometimes have improper motives. And, if a property owner or apartment complex manager did not have to get court approval prior to evicting someone from their home these problems would be even worse. If you want to see the activity of one particular justice court, you can look at its statistics. Of particular importance is the"forcible entry and detainer" cases. These are eviction cases. The statistics will show the number of cases handled by that particular justice court for the period you selected. The site will also show the number of wins for the apartment resident (dismissals) and the number of appeals (these could be by both the property owner and the apartment resident). Before drawing too many conclusions from the statistics, you might compare your justice court to another. A high win rate for the property owner is not all that unusual, but some rates will be higher than others. Also, a high number of evictions could mean that a judge is more likely to be biased against apartment residents just because of the number of times a judge hears about a apartment resident allegedly doing something wrong.
Blacklisting
Of course, if you do not get out when a property owner or apartment complex manager asks you to, and the property owner or apartment complex manager files an eviction, win or lose, other property owners may not want to rent an apartment to you in the future. Court records are public information, and a property owner or apartment complex manager might refuse to rent to you just because you have had an eviction filed against you. So sticking up for yourself may come at a price. (It is possible to leave under protest and then sue the property owner for wrongful termination of the lease.)
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