A new law updating tenant- landlord relations went into the first of the year and likely have wide-sweeping impact. Senate Bill 38 streamlines the eviction process in many cases, while also adding a new tenant protection.
Previously, eviction notices had to be delivered in person or by mail to the unit in question in most cases. In the event no one over the age of 16 was at the property to receive the eviction notice, the notice had to be by “affixing the notice to the inside of the main entry door” which the Texas Apartment Association (TAA) argued was making landlords lose strong eviction cases on “technicalities or gotchas.”
The new law addresses some of these cases by allowing a notice to vacate to be placed in a “conspicuous” place within the unit, likely leading to fewer landlords losing eviction cases on the grounds of an improperly placed notice. It also allows for notices to be sent via email as long as both the landlord and the tenant had agreed to that arrangement.
One of the largest changes to eviction law is the newly-implemented ability to have a judge rule a “summary disposition” in favor of the landlord — ruling in favor of them without a trial.
The summary disposition part refers specifically to when a landlord alleges a “forcible entry and detainer,” or a legal way to say squatters who broke into the unit and never had a legal right to be in the home in the first place. The court would give the defendant up to four days to dispute the facts of the case — such as trying to prove their presence in the unit was lawful. The new law allows those cases to be resolved though paperwork and not drag on for months with unnecessary delays and keeping those units off the market.
The winning aspect for renters is a new protection for lawful renters who are late on payments.
Prior to the implementation of Senate Bill 38, landlords had the right to terminate a lease the minute a payment was late which often led to retaliation issues.
Now, upon the first time a payment is missed, the renter has up to 72 hours to fix the problem without it being grounds for an eviction.