Know Your Rights as a Tenant in Apartment Austin, Texas.

When you’re a tenant renting an apartment in Austin Texas, you have rights, and Chapter 92 of the Texas Property Code governs them.

Repairs

As an apartment tenant in Austin Texas, if any condition threatens your health or safety, you have a right to ask your landlord to undertake repairs.  If your landlord refuses to fulfill his obligations, there is a process you can follow to force him to do so.  You first must write and describe the broken item that threatens your health or safety and have the letter delivered by certified or registered mail to the person or place where your rent is normally paid.  Include in your letter a request that the repairs begin within 7 days, or 24 hours if it is an emergency.  Make sure you’re not behind in your rent payments at the time of delivery, or your notice is invalid.  

It is unfortunately your responsibility if the requested repair is not made to prove, in any court action, that your health and safety are threatened if the repairs are not carried out. Normally however landlords respond to requests made in this way rather quickly as they have a legal duty to do so, and failure can result in judgments that can include punitive damages being awarded to you.  The penalties that can be imposed on the landlord include the awarding to you of one month’s rent plus $500, a partial rent reduction backdated to your original request letter, and reasonable damages and your attorney’s fees.

  Repairs needed for your health and safety include:

1. faulty smoke detectors or any other fire safety device.
2. anything that threatens your safety and the sanitary condition of the apartment.
3. broken or missing door locks, window latches, and any other device that threatens your security.  If your landlord fails to respond to your written requests to repair any of these items, you can either file suit for compliance, or have it repaired and deduct the costs from your next month’s rent.
4. anything that does not meet the standards of decency in the Austin Housing Code for residential dwellings, including hot and cold running water, heating devices to ensure a minimum of 70 degrees Fahrenheit room temperatures, and anything else which threatens your health and safety. 

Requesting Repairs That Do Not Threaten Your Health and Safety

It is important to remember that you cannot withhold rent because a landlord has not undertaken repairs that you have requested, unless they fall into the above category and you have followed the procedures described.  You can, however, make requests for any repairs in the same way described above. 

If your landlord does not fulfill what you consider a reasonable request, your only course of action is to go to court and seek an order for the landlord to make the repairs.  Don’t be concerned about your landlord retaliating if you take this action.  There are specific statutes that prevent your landlord from commencing eviction proceedings, decreasing services to you, increasing your rent, or in any way acting against your rights for a period of six months after you have taken such an action.

Remember, if you can’t get any satisfaction for a non-safety request for repair from your landlord, you can always call the local building inspector and ask for an inspection of your apartment if you think it breaches good building code practice.  Ask the building inspector for a copy of the notice as an interested party.  Failure to undertake the repairs noted would result in a breach of Council orders for your landlord.

Lockout

A landlord who chooses to exercise a lockout procedure can only do so for delinquency in rents.  It is not, however, an eviction and should not be interpreted as a loss of your rights to enter the apartment.  The Texas Property Code that gives a landlord this right is very specific.  Its primary purpose is to get you, the tenant, to talk to the landlord and it must have been preceded by written notice.  You do not have to pay any money in order to regain entry into your apartment, as the only way you can be kept from entry to your apartment is by a formal eviction proceeding.  The law is quite clear on this matter; the landlord must give you entry within two hours of you advising him that you are unable to occupy your apartment, regardless of whether you pay your back rent or not.

Eviction

There are many reasons why landlords can seek a court order to evict you, including outstanding rent obligations for as little as $5.00, or if you’re in any way substantially breaching your rental contract.  Evictions are unusual, however, and most landlords, unless they have some other agenda, are reluctant to take this action. 

Before you can be served with a formal eviction notice to vacate your apartment in Austin Texas, the landlord must give you a Notice to Vacate, with a deadline that, if you fail to comply, enables him to seek a formal notice.  The formal notice will outline the reason for seeking the eviction and call upon you to either vacate or appear before a Justice of the Peace court to argue your reasons for not complying.  The procedure can be much more complex, but simply put, if you fail to convince the court of your case, you have to move out within five days. But don’t worry, these things rarely happen. Most tenants and their landlords maintain good working relationships and overcome disputes in a spirit of cooperation.