Tenant in default in Texas

[Harsh Singh]

Hello,

So this has never happened to me before. My tenant defaulted on the rent and vacated the property. He stated that he has left the key in the home but I am unaware of the condition that he left it in at this point.

The State of Texas has some aggressive, landlord favorable language and I am trying to figure out how to go about this default.

The first thing that comes to mind is placing a lien on his credit reports. How do I go about doing that? Also, what do I need to file in the courts in order to get an actual court-ordered payment for the tenant?

Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

HS

[Greg H.]

First off...move forward and get the property rented !!! Hesitation does you no good and costs you more money in lost rent

Second, you can pursue the tenant in small claims court.  Keep in mind. you will have to have an address for them to be serve contrary to what was posted previously.  

Additionally, a judgement in Texas is north of 90% noncollectable.  We are landlord friendly as far as removing tenants but not so much on collections.  No garnishment and the list of exempt property is long.  They can actually own a $500000 home that they intend to make their homestead and you can do nothing to collect