Squatter Eviction Help - Austin TX

[Tim Duggan]

Would someone be willing to talk to me about evicting my tenant?

I have a squatter in my property. They've been there without paying rent since August 1 2021. I gave them 3-day vacate notice on Aug 1. I was told by an attorney's paralegal that I needed to give a fresh 30-day vacate notice (1-2 weeks ago). The eviction moratorium has ended and I should be able to follow standard Texas eviction law which should be: 3-day notice to vacate, somehow file an eviction in court, and then get the sheriff to remove them. Should be able to get them out in ~10 days by my understanding. 

Has anyone gone through this? Provide any guidance?

[Bruce Lynn]

Typically not that hard.....Check your Justice of the Peace website for your jurisdiction.  Often they will have the procedures and forms.   You give the 3 day notice by mail, certified mail, and post on the inside back of the door and/or hand it to them in person.  The way I read the law is you can mail it to them, but some judges interpret differently so nice to have all 3.  Sworn testimony should be enough, but also nice to have a receipt from the PO regarding mail date and certified date...and a picture of you posting the notice on the door.

You do have a lease?  Right?   and by squatter you mean someone who has stayed past the end of the lease, the lease did not auto renew, and you gave them notice to vacate?

So once you do that and the 3 days has passed, then you can file for eviction, pay your service fee and let them get served and the JP will set a court date.

You show up to prove up your case, normally with evidence...your lease, proof of non-payment or whatever it is that you are evicting for....perhaps stayover, your proof of notice, etc....typically tenant will no-show and you win by default.  Then you can set a date with the sheriff for them to be there for a period of time, maybe 1-2 hours while your crew sets out the tenants valuable items (they're always valuable) or for safety you go rent a storage unit, put the items there, give the tenant notice the items are in storage and you've paid the first month.

BINGO you have the house back.