Alternatives for eviction when courts give continuances

[Toni Conway]

I have an LTR in Pflugerville, TX (outside Austin) with a tenant that stopped paying rent last October with no valid reasons given. My PM has been following "their process" with the lawyers, but the courts continue to issue continuances when the tenant claims unhealthy enough to appear.  

Their lease is up in April! Do I have any other options for eviction once they are technically illegally occupying a home (no longer under a signed lease).  Has anyone experienced this and would be willing to share recommendations?  

(I've never had an eviction yet and was devastated to find out that the process to get money owed is even worse and the collections teams take 40% if they recover).  

Thank you for your advice!!

[Lucas Miles]

@Toni Conway a way to potentially avoid the court/eviction proceedings is to do a "cash for keys". Offer the tenants some amount of money, $500, $1000, whatever to move out of the residence by end of the month or whatever time period you want. If you explain this to the tenant that, you have 2 options. 1. Court proceeding/eviction, eviction will be on your permanent record making it very difficult for you to find a new place to live, you will be charged for our attorney/court fees (depending on your local laws), and any money you owe will be sent to collection agency to collect. or 2. You get paid $500 and move out, we just move on from the situation. Nothing goes on your permanent records, and you get some money to help in finding a new place to live.

This doesn't always work, but it is an option to get them to move out without having to deal with the court systems. We will often do cash for keys in parallel with eviction so they know we are serious about eviction.