All Forum Posts by: Bob Ster

Ronald, Thank you for responding. My objective is to terminate the lease rather than live with numerous nuisance repairs that aren't taken care of in a timely manner. I feel like I have plenty of cause, but unsure of how to proceed lawfully so I'm not hit with cancellation fees and lose my deposit.

The door locks are not consistent with property code; locking knob, keyed deadbolt & blind deadbolt. It's not clear to me if this is actually considered to "materially affect physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant" per 92.052(3)(A). Otherwise, other un-repaired items I would not characterize in that way and don't know if there is cause to terminate for un-repaired leaks as an example where I give notice and wait sufficiently and it goes without repair. 

It's a standard TX Association of Realtors residential lease. There is a special provision via addendum allowing for short term rental. Per that addendum I could have terminated when STR was shut down by the city. I also could have deferred a few months of rent to the end of the lease which is August 2021, but I made them whole without requesting any concession. I was hoping they would see this and be more responsive, but it made no difference.

Greg,

Thanks for looking at that. Yes, I have two separate problems on both sides. We operated several short term rental properties in the neighborhood of the tenant and while there have been instances of nuisance property damage it doesn't seem, anecdotally, to be nearly to the extent claimed. I just want to figure out what is lawful and reasonable documentation. We're all out of legal funds after covid and I fully realize nothing anyone shares should be considered legal advice. Just hoping to advance my understanding via someone else's experience if possible.

Russell, 

Your post is uncharacteristically judgmental as far as BP posts go. There's considerably more to the story that's not relevant to ascertaining what is reasonable documentation of stalking as I suspect the tenant is grossly exaggerating. I asked for specific feedback from people knowledgeable about the subject and I get trolling and moral posturing. Please stick to the topic of posts. 

We have a rental in a solidly middle class neighborhood, but there are incidents throughout the neighborhood of vandalism and quick-grab thefts and breakage of vehicles. Our tenant is filing police reports and saying they intend to terminate the lease as soon as they identify a suspect from video.

The Stalking law in Texas provides for violent assaults, sexual assaults and property destruction. The TX Property Code requires documentation via police reports in addition to documentation of stalking from a provider of medical health services, mental health services, or other authorized provider of services. Assuming my tenant is providing police reports, can they just go to a psychologist to get a letter stating the psychologist believes the person is being targeted or stalked even without a suspect? 

If anyone has looked at this aspect of the property code and speak to it, it would be much appreciated.

I'm actually a tenant with high rent in a great neighborhood. For a year I've tried to get the owner to take action on various repairs by texting and email rather than sending certified mail to put them on notice per TX lease laws. They've been very slow to respond to things that are not arguably directly health or safety issues, but this house is falling apart. Most recently we've washed dishes by hand for two months waiting for them to replace the dishwasher. At the same time I've had six separate incidents of vandalism and theft and we just want to get out.

During covid shut down we could have terminated because of an addendum we had concerning short term rental. We could have withheld and deferred three months of rent, which would have been financially devastating to the owner. We've made improvements to the home and it's in a far better condition than when we received it. 

Having said all of that I intend to put them on notice for Safety violations and Repairs that are still not addressed. Even after looking at lease law in TX it's still not clear to me if we can terminate our lease if something is not addressed that is a Health or Safety issue. As inconvenient and discouraging as it is to wash dishes by hand (family of 7, 2 hours a day) I'm not sure a non-functioning dishwasher rises to an issue that can allow someone to terminate. Same thing regarding leaking fixtures. We have $400+ water bills whereas they are usually $160-ish. I know we have LL that are extremely experienced and understand LL obligations for repairs. Please help!