Is this a common occurence here in Texas?

(The only problem occurs when your tenant moves with no forwarding address and/or changes their job).

If it comes down to it, this thread could count as evidence that this problem occurred recently, so of you end up needing to take her to court, keep this in mind.

No lender, deed of trust or any other party can stop this type of transaction; the lender merely has the right to call the loan due if this type of transaction occurs.

Typically the latest a return could occur is the afternoon of the day it deposits, not later.

It only takes an instant for an animal to cause significant harm to a rental property.

IF/WHEN they lien your property: you will send them a letter demanding them to sue you. at that point the clock starts ticking, they have 30 days to sue you or you can have the lien removed AND they are responsible for any costs associated with you taking the time to write the letter, find a different contractor, waste your gas, etc... make sure you withheld enough :)if they do sue you, as long as you sent them that letter before they file the lien then it will simply be a matter of the court agreeing that you were reasonable with the amount you withheld. by the way, if possible, make sure to hold enough that it goes above $10k. this means it cannot go to small claims court in IL, much more difficult to sue someone above that amount without having to lawyer up at which point they will likely just try to agree to an amount with you in my experience.Simple way to avoid all of this: have your expectations clear and in writing, like you mentioned AND add in Inspections/milestones. this protects both of you from having to deal with this crap. example: scrape garage: inspection, paint coat #1: inspection, paint coat #2:inspection. agree to a basic schedule of values for each item prior to start of work, scraping is worth XXX, etc.. this allows you to pay based off of milestones/work completed.Some items you should be around to inspect during install to catch problems while they are occuring, its good project management, like tile being installed poorly, although that does not change the responsibility for the subcontractor to install the tile per your written expectations.

As @Marcia Maynard said, you should inspect and correct problems as they occur and charge the tenant accordingly.

The final report on return of deposits does not occur until the landlord has regained possession of the property.

Hopefully you wont have any type of incident that will leave you maintaing two properties out of pockect without rent but if the unlikely occurs and you'd still be able to handle it af few months, you are more than ready for you next purchase.Good Luck...