Landlord Retaliation
Under the Texas Retaliation Statute, when a tenant takes a protected action (such as requesting repairs, or complaining to a government agency) the landlord is prohibited for a period of six months from taking certain actions against the tenant. If the landlord violates this statute, the landlord can be held liable for:
The protections of the retaliation statute are invoked only when a tenant takes an action off a list of protected actions under the statute. The full list can be found in the statute, but stated succinctly the actions are:
After a tenant takes a protected action, the landlord is barred for a period of six months (subject to various exceptions) from taking any of the following actions:
However, it is important to remember that this prohibition is subject to a number of exceptions which you should be familiar with before engaging with your landlord. For example, your landlord can still evict you if you don't pay rent, engage in criminal activity, or seriously damage the property. Moreover, the landlord can avoid liability for retaliation if the landlord proves that its action was not taken for the purpose of retaliation. Retaliation cases vary heavily from case to case, so giving general advice is hard. However, you should always keep copies of every communication sent to or by your landlord, as those can form an important part of your evidence at trial. When communicating with your landlord in person, try to have an uninvolved witness with you. |