Tenants
facing eviction for non-payment of rent frequently assert defenses based upon a
Landlord’s failure to install security devices. These defenses, even when factually-true, are effective only
in limited circumstances, and should not automatically cause a Landlord to
retreat from the position that rent is due.
Texas law
does require landlords to install keyless bolting devices on the exterior doors
of rental premises. See Tex. Prop. Code § 92.157. When demanded by
Tenants in writing, a Landlord’s failure to install keyless bolting devices can
also result in Landlord liability. See Tex. Prop. §§ 92.153, 92.164. However,
Tenants facing eviction for non-payment must have “clean hands,” and cannot
manufacture a “failure to install-defense” after the time that they are in
default of their own obligations under a Lease.
Stated
differently, a Tenant who has breached the lease by failing to fully pay their
rent before
the date they request the installation of keyless bolting devices
generally has no claim for the Landlord’s failure to install the device. This
is because the Texas Property Code allows the antecedent breach of the
lease to serve as a defense to the demand for the installation of security
devices. See Tex. Prop. Code Ann. § 92.1641.
Thus, when a
Tenant makes their request to install a keyless bolting device at a time when
they have not paid all then-due rent, a Landlord may deem the Tenant in default
and escape liability for failure to install.
Of course, prudence
dictates that a conscientious Landlord honors all requests for installation of
keyless bolting devices. Nevertheless, a non-paying tenant’s untimely assertion
of the “failure to install defense” is rarely successful in an eviction proceeding
before the Justice Courts.
