***THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS POST HAS BEEN SUPERSEDED BY NEW TEXAS RULE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE 500.4, EFFECTIVE 8/31/13.****
Many Texas residential property managers offer eviction-related services to their owner-clients. Frequently, these services are limited to issuing Notices to Vacate/ Notices to Quit and rent demand letters, occasionally, a tenant will require a Court order before he or she vacates a rental premises. When this occurs, it is important to understand the parameters within which non-lawyer property managers in Texas can represent their owner-clients' interests in Court.
Generally, only a licensed attorney can represent another person's, or any corporation's, interests in court in Texas. See Section 83.001(a) of the Texas Government Code, which prohibits a person, other than a member of the state bar from practicing law.
However, an exception to this general rule exists in connection with some types of EVICTION cases filed in the JUSTICE COURTS. This exception is found in two separate places in the law:
Texas Property Code Sec. 24.011. NONLAWYER REPRESENTATION. In eviction suits in justice court for nonpayment of rent or holding over beyond a rental term, the parties may represent themselves or be represented by their authorized agents, who need not be attorneys. In any eviction suit in justice court, an authorized agent requesting or obtaining a default judgment need not be an attorney.
Texas Rules of Civil Procedure: RULE 747a. REPRESENTATION BY AGENTS. In forcible entry and detainer cases for non-payment of rent or holding over beyond the rental term, the parties may represent themselves, or be represented by their authorized agents in justice courts.
In all other types of eviction cases (i.e. non-monetary defaults or breach of Lease cases, the Owner can represent him/herself, but he/she cannot be represented by a property manager, unless that manager is also a licensed attorney.
Further, because an appeal of a Judgment entered in an eviction suit is taken to the County Court at Law, a non-lawyer may not represent the owner's interests on appeal.
As with any power, just because you "have" it, does not always mean you should exercise it. Whether a manager hires an attorney in the early stage of the eviction process, versus saving the funds and attempting to prosecute an eviction themselves, is one that should be made after careful deliberation, and on a case-by-case basis.
