New Eviction Laws to Take Effect Soon -- Important Changes to Eviction and Eviction Appeals Process Are Coming

San Antonio Eviction Lawyer - Bexar County Eviction Attorney - Trey Wilson Attorney in San Antonio, Texas wrote:

As happens in every odd year, the Texas Legislature conducted its legislative session in 2015. This session (the 84th) resulted in a few new laws that directly impact evictions and eviction appeals in Texas. The following are summaries of the House Bills that directly impact eviction suits.

HB 1853:  Effective 9/1/15 -- H.B. 1853 amends current law relating to the removal of a tenant's personal property after a writ of possession has been issued in an eviction suit.  Specifically, Section 24.0061, Property Code, is amended by adding a new Subsection (d-1), which authorizes a municipality to provide, without charge to the landlord or to the owner of personal property removed from a rental unit under a writ of possession, a portable, closed container into which the removed personal property shall be placed by the officer executing the writ or by the authorized person. The municipality is further authorized to remove the container from the location near the rental unit and dispose of the contents by any lawful means if the owner of the removed personal property does not recover the property from the container within a reasonable time.

HB 1334:  Effective 1/1/2016 -- This new law amends Chapter 24 of the Texas Property Code and seeks to provide a process for ensuring the validity and financial integrity of appeal bonds filed in eviction cases, and to challenge the sufficiency of the bond posted by a tenant who appeals an eviction Judgment. 

HB 3364: Effective 1/1/2016 -- This Bill is aimed at the problematic wait that current law allows commercial tenants to remain in the property after final judgment of eviction has been issued. H.B. 3364 seeks to clarify that a final judgment of a county court in an eviction suit may not be appealed on the issue of possession unless the premises are for residential purposes only. 

83 Year Old New Hampshire Woman Facing Eviction

San Antonio Eviction Lawyer - Bexar County Eviction Attorney Trey Wilson wrote:  Here's an eviction story from New Hampshire that is making national news.

83-year-old NH woman awaits court eviction ruling

By LYNNE TUOHY, Associated Press |

ALSTEAD, N.H. (AP) — Shelley Crosby — with no legal training but plenty of passion — stood before the justices of New Hampshire's highest court arguing why her 83-year-old mother should not be evicted from the modest Alstead trailer she has called home for nearly 30 years.

"Thank you for giving me this opportunity to fight for my mom," she began at the November hearing.

Crosby, who researched the Supreme Court's rules at the library because she doesn't have a computer, hopes for a reprieve for her mother, Leona Berger, in her two-year battle with the cooperative that operates the 20-unit trailer park.

The justices did not say when they would issue a ruling in the case that is the talk of this small town of 2,000 residents just north of Keene.

The board of selectmen even held up approval of a $400,000 grant for a well system at the trailer park for nearly half a year hoping to leverage a deal with the Well Hill Cooperative to keep Berger in her home. The board abandoned that fight this week.

"I thought I had the opportunity to use the bully pulpit a little," board Chairman Mike Jasmin said Tuesday. He said all he asked is that the cooperative give Berger the opportunity to buy the trailer she has restored and rented for more than 28 years.

"Nobody's asking for Leona to get a free ride, just tell her the price of admission," Jasmin said.

Berger's ordeal began in August 2011, when she received notice that the board was going to increase her rent from $400 to $900. Crosby became her mother's advocate and negotiated the rent to $575. Berger had to sign a lease for the first time — a lease the board opted not to renew a year later. They sent an eviction notice instead, effective September 2012.

Crosby and her mother hired a lawyer to fight the eviction at the district court level, where a judge ruled the board had the right to obtain and sell the rental property. Crosby took over when their lawyer declined to appeal the ruling.

The Supreme Court at first rejected her petition to appeal, but she successfully filed a motion for reconsideration in March

At the hearing, Supreme Court justices were incredulous that the cooperative's board of directors first tried to more than double Berger's rent, then sent her an eviction notice without giving her an opportunity to buy the trailer or extend her lease. The lawyer for the cooperative's board of directors said it was a business decision.

"They can't sell it with her in it," lawyer William Pribis told the justices at the Nov. 13 hearing.

"They could sell it to her — that would be very efficient," said Chief Justice Linda Dalianis.

Robert Phinney, chairman of the Well Hill board of directors, said media reports that he wants Berger out of the park are "totally off-base."

"It's a business decision, so the park doesn't have responsibility for taking care of the house anymore," Phinney said Tuesday. He wouldn't say why the board hasn't offered Berger a chance to buy the house.

Crosby says the board is "bullying" her mother.

"I don't think Rob Phinney ever, ever anticipated he was barking up the wrong tree when he started barking up mine," Crosby said.

Crosby said Tuesday the stress is making her mother ill.

Berger — seated in her living room weeks after the arguments — said the legal fight "has taken years off my life. That's what makes me want to scream."

Berger and her husband, Bernard — a tractor-trailer driver — transformed the trailer's lot into a landscaped lawn and refurbished its dilapidated interior, Berger said. When he died 14 years ago, it reinforced her attachment to her home.

"We bought everything to fit this house," she said. "It's almost like I've been here forever."

Eviction/Lease Dispute Breeds Multiple Litigations and New Ruling

San Antonio Eviction Lawyer - Bexar County Eviction Attorney Trey Wilson wrote:

Today the Fourth Court of Appeals issued a Memorandum Opinion in an ongoing lease termination dispute and related eviction proceedings that have bred numerous suits, appeals and litigations.  In its opinion, the San Antonio Court summarized the litigation saga as follows: "Over the past three years, the landlord/tenant dispute between these parties has given rise to two forcible detainer proceedings, one declaratory judgment action, and one still-pending appeal to this court." 

The issue decided today related to an appeal by Official Inspection Station, Inc. of a forcible entry & detainer (eviction) suit filed and won by AAA Free Move Ministorage, LLC following earlier forcible entry & detainer and declaratory judgment suits won by OIS, and for which OIS was awarded a money judgment.

The broader dispute relates to OIS' right of possession (and AAA's right of termination) under a written lease entered by and between OIS and the previous owners of the premises bought by AAA in August 2009. When AAA tried to terminate under that lease, OIS filed a declaratory judgment action against AAA in Bexar County District Court, asking the court to construe the rental agreement and declare that AAA did not have the right to terminate the lease on six months’ notice and that OIS was properly in possession of the property.

In March 2010, while the declaratory judgment action was still pending, AAA filed a “Complaint for Eviction” against OIS in the  Bexar County justice of the peace court because OIS refused to vacate the property. The court later entered a take-nothing judgment against AAA (essentially denying AAA's demand for possession). AAA appealed to county court at law, and following a trial de novo, the county court rendered a take-nothing judgment against AAA, awarding OIS attorney’s fees and costs in the amount of $13,362.12. 

With its favorable county court judgment in hand, OIS stopped making payments, and instead, “credited” AAA on OIS’s books with the judgment AAA owed to OIS against the amount of the rent OIS owed AAA.  Thereafter, AAA filed a second eviction suit, which it won at the JP court and on de novo appeal to the Bexar County Court at law.  OIS appealed to the 4th Court, arguing that its non-payment of rent was excused by the Judgment owed to it by AAA.  The Court of Appeals disagreed, and ruled, inter alia, that the lower court's finding that  OIS was in default under the lease because it did not continue paying rent, and instead, unilaterally applied its offset.

Notably, the Opinion issued today is not the final word. An appeal of the declaratory judgment action is apparently also pending with the Fourth Court of Appeals.