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How to Evict a Roommate in Texas

It usually starts out well enough. Two friends decide to become roommates to share expenses or a friend asks to move in because he or she needs a place to stay. Things were fine for awhile, but after time, they started to go downhill and now it's time for the roommate to leave. Except he or she won't go. So what to do now? How is a roommate evicted in Texas?

 

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Evicting a Texas Roommate is Complicated

As living expenses rise, more people are living together as a way to save money. As a result, more people are also discovering that living with a roommate is not all it's cracked up to be. Some roommates want to party all night.

Others think house rules apply to everyone but them. In Texas, getting rid of an obnoxious roommate, though, depends on a number of factors.

Is the Roommate on the Lease?

If the roommate is on the lease, then the landlord is the only person with the authority to lick out the roommate, but even a landlord needs a legally valid reason to throw someone out if that person is on the lease. These reasons usually include not paying rent, using the home for illegal purposes or otherwise breaking the terms of the lease in some way.

The exception to this is if a roommate is threatening or violent. If this is the case, then the court can issue a restraining order and the roommate must leave immediately.

It's worth remembering that a roommate on the lease is actually a co-tenant and has much right to live in the rental space as any other roommate.

Now What?

Unfortunately for Texas residents, options are are limited if the roommate is on the lease. Politely asking him or her to leave is an option, but this doesn't always work and can lead to more conflict.

If the roommate signed an agreement outlining rules of the house, everything from noise limits to cleaning duties and he or she breaks the agreement, then he or she probably cannot be evicted but can be sued for damages in small claims court (Justice of the Peace Court).

Examples might include a roommate having loud parties that interfere with others' working from home or a roommate not paying his or her share of the utilities.

While these situations could be grounds for suing, the risk is that suing may anger a roommate but not enough to make him or her move out.

Talking to the landlord to see if he can get the roommate to budge is an option, but most landlords are content to leave things be as long as they are getting their rent and their property is not being damaged.

An exception would be the landlord seeing that the roommate is breaking the lease in some way, such as selling drugs from the home (illegal use of the property) or has a dog when pets are specifically forbidden in the lease.

This can be tricky, though, because the roommate could claim that the dog belongs to everyone in the home and the landlord could decide to evict everyone, not just the problem roommate. In Texas, this is particularly true if a lease has a joint and/or several liability clause, which essentially means that all the tenants on a lease can be held responsible for what other tenants do.

The landlord might be a reasonable person (or corporation), though, and decide to evict only the roommate. If this is the case, it will take time. The landlord must follow the law, which involves giving a roommate notice of the eviction and time to remedy the situation.

For example, if the grounds for the eviction are that the roommate has a dog and pets are forbidden according to the lease, then the landlord has to give the roommate adequate time to find the dog a new home. If the roommate does this, then he or she cannot be evicted. He or she can stay in the home and chances are he or she will not be a happy camper.

It is possible, too, that a roommate may just ignore the eviction notice and decide to stay in the home. In this case, the landlord will have to go to court to ask a judge to tell the roommate to go. If the judge agrees, then the sheriff will come to escort the roommate out of the property. If, though, the landlord loses in court, then the roommate can stay.

Things That Cannot Be Done with Regard to a Texas Roommate

No matter how annoying a roommate is, there are things that the state of Texas says cannot legally be done to make him or her vacate the home.

For example, he cannot be threatened or the locks change to keep him out of the property. His or personal property cannot be stolen. The person doing any of these things could be the one looking at criminal charges. No roommate is worth that.

Is the Roommate Not on the Lease?

If the roommate is not on the lease then there are more options for getting rid of him or her.

This can be dicey, though. If the roommate is not on the lease because he or she came to stay without the landlord knowing, then the other people in the house might be breaking the lease terms and end up facing eviction.