New Texas Law Changes Eviction Process, Targets Squatters

Austin is a city of majority renters, and Texas will be making changes to the way it handles evictions starting in the new year. Senate Bill 38 will take effect for all eviction filings starting Jan. 1, empowering landlords and property owners to more easily evict “squatters” – individuals illegally occupying someone else’s property – from their apartment or other rental unit.

Last legislative session, an early version of SB 38 would’ve allowed landlords to evict tenants in as little as five days through what’s called “summary disposition,” allowing landlords to obtain an eviction judgment without giving the tenant a hearing in court, if the tenant dose not respond to the court within four days.After significant pushback by attorneys and tenants’ rights advocates, who argued that the bill eliminated due process for tenants, lawmakers limited those abilities, giving landlords summary disposition rights solely to evict squatters.

“I think most people would agree that we don’t want to encourage squatting; we want to make sure property rights are preserved.But I think what the bill really did, and it became very clear early on, was it really conflated what a squatter and a renter is,” said Awais Azhar, executive director of the nonprofit HousingWorks Austin. “The bill is much less harmful than it was.”

Nonetheless, other aspects of the eviction process have changed that will affect all Texas tenants. Shoshana Krieger, project director of BASTA, a nonprofit legal aid organization for tenants, explained that, before SB 38, the law clearly stated how landlords needed to deliver a written “notice to vacate” to tenants at least three days before filing for eviction: It could be placed inside of their front door, sent via mail, or given in-hand to an adult resident in the unit.

Now, SB 38 allows an eviction notice to be placed anywhere inside the unit, and electronic communication