Eviction Notice

[mth91]

Howdy,

I've been on these forums a bit since I have my CHL, but now I need some advice from anybody who would be willing to have an input. I am in college, and I have one roommate. Last night, my roommate was performing what he called a "safety check" right through the floor of our duplex into the apartment below. It was incredibly foolish as a shower of bird shot went into the bedroom below. Fortunately no one was injured, but the tenant below was terrified since he was in the room at the time. As my roommate walked out the door, the tenant below was already at our door, and they talked about it. I was not home at the time, but my roommate called me around noon today to let me know that we are being evicted.

The apartment manager came to our apartment when neither of us were home and saw that I had guns as well, and they determined that we are a liability and put the notice on the door. I don't really know what to do here. I think it was horrendously foolish to point a gun into another person's living quarters, and the lease basically says that they don't need grounds to evict me. They just have to give me notice. I cannot reasonably afford the place on my own anyway, and this has the potential to seriously impede my performance in my engineering classes as I deal with the matter. I don't really know what the right question to ask here is, but can anyone give me any advice in the matter?

Thanks for your time.

[baldeagle]

Advice? Find another roommate. While you're looking, find a friend who can put you up until you can find a new place and roommate. If all else fails, you can usually stay at the YMCA for not a lot of money, but I don't know if that's an option for you travel-wise. If you have a vehicle, I have a storage unit you can use to store some of your stuff until you can get situated. The unit is large (10' by 20') and only has a truck in it, so I have plenty of room for stuff you might need to store. No charge. Only one stipulation. If you need to get in the unit, I have to be with you, because I won't give you my code or a key for my lock. I'm in Richardson, so again, I don't know if that's helpful or not.

PM me if you want to discuss further.

[The Annoyed Man]

I would take your roommate to small claims court for the deposit loss at the old place, and deposits for a new place, and I would NOT let him be my roommate any longer.

[mth91]

I appreciate the generosity. I'm way down in College Station, and I may be able to get my parents to help me a little bit, but things are tight as it is. I simply do not want an eviction to affect my ability to get into another apartment or (from what I've read online, with a grain of salt) hurt my credit.

[puma guy]

Sorry you find yourself in this situation through no fault of your own. I'm glad no one was injured. I assume you have a lease, but even if you don't there are certain rights inherent in a tenant landlord relationship. I can understand the landlords concern, but that in no way gives him/her the right to enter your apartment without your presence and notification. I would advise you to seek advice from a lawyer. If you can't afford one you might do an internet search for pro bono services offered for tenant's rights issues. I would have the roommate make it clear it was his fault not yours. A couple of questions: Does you agreement prohibit firearms? Were the police called?

[suthdj]

Is it an "eviction" or just a "notice to quit" as an eviction I believe requires a court order. A notice to quit is just saying we are not renewing your lease I would guess you have a month to month lease if it is a yearly you should read it to make sure they are not pulling a fast one.

[ddurkof]

You have two options depending on what your lease is written like. Are you the only person on the lease with the land lord or is the room mate also on the lease. Are you co renters or separate renters each approved for occupancy with the landlord?

Evictions and be expensive for the landlord for several reasons. Go to him and ask to stay and plead your case that you were not on the premises when the discharge occurred and are an innocent victim. Depending on the contract and your people skills you may be able to isolate or at least mitigate any liability that is perceived.

He has the obligation to mitigate the lost revenue on the lease if you are kicked out. In other words he has to actively try to rent the unit and once it is rented that liability is done and the rent should payment should cease.

Talk to a lawyer who handles commercial real estate law on the best way to proceed. Make sure that that lawyer has nothing to do with the one representing the lawyer for the property owner.

Good luck and screen your room mates better.

[mth91]

It's actually a notice to vacate. They have not yet received a court order to evict us, since they have not yet proven to the court that there was any foul play. I don't know how (besides the fifth amendment) an eviction is avoidable, but they do have to prove it, and since all they have I suppose is a broken ceiling, they'd have a long way to go to proving it. They would have to prove that one of us even had a firearm (no registration). We've already removed every trace of any firearm that was here in hopes that we could strike a deal with them. We also have a year lease paid monthly. I guess they actually can't just boot us out the door. Regardless, I don't want any court orders or anything to my name, and if we leave I guess we won't have any.

[EEllis]

First you should notify the landlord that you will be taking it to court so they should go ahead and file, or he can discuss the situation reasonably with you. First you have nothing you did wrong so while he can perhaps evict your roommate for destruction of property you should be fine and your roommate would still owe half the rent until you could replace him. I am assuming that they made both of you sign and apply separately and you were both approved. Now your roommate can go to court as a separate action and try and defend his actions but that isn't your problem. Here in Texas this would be heard in the JP court and many are not so friendly to lawyers. While it might be worth consulting an attorney I would tend just to get advice and maybe some case cites rather than have one show up in court. The JP's I have seen wouldn't put you out on the street for someone elses actions.


To sum up.
They can evict your roommate if they want but you were not a party to the violation and it has nothing to do with you.
Inform the Landlord that you will contest any eviction and do so immediately.
You may want to consult a lawyer but in a JP court it's often better not to bring them to the court.
You should not accept or allow any restrictions on lawful behavior that are not already in the lease (No telling you you can't possess guns)
Any arrangement your roommate makes is his problem.
If your roommate does leave or gets evicted then he is still responsible for the rent until the end of the lease or until you can find a roommate that can qualify.
You will be the one who must get the money out of your roommate not the apartment.

[tacticool]

It could be worth discussing this with the landlord and remind him you weren't there when it happened, but offer to move out voluntarily if you get your deposit back and he doesn't take legal action against you or slander you by saying you were involved in the property damage.

[rentz]

As everyone else said the can't evict you for this, but could refuse to renew the lease. In addition they need a reason to enter your apartment and typically are required to give advance notice that they will be entering so they may have violated texas renters rights there.

The standard texas renters agreement is a long long document but does give renters quite a lot of rights and protection

[srothstein]

I agree that you should talk with the landlord, but most of the posters have missed one obvious point about his entry into your apartment. Almost every lease has a clause for him to enter for maintenance purposes, and the damage to the floor clearly meets that clause. I would say a court would also see that your roommate's reporting the damage to him would constitute notice that he was going to enter.

This is a civil matter that I do not have extensive experience with, but my understanding is that he can not give you notice to vacate without some violation of the lease. I doubt that accidental damage is a violation, though the tenant may be liable to pay for the damages. Short of what a court would consider a violation, all they can do is refuse to renew the lease and ask you to leave. If they ask you to leave now, I would say they cannot hold you responsible for any future rent, etc.

To me, the question is if you are considered separate tenants or not. I have a daughter that is renting an apartment at college where the college signs individual leases with each roommate. If one is evicted, the others are not even liable for that share of the rent. My other daughter is sharing an apartment where the leases is for all occupants at one time. Each occupant is jointly responsible for the rent and all expenses. If one of them did something to cause an eviction, all of them could be evicted. So, I see your situation as being very dependent on which of these types of leases you have.

Overall, try to talk with the landlord and see what you can work out. If that fails, talk with a good attorney, at least for the advice, if not to represent you in court.

[SewTexas]

since this is in College Station, I'm going to assume this is off-campus but the college helped you get the apt? and the landlord probably doesn't want any problems with the college? right? tell him what the others have said, but back it up with "if you insist on evicting me I will have to go to the school to have them help me relocate, they will ask me why and I will tell them I did nothing wrong, you are evicting me without cause. They will place you on a list of landlords who are difficult to work with."

[Oldgringo]

I would take your roommate to small claims court for the deposit loss at the old place, and deposits for a new place, and I would NOT let him be my roommate any longer.

Yepper, something like that.

There are people who have no business having, or being, around guns. Er,...um, how long had you known this 'room mate' before taking him/her in...or vice versa? Only democrats are allowed to blame their shortcomings on others. Just askin'...