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Houston TX Eviction Attorney
An experienced Houston eviction attorney is a key element in your strategy to remove your problem tenant. Too often tenants get the upper hand in the eviction process. The laws are designed to protect their “right” to stay in YOUR property. And to do so without paying rent!
Let Girling Law help you speed the eviction process along and save you money. We know the eviction process cold! We know which Judges to avoid. Because we handle hundreds of evictions every year, are attorneys are always a familiar face to your local eviction Judges. You want an attorney on your side who has a reputation for knowing Texas eviction law inside and out! You also want your tenant to know that you’ve pulled out the big guns.
HOW OUR HOUSTON ATTORNEYS HELP LANDLORDS IN TEXAS
Here are some of the ways our Texas real estate lawyers help the Houston TX community:
- Justice of the Peace evictions
- County Court at Law evictions
- Court of Appeals evictions
- Creditor representation – Your tenant files bankruptcy
- Eviction forms
- Lease agreements
Services for Houston Texas Real Estate Investors
Fast Track Your Legal Representation
You’re in a hurry. We get it! Girling Law’s team of experts typically start our clients’ legal representation in under five minutes.
Consultation
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Would you like a Free Consultation (Landlords Only) with an Houston eviction attorney?
Give us a call TODAY at (713) 766-9366
What Makes Evictions in Houston Texas Different?
There are several things that make Houston, Texas evictions different. The Judge you select can make a huge difference in the outcome of your case. Harris County has two Justices of the Peace per precinct. Landlords may select either. As experienced Houston metro area eviction attorneys, Girling Law is well acquainted with which Judges landlords should avoid. Also, some of the procedures relating to evictions in Houston can be different. State law typically governs the legal procedures. However, this body of law does not cover every procedure relating to evictions. There are operational procedures that can vary from county to county. Some Judges even have their own, unwritten polices. One example is a Judge who refuses to grant evictions after the landlord used a 24-hour notice to vacate. Although there are laws permitting 24-hour notices to vacate, this Judge consistently refuses to honor those laws. Working with an expert eviction law firm that knows your Judge’s preferences can save you from losing thousands of dollars in unrealized revenues.
Multiple Counties
Evictions in Houston, Texas involve unique considerations because Houston is located in three counties. Just because your rental property has a Houston mailing address, does not mean your eviction needs to be filed in Harris County. Parts of the City of Houston are in Fort Bend County. Parts are also in Montgomery County.
Justices of the Peace
Most properties with a Houston Texas mailing address will be in a Justice of the Peace precinct with two Justices of the Peace. These two Justices of the Peace have what attorneys refer to as “concurrent” jurisdiction. This means both Judges serve the entire precinct. If the property from which you are evicting a tenant is in a precinct with two Justices of the Peace, you may choose either of the Justices of the Peace. Selecting your Judge is a critical decision. It is an unfortunate reality for Texas real estate investors that some Judges are openly hostile towards landlord. Some Judges have VERY HIGH rates of eviction dismissals (meaning the landlord lost). Some Judges have moderate rates of eviction dismissals, but they also allow legal aid organizations to camp out in the hallway outside of the courtroom. These organizations will waive down incoming tenants and offer them free legal representation. Unless you are an attorney, you DO NOT want to go to trial against a well-trained Legal Aid attorney. Girling Law carefully monitors the Justices of the Peace in the Houston metro area and the firm is careful to select only the Judges who offer their clients the best odds of success.
The Harris County Eviction Appeal Process
As is the case all over the State of Texas, tenants have an unrestricted right to an appeal. This means tenants may appeal an eviction judgment without reason or justification. Tenants may even appeal after they win!
When a tenant files an appeal, the Clerk of your Justice of the Peace Court will compile all the case’s documents and transfer them to the County Clerk. The Justice of the Peace Clerk will then transfer the physical file through Harris County’s inter-office mail system. After the County Clerk receives the Justice of the Peace file, the County Clerk will assign the case to a County Court at Law, upload the documentation into the County Clerk’s system, and record any bond or rent payments.
The amount of time it takes for this internal process to finalize appears to vary wildly from court to court in Harris County. We have seen these transfers occur within only a few days. We have also seen these transfers take a couple of weeks.
Harris County Courts at Law
Harris County has four Civil County Courts at Law that handle eviction appeals. The County Clerk assigns appealed evictions to an Associate Judge in nearly all circumstances. Neither party has the right to request a specific Judge at this level.
When a party files an appeal to a Justice of the Peace eviction, the County Court will schedule a special type of appeal called an appeal for a trial de novo. Typically, an appeal will review the actions of the trial court during a trial or a hearing. Not with trials de novo. Instead, the County Court will conduct an entirely new trial almost as though the Justice of the Peace Court never conducted trial at all. If your tenant appeals the Justice of the Peace trial, their act of appealing “vacates” the Justice of the Peace’s judgment. When a judgment is vacated, it – in effect – disappears. As far as the County Court is concerned, there is no Justice of the Peace judgment.
For this reason, you will never hear your attorney telling the County Court Judge about how the landlord won in the Justice of the Peace Court. That fact is entirely irrelevant to the second trial before the County Court. Still, County Court Judges are often aware of what happened in the Justice of the Peace Court. The County Court Judge receives all of the Justice of the Peace Court’s trial documents, and the County Court Judge nearly always reviews those documents. It is not necessary to remind the County Court Judge of this fact, it not legally proper because a vacated judgment is not relevant, and it seems to irritate the County Court Judges.
Constables
Being one of the larger cities in Texas, the Harris County Constables are busier than the Constables in most other Texas Counties. If you have had to go through a set out (forcible removal of your tenant) in another county, you should expect your move out in your Houston property to take slightly longer. Constables in Texas will typically instruct you to hire two movers per bedroom in the property.
Would you like a Free Consultation (Landlords Only) with an Houston eviction attorney?
Give us a call TODAY at (713) 766-9366
How Representation from a Houston Eviction Attorney Can Make a BIG Difference
Ultimately, hiring an experienced Houston eviction attorney is a great idea because doing so can save you time and money. We rarely need our landlord-clients to appear in the Justice of the Peace trials. In fact, there is usually an advantage to NOT having the landlord appear!
Justices of the Peace Courts are permitted to “investigate the case.” This means they are allowed to directly ask Parties and witnesses questions. This is something other Judges are typically not permitted to do. An attorney is generally unable to tell his client to not answer the Justice of the Peace’s questions. For this reason, we typically go to Justice of the Peace trials without the client present. Although some cases merit having our client present to provide testimony, the great majority do not. Our firm attributes its high rate of success to this policy of asking our clients to not be present at the Justice of the Peace trial.
How a Houston Eviction Attorney Can Save You Time
Obviously, having your Houston eviction attorney appear at trial for you is a time saver. But when I talk about saving you time, I’m not just talking about saving your time. I’m also talking about shaving time off of your eviction.
If you have a problematic relationship with your tenant, Girling Law’s staff is in a much better position to neutralize your tenant’s emotions. This can translate into a settlement agreement where your tenant moves out substantially earlier. You are never required to settle, but settlement create an opportunity to get your property returned to you faster AND you might enjoy recovering some funds. Our firm has years of experience in negotiating with tenants. We offer landlords an effective means of ridding themselves of a problem tenant quickly, if that is what the client desires. Obviously, if you have strong feelings about not settling, we will honor that. We will never make you settle your case.
An experienced Houston eviction attorney also understands the eviction appeal process. This means we know how stop the eviction process if your tenant fails to pay their first required appeal rent payment. And if your tenant fails to pay one of their subsequent required payments during the appeal process, we will ask the County Corut Judge for an accelerated set out (tenant removal). These steps can shave weeks off your tenant’s unlawful possession of your property. And these are steps that non attorney firms and deep discount lawyers almost never offer.
How a Houston Eviction Attorney Can Save you Money
Hiring Girling Law means you get a producing rental property quickly. The most obvious way will save you money is by accelerating your tenant’s exit. This means you can move forward with your make-ready and get a paying tenant back into your property as soon as Texas law permits.
Another way our experienced Houston eviction attorney can add value to the eviction process is by negotiating payments. Not every tenant is in a position to make immediate payments towards their rent arrears. After all, they will often need money for their move, a security deposit, and for renting a new place. But this doesn’t mean your problem tenant is always penniless! For most cases, Girling Law will explore the possibility of obtaining tenant payments through the settlement negotiation process. We also sell the client into paying down all or a portion of their unpaid rents and expenses after the trial. When this is not a possibility, Girling Law can always attempt steps to collect on your money judgment.
Reducing Your Risk
Evictions naturally include risk for every landlord. There is the risk of having one of the eviction courts dismiss your eviction because of a defect in your paperwork. There is also the risk of having your eviction drag on unnecessarily because you do not know where the opportunities for short-cuts exist. Then there is the risk of your eviction languishing because your tenant does something like file bankruptcy, remove the case to federal court, or obtain an abatement. The internet has availed a lot of information for tenants. Some are crafty enough to successfully leverage this information. Others are experienced at abusing the system. An experienced Houston eviction attorney is your best way to combat these situations.
Get Started with Your Houston Eviction Attorney Today
Your problem tenant isn’t going to go away until you give him a reason to go away. Let Girling Law be that reason!
Speed is critical in an eviction. Texas evictions are “accelerated.” This means your case gets set for trial in a matter of weeks. Other Civil Cases may not go to trial for nine months, or even after more than a year. The accelerated speed in an eviction trial gives Texas landlords an advantage because this fast pace pressures the tenant into action.
Girling Law has built the firm’s resources with speed in mind. In most situations, we can issue your notice to vacate the same day you hire us. If you have already issued a notice to vacate to your tenant (something we DO NOT recommend), we can often initiate your lawsuit the same day.
Don’t drag your feet! Problem tenants rarely go away on their own. Let’s show your tenant you mean business. The sooner your tenant receives a letter on our firm’s letterhead, the quicker we can resolve this problem for you.
Squatters: Battling for Your Home | Episode 226 | Phil in the Blanks Podcast
If you live in North Texas, you may have already heard of the Schwabs. Heather and William Eric Schwab are currently facing numerous counts of “serial squatting” for playing homeowners to live in their homes without ever paying a dime. As a result of their scheme, victims have sought legal advice from Girling Law to help ensure the rights to their property and to avoid mistakes like this in the future. Learn what our Irving real estate attorney did!
READ MORE…
QUESTIONS ABOUT Real Estate? ASK OUR TEXAS REAL ESTATE ATTORNEYS!
CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS
We had a problem with a tenant that after giving the deposit and paying for the first month; he immediately got behind paying rent of the second month and was not complying with contract agreements for paying late fees, etc. At the beggining the problem seemed manageable, for what we did the minimal (send 3 day notice letter, call references, etc.) After being unsuccessful collecting the payment, we decided to take legal action and avoid further delays.
How fortunate we were to find Mr. Marc Girling; even after following the regular legal procedures and winning the eviction case the tenant neglected court rulings and decided to stay without pay on the property. Marc helped us to quickly apply for the Grit of possession where we were finally able to take control back of the property (with minimal delay and physical damages or conflicts) during the eviction process Marc never hesitated to run the extra mile and he kept us very well informed of the case progression. I will definitely recommend and use Marc to help us with any legal real estate issues, he is knowledgeable, trustworthy and supportive.
I was in a situation were I had to extract a non compliant tenant within my dwelling, I was at a crossroads as to how to evict this individual, I searched the Internet and found the Girling law offices, they were able to give me the guidance I needed, they handled my case with professionalism and courtesy, thanks Girling Law offices.
I bought a foreclosed property from a county auction. As soon as I found out the people that are living there will do anything to hold down to this property, I made a smart decision of calling Girling Law Firm. Mr. Girling was very patient and worked really hard to get me my property back from the free loaders. I really appreciate Mr. Girling's efforts and his knowledge.
I'm a first time investment property owner. Unfortunately I didn't get off to the best start. My first tenant's deposit and first months rent check bounced after they had already moved into the property. They were in the property without paying for months it was a very trying time. After one failed eviction attempt and several hundreds of dollars later I finally decided to hire an attorney. I made the smart decision to stop trying to do it all myself and hire an attorney to handle my eviction case.
I was fortunate enough to find Girling law. Mr. Girling and his team immediately turned things around. They were knowledgeable and attentive it turned out to be the best decision I could have made. They handled all correspondence with the tenant from the moment I first spoke with them until the tenant was out of my property successfully. They took all the stress of the situation away and quickly got my tenants out. It made a world of difference to me especially since I am an out of state owner.
They appeared in court multiple times without me having to be present all for a flat fee that didn't break the bank. Mr. Girling even recommended a great property manager to handle the property to make sure this problem didn't repeat again. I'm happy to say that I now have great paying tenants. The nightmare is over very much thanks to Girling law. If you ever run into a problem with your tenants I highly recommend calling Girling law immediately - don't wait!
I had a fantastic experience! Marc's knowledge of real estate law is amazing and his staff was courteous and did a great job keeping me informed about my case
Mr Girling did a super job on my eviction of a non paying tenant, even when they appealed, Mr Girling attacked the appeal, and got it thrown out and got the tenants REMOVED quickly! Mr Girling and his staff were amazing! Thanks To Girling Law!
QUICK INFO
Girling Law helps landlords pull their investment properties out of the tenants’ bankruptcy estate after the tenant files bankruptcy. A tenant bankruptcy filing can be financially crippling if the issue isn’t addressed swiftly and effectively. Our expert attorneys will help you navigate those complicated bankruptcy rules and limit your tenant’s options. Most of Girling Law’s bankruptcy-creditor clients enjoy relief from the tenant’s bankruptcy in under six weeks.
The lease agreement defines the relationship you will have with your tenant. Next to your property’s deed, the lease is arguably the most important document relating to your rental property. Leases from document companies and property valuation websites are often drafted to accommodate the laws of multiple states. Drafting a lease to comply with multiple state laws means many of the advantages Texas law gives its landlords must be excluded. A Texas landlord attorney drafted the Rock Solid Lease specifically for Texas landlords.
Girling Law offers Texas landlords free, thirty-minute consultations. Our consultations are always no obligation and pressure -free. If we believe we are able to help you with representation, we will provide you an offer for our low cost, high-value legal services by emailing you a client agreement that you can completely view. Signing is easy, and most of our clients review and execute their client agreements on their cell phones. Most of our clients are able to email us the documents we need for trial. Attorney representation couldn’t be any easier than this!
If you’re like many of our landlords, your tenant is causing you to hemorrhage money. And the thought of hiring an attorney becomes that much more dauting after your tenant has gone months without paying rent. This is why we offer all of our eviction clients no-interest, no-fee financing on their legal representation. Most of our clients start representation with a payment as low as $500.00.
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Sugar Land, TX 77498-4601
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Leonard Marc-Charles Girling, SBN 24074283, is the attorney responsible for the contents of this website.
Girling Law PLLC’s principal place of business is in Plano, TX. The content on this website is for informational purposes only. This site and the information contained within is not legal advice, nor is it intended to be. Contacting Girling Law, PLLC does not create an attorney-client relationship. Internet users should not act upon information contained on this site without first seeking advice from an attorney. Please refrain from sending any confidential information to Girling Law, PLLC until an attorney-client relationship is established.
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