84th Recap: Tenant Wrongful Eviction

A law maker out of East Austin brought HB 3561, which was a bill that would allow for mental anguish and punitive damages for certain wrongful evictions. The filed version of the bill provided that if a landlord evicted through non-judicial means, meaning they did not evict them through the JP courts with a writ of possession but basically displaced the tenant, and if the landlord would have not prevailed had an eviction action been brought in JP court, then the landlord could be subjected to these much harsher penalties. 

In working on the bill, TMHA learned the origins of the legislation was from a commercial lease in Austin where the landlord was renting to a piñata business. Apparently the landlord not only evicted the tenant but then bulldozed the store with all the contents inside to quickly make the land ready for a contracted party coming to the space for South by Southwest. Together with the Texas Apartment Association we urged for the bill to be amended to clarify that the provisions would only apply to commercial and not residential property. When the bill came to the floor it was indeed amended to reflect the commercial only change, but when the votes were taken the bill failed to pass at all. Therefore, there are no new wrongful eviction provisions coming to Texas law this year.

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