Austin Tenants’ Council Blog

Relief for Renters?

By 2009, nearly 13,000 apartments will be added to the Austin rental market. Some in the apartment industry predict that tenants will see rents decline by 3 percent or more in the next 18 months.

Add comment July 15th, 2008

Renters Face Homelessness as Foreclosures Rise

With more families on the cusp of having nowhere to live, thousands of both former homeowners and renters are winding up in shelters or turning to charities for food or other aid to get by. Read more.

Add comment June 26th, 2008

Rise in Renters Erasing Gains for Ownership

Americans are renting apartments and houses at the highest level since President Bush started a campaign to expand homeownership in 2002. Read more.

Add comment June 24th, 2008

Renters Beware

In Houston, a man advertised a home for rent in a local newspaper. After showing the property, he asked the prospective renters for a cash or money order to hold the unit. The problem… he wasn’t the owner, manager, real estate agent and had no right to rent the property.

Make sure you are dealing with the actual owner. If you know the address of the property, you can find out who the owner is by searching the Travis Central Appraisal District appraisal roll.

1 comment May 7th, 2008

Repairs Languish for Months

Tenants at London Square Apartments report living in substandard conditions because their landlord refuses to make repairs. Under Texas law, the landlord has an obligation to make repairs that threaten a tenant’s health or safety. Tenants must make their request for repairs in writing. Withholding rent is not allowed. For details about the process and options if the landlord ignores the repair request, click here.

2 comments April 15th, 2008

Avoiding Foreclosure

Following national trends, foreclosures in Central Texas continue to rise. In Travis County, foreclosures are up 14 percent. The situation in Williamson County is even worse: more than 700 homes have been foreclosed since the beginning of the year—a 25 percent increase.

Foreclosures have a devastating effect on tenants and homeowners. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development offers tips for avoiding foreclosure. Most important, don’t ignore the problem. If you are having trouble making your mortgage payments, contact your lender immediately.

2 comments February 21st, 2008

More Moola, Fewer Vacancies

In Austin, the apartment occupancy rate of 96.6 percent is nearing a high not seen since 2000. As the rental market gets tighter, rents go up. According to the Austin American Statesman, monthly rents are about
$100 higher than they were two years ago. What caused this tightening rental market? Experts cite strong job growth in Austin and fallout from the national foreclosure crisis.

Tips for Renters

Look at the actual unit you will rent before putting down a deposit or signing a lease.
Put all agreements and requests in writing.
Get copies of anything you sign or initial.

For more tips, click here.

Add comment January 18th, 2008

Landlord’s “Mistake” Costing Tenants

Tenants continue to have problems with Rainier Management wanting to change their leases in the middle of the contract and charge the tenants for gas and trash, services previously paid for by the landlord. To read a Fox 7 story about this issue, click here.

If you are in this situation, review your lease. Are the boxes checked stating that the landlord will pay for these services? If yes, you should not have to pay for gas and trash until you renew your lease. If the boxes are NOT checked, the answer is less clear. Our position is that a landlord may not change the lease terms in the middle of a contract without the tenant’s consent. Write a letter to the management company stating that you are X months into your lease and have not been required to pay for gas and trash until now. State that you believe this attempted change is a violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. If you refuse to pay for the gas and trash, the landlord may try to evict you. You would have an opportunity to present your side to a judge who would decide the case.

If you have NOT signed the lease addendum, don’t sign it! File a complaint with the Consumer Protection Division of the Office of the Texas Attorney General. If you have any questions, call the Consumer Protection Hotline at 800-621-0508 or 512-463-2100.

If you have signed the lease addendum, we recommend that you send a certified letter to Rainier Management. State in your letter that the company has admitted twice in a public forum that the lease addendum notice was a mistake. State that you want the lease addendum rescinded because you were coerced to sign it out of fear of eviction.

Call the ATC’s telephone counseling line, 512-474-1961, if you have any questions.

4 comments January 10th, 2008

Tenant Selection Criteria and Acknowledgment

Beginning January 1, 2008, at the time a prospective tenant is given a rental application, the landlord must also provide written notice of the tenant selection criteria and the grounds for which a rental application may be denied, including an applicant’s criminal history; previous rental history; current income; credit history; or failure to provide accurate or complete information on the application form.

The landlord should ask the applicant to sign an acknowledgment indicating that notice of the tenant selection criteria was provided. The acknowledgment must include a statement such as “Signing this acknowledgment indicates that you have had the opportunity to review the landlord’s tenant selection criteria. The tenant selection criteria may include factors such as criminal history, credit history, current income, and rental history. If you do not meet the selection criteria, or if you provide inaccurate or incomplete information, your application may be rejected and your application fee will not be refunded.”

The acknowledgment may be part of the rental application if the notice is underlined or in bold print.

If the landlord rejects an applicant without providing the tenant selection criteria, the landlord must return the application fee and any application deposit. The applicant should send the landlord a demand letter by certified mail. The letter should include an address of where to send the application fee and any application deposit and a statement that if the money is not returned within 10 days from the date the landlord receives the letter, the tenant will pursue legal remedies. If an applicant can show the landlord acted in bad faith, the landlord can be held liable for $100, three times the amount wrongfully retained, and reasonable attorney’s fees.

For details about the application process, click here.

Call ATC’s telephone counseling line (512-474-1961) if you have questions about any tenant-landlord issue.

2 comments January 5th, 2008

Grace Period Before Late Fees Begin

Most lease agreements state that rent is due on a specific date. Sometimes, the actual due date and the date when late fees will begin to be charged is different. For leases signed or renewed on or after January 1, 2008, the Texas Property Code, Section 92.019, states that a landlord may not charge a tenant a late fee for failing to pay rent unless:

Notice of the fee is included in a written lease;
The late fee is a reasonable estimate of damages to the landlord as a result of the late payment of rent; and
The rent remains unpaid after the second day after the date the rent was originally due. This means that if the lease states that rent is due on the first, the landlord could not charge a late fee until the fourth.