A Texas eviction notice form is a legal demand for a tenant to comply with the terms of the rental agreement or else move out of the premises. Texas landlords may deliver an eviction notice because of unpaid rent, lease violations, or illegal activity on the rental property.
Types of Texas Eviction Notice Forms
Notice Form | Grounds | Curable? |
3 Day Notice To Quit | Unpaid Rent | Yes |
3 Day Notice To Comply or Vacate | Lease Violation | Maybe |
3 Day Notice To Vacate | Criminal Activity | No |
30 Day Notice To Vacate | End of / No Lease | No |
Texas 3 Day Notice To Quit
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A Texas 3 Day Notice To Quit evicts a tenant for nonpayment of rent. In Texas, a landlord can file this notice the day after rent is due, with no grace period for the tenant. The tenant must pay all past due rent or else move out within three (3) calendar days.
Texas 3 Day Notice To Comply or Vacate
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A Texas 3 Day Notice To Comply or Vacate evicts a tenant for a lease violation. This might include things like failure to maintain health and safety on the rental property, interfering with the quiet enjoyment of neighbors, or refusal to allow lawful entry by the landlord.
The landlord gets to decide whether the tenant has a chance to take corrective action. If the landlord decides not to allow corrective action, or the tenant doesn’t take corrective action, then the tenant must move out within three (3) calendar days.
Texas 3 Day Notice To Vacate
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A Texas 3 Day Notice To Vacate evicts a tenant for an “incurable” lease violation, i.e., one which the tenant is not allowed to restore through corrective action. For example, a notice to quit for illegal activity is never curable, since illegal actions are against the community and can’t be restored through compensation to the landlord. The tenant must move out within three (3) calendar days.
Texas 30 Day Notice To Vacate
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A Texas 30 Day Notice To Vacate terminates a rental agreement, including a month-to-month or year-to-year lease, as well as situations with no written lease where the tenant pays rent monthly. The non-terminating party must receive notice at least thirty (30) calendar days before the date of termination.
How To Write an Eviction Notice in Texas
To help ensure the legal compliance of an eviction notice:
- Use the tenant’s full name and address
- Specify the lease violation as well as any balance due
- Specify the date of termination
- Print name and sign the notice, including the landlord’s address of record
- Note the date and method of notice delivery, along with printed name and signature
It is easy to lose an otherwise justified legal action because of improper notice. Check carefully to ensure enough time after notice is delivered, not when it’s sent.
How To Calculate Expiration Date in Texas
Unlike most states, in Texas the “clock” for an eviction notice period starts “ticking” the day the notice gets delivered (served). For example, to give at least 30 days of notice and begin court action as of June 30th, delivery of the eviction notice must be no later than June 1st.
In most jurisdictions, if the last day of a notice period is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the notice period continues to run until the end of the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. This is called the “next judicial day;” in other words, the next day a courthouse is open.
How To Serve an Eviction Notice in Texas
Texas landlords may deliver an eviction notice using any of these methods:
- Hand delivery to the tenant
- Hand delivery to a person at least 16 on the property who can accept the notice on behalf of the tenant
- Hand-affixing the notice to the inside of the property’s main entry door
- Delivery by any form of mail, return receipt requested
- Posting the notice on the exterior of the property’s main entry door, PLUS mailing a copy of the notice by 5:00PM local time (only if the landlord perceives a risk of harm by posting inside, or if the premises have an alarm and no onsite mailbox)
When posting notices on the exterior of the premises, the notice must be placed in a sealed envelope with the receiving party’s name and address written on it. In addition, the party posting the notice must write “Important Document,” in all capital letters, on the envelope affixed to the premises. All notices must be mailed from a post office in the same county as the rental unit.
Sources
- 1 TX Prop § 24.005
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Notice is considered delivered on the date it is served in person to the tenant, affixed to the outside of the door and is deposited in the mail, regardless of the date the notice is received.
The notice period is calculated from the day on which the notice is delivered and shall be posted or mailed not later than 5 p.m. of the same day, in the same county in which the premises in question is located.
Source Link - 2 Texas Court Rules of Civil Procedure - Rule 4
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RULE 4. COMPUTATION OF TIME In computing any period of time prescribed or allowed by these rules, by order of court, or by any applicable statute, the day of the act, event, or default after which the designated period of time begins to run is not to be included. The last day of the period so computed is to be included, unless it is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, in which event the period runs until the end of the next day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays shall not be counted for any purpose in any time period of five days or less in these rules, except that Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays shall be counted for purpose of the three-day periods in Rules 21 and 21a, extending other periods by three days when service is made by mail.
Source Link - 3 TX Prop § 24.005
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The notice shall be given in person or by mail at the premises in question. Notice in person may be by personal delivery to the tenant or any person residing at the premises who is 16 years of age or older or personal delivery to the premises and affixing the notice to the inside of the main entry door. Notice by mail may be by regular mail, by registered mail, or by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the premises in question.
As an alternative to the procedures of Subsection (f), a landlord may deliver the notice by securely affixing to the outside of the main entry door a sealed envelope that contains the notice and on which is written the tenant’s name, address, and in all capital letters, the words “IMPORTANT DOCUMENT” or substantially similar language and, not later than 5 p.m. of the same day, depositing in the mail in the same county in which the premises in question is located a copy of the notice to the tenant if:
(1) the premises has no mailbox and has a keyless bolting device, alarm system, or dangerous animal that prevents the landlord from entering the premises to affix the notice to vacate to the inside of the main entry door; or
(2) the landlord reasonably believes that harm to any person would result from personal delivery to the tenant or a person residing at the premises or from personal delivery to the premises by affixing the notice to the inside of the main entry door.
(f-2) Notice to vacate under Subsection (f-1) is considered delivered on the date the envelope is affixed to the outside of the door and is deposited in the mail, regardless of the date the notice is received.
(g) The notice period is calculated from the day on which the notice is delivered.
Source Link - 4 TX Prop § 24.005
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A landlord may deliver the notice by securely affixing to the outside of the main entry door a sealed envelope that contains the notice and on which is written the tenant’s name, address, and in all capital letters, the words “IMPORTANT DOCUMENT” or substantially similar language and, not later than 5 p.m. of the same day, depositing in the mail in the same county in which the premises in question is located a copy of the notice to the tenant if:
(1) the premises has no mailbox and has a keyless bolting device, alarm system, or dangerous animal that prevents the landlord from entering the premises to affix the notice to vacate to the inside of the main entry door; or
(2) the landlord reasonably believes that harm to any person would result from personal delivery to the tenant or a person residing at the premises or from personal delivery to the premises by affixing the notice to the inside of the main entry door.