Sorry about your misfortune, Emma. You don't have to have a lawyer to delay the eviction. You have certain rights under Texas law, which are set forth in brief, below. But before you proceed, you might ask yourself:
Can I afford the rent where I'm living? Please be honest with yourself. If you're experiencing only temporary financial difficulties, then use the law to delay the eviction and to try to work out something with your landlord about the past-due rent. Landlords generally don't want to evict tenants -- they want tenants to pay their rent, in full and on time. But if the rent is just too much for you to pay month-to-month, then use the law to delay the eviction and find another place to live ASAP.
You can get all the forms you need to appeal the judgment from the JP's clerk.
Good luck!
---------------------------------------------------------
Quote:
Appealing an Eviction Judgment
REVISED September 1, 2007)
by Richard McElvaney
Associate Clinical Professor
The People's Lawyer
See http://www.peopleslawyer.net/legal-t...-law-rent.html
If you lose an eviction suit at justice court, you have two options: move out or appeal. You may appeal by filing an appeal bond or by filing a pauper’s affidavit if you cannot afford to post a bond. The bond or pauper’s affidavit must be filed within 5 days after the date of the judgment. Do not count the day of the judgment as the first day, but do count weekends and holidays. However, if the fifth day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, you will have until the next day the court is open to file your appeal. Additionally, if your case involves non-payment of rent and you file a pauper’s affidavit instead of a bond, you must deposit one month’s rent into the justice court within 5 days of filing the affidavit to stay in possession of the premises while the appeal is pending.
Your landlord or the court has 5 days in which to contest your pauper’s affidavit. If they don’t contest your affidavit, your case will be transferred to the county court for a new trial. If they do contest your affidavit, a hearing will be held to decide if you may appeal without posting a bond. At the hearing, you have the burden of proving your inability to post bond.
Therefore, you should take to the hearing all documents which show that you receive food stamps, housing assistance, or any other government assistance payment. If the justice of the peace approves your affidavit, your case will be transferred to the county court for a new trial. If he denies the affidavit, you have 5 days to bring the affidavit issue to the county court judge for final determination. If the county court judge also denies your affidavit, you will have 5 days to post a bond. If the county court approves your affidavit, your case will be transferred to the county court for a new trial.
You are allowed to remain in the premises during this process and during the new trial at county court. However, if the eviction was for not paying the rent and you appealed by filing an affidavit, you must pay your rent directly to the County Court each month as it becomes due to remain in possession while appealing the case.
What if I don’t appeal my case within 5 days?
You should move! At this point the eviction case is over, and you have lost your right to the premises. Your main focus now should be on saving your personal property. It is one thing to lose your right to stay in the rented premise. It is another thing to lose all of your personal property!
What will happen if I don’t move?
You could lose your personal property. If you neither move out nor appeal your case, your landlord can get a writ entitling him to possession of the premises. This is called a writ of possession. A constable must leave a notice on your door stating that the writ of possession has been issued and that it will be executed at any time after 24 hours. If you don’t move out within that time, the constable may return with a warehouseman to remove all your property to a warehouse.
If you arrive while the constable and warehouseman are removing your things, you have the right to demand to remove the property yourself. You will have to remove your things immediately, and may not store them anywhere on the landlord’s property. You should make your demand to both the constable and the warehouseman. If possible, have a witness with you when you make the demand.
Once your property is stored at the warehouse, the warehouseman has a lien for reasonable moving and storage charges. You will have to pay all of those charges to get any of your property back. There is one exception: You have 30 days in which to pay moving and storage charges specifically attributed to certain individual necessity items. While the warehouseman may sell your property at any time after 30 days, you have the right to redeem your property at any time before it is sold by paying all of the moving and storage charges.
If the warehouseman is asking an unreasonable amount for moving and storage, you have the right to file suit on that issue in justice court. If the justice of the peace finds the charges unreasonable, the warehouseman will have to return your property free of charge.
Is it too late to pay the overdue rent?
If you want to remain a tenant but you have fallen behind with your rent payments, you should contact the landlord and try to negotiate with him. Often your landlord will provide you additional time to come up with the rent. If you now have the money and want to stay, you should offer the rent to the landlord. Many times your landlord will accept the late payment and allow you to stay. Of course, he doesn’t have to. Remember to get any agreement you make in writing.
|
Apartment Eviction
