If your tenant did not pay rent this month, the single most important thing you can do in the next 72 hours is document, communicate in writing, and stop yourself from doing anything that Texas Property Code Section 92.0081 makes illegal: locking them out, shutting off utilities, removing their property, or threatening any of those. That statute alone exposes a landlord to one month’s rent plus $1,000, actual damages, attorney fees, and court costs per violation. Most owners who lose money in a non-payment situation do not lose it to the tenant. They lose it to themselves, in the first week, by doing something the law calls “self-help” eviction.
So lets take a breath right. You are not the first Austin landlord this has happened to and you will not be the last. The path forward is actually pretty clear if you know the steps and do them in the right order. The path backward is what costs people their shirt.
I run Kendall Creek Properties in Austin. (I am also the broker-owner of Neuhaus Realty Group, the residential sales side, but the property management business is where I see this exact situation play out month after month.) We handle non-payment workouts, payment plans, cash-for-keys negotiations, and JP court filings as part of standard PM operations. What follows is the playbook we actually use, day-by-day, when one of our owners gets the dreaded “rent did not hit” notification on the first of the month.
Austin Metro Context
Travis County JP courts process thousands of eviction filings every year. The most recent Eviction Lab data tracks Austin metro filings running consistently in the high single digits to low double digits per thousand renting households (you can pull current Travis County numbers at evictionlab.org). Most of those filings end with a default judgment because the tenant never shows up. Some end with the tenant paying and the case dismissed. A small percentage end with a contested hearing where the landlord’s paperwork either holds up or falls apart.
The single biggest predictor of how this ends for you is not how angry you are. It is how organized your file is when you walk into the courtroom at the JP on Airport Boulevard.
Day 1-3: Don’t Panic, Document
Rent is late. Maybe by a day. Maybe by three. Your lease almost certainly has a grace period, typically 1-3 days, and a late fee schedule. The TAA Residential Lease model lease that most Austin landlords use spells this out clearly. Read your specific lease. The grace period is not a polite suggestion, it is a contract term.
What you do in this window:
- Pull the ledger. Note the date rent was due, the amount, and that it was not received. If you collect via Buildium, Avail, or any portal, screenshot it.
- Send written notice the day grace period expires. Text and email both. Be polite, factual, and short. “Hi [name], March rent of $X was due on the 1st. Per the lease the grace period expired on the [date]. Please pay $X plus the $Y late fee by [date]. Let me know if there is an issue I should know about.” That is it. No threats. No exclamation points. Just the fact and the ask.
- Save everything. Every text, every email, every voicemail transcription. Screenshot timestamps. This is the start of your court file even if you never end up in court.
Most late rent gets paid in week 1. Job got paid late. Card got declined. Spouse forgot. Treat the first 72 hours like a notification, not a crisis. Acting like it is a crisis when it is actually a mistake is how you damage a workable tenant relationship over $1,800.
Day 5-10: Have the Phone Call
If rent has not landed by day 5 and your written notice has gone unanswered, pick up the phone. Not to threaten. Not to lecture. To listen.
Ed rule: ask “what happened” not “where is my money.”
There is a real difference between a tenant who is having a bad month and a tenant who has decided to stop paying. The phone call is how you tell them apart. In our portfolio I have heard pretty much every version of this conversation. Job loss. Medical event. Divorce. Childcare costs spiked. A roommate moved out and the math stopped working. A small business they own had a slow month. None of those are your problem legally. But all of them tell you which of the three paths in the next section makes sense.
You are also listening for what is NOT being said. Silence, dodging, “I will call you back,” and then no callback for four days? That is a tenant who has already decided how this ends. The conversation determines the path. So have it.
(One thing to watch for, by the way. If the tenant mentions habitability, a repair you did not make, a code complaint they filed, or anything that sounds like retaliation, your file just got more complicated. Section 92.331 protects tenants from retaliatory eviction for six months after certain protected activities. Note it and read the lawyer-up section near the bottom.)
Day 10-15: The Decision Fork
By day 10, with no payment and a real conversation behind you, you have three actual options. Pick one based on what the tenant told you and what your gut says about whether they are credible.
Path A: Payment Plan
Use this when the tenant has a clean payment history, gave you a real reason, and has a believable timeline to catch up.
What a payment plan looks like:
- Written. Always written. Not “we agreed on a call.”
- Concrete dates and amounts. Example: “Tenant will pay $900 by March 18, $900 by March 25, and full April rent by April 5.”
- A consequence clause: “If any payment is missed, Landlord may proceed with Notice to Vacate without further communication.”
- Signed by both parties (DocuSign, HelloSign, even an email reply with “I agree to the terms above” works in JP court if signed by the tenant).
Do not let payment plans drift past 30-45 days. If you are in May still trying to collect March rent, you are not on a payment plan, you are on a slow loss.
Path B: Cash-for-Keys
Use this when the tenant wants out anyway, or when you both know they cannot catch up, or when the conversation made clear they checked out months ago.
Cash-for-keys is the most underused tool in landlord crisis management. It is faster than eviction. It is cheaper than eviction. It is less stressful for everyone. And it gets you a clean unit faster, which means you are back on market faster, which is where the actual money is.
How we structure it at Kendall Creek Properties:
- Offer range: $500 to $2,500 depending on the unit, the time of year, and how much rent is already owed. Smaller units in slower months, smaller offer. Larger homes during peak leasing season (April-July in Austin), it is worth paying more to get the keys quickly.
- The deal: Tenant signs a Lease Termination Agreement, vacates by a specific date, leaves the unit broom-clean, returns keys, and forfeits any deposit dispute. In exchange, you waive owed back rent and pay the agreed cash amount upon delivery of keys and inspection.
- The math: Three months of vacant non-payment plus eviction costs plus turnover plus lost rent during a court fight will dwarf a $1,500 cash-for-keys payment almost every time. People hate writing that check. They hate the alternative more once they do the math.
Get the agreement in writing, signed, with the move-out date and the cash payment trigger spelled out clearly. Pay AFTER inspection, not before.
Path C: File for Eviction
If communication stopped, no plan emerged, and no movement is happening, file. The Texas eviction process is faster than most states but it requires that every step be done correctly. I walked through the full procedure in our Texas eviction process article and the JP court timeline post covers Travis County specifics.
Key points for this article: serve the Notice to Vacate per Section 24.005, wait the lease-specified period (default 3 days), then file the forcible detainer suit in the JP precinct where the property sits. Filing fees in Travis County run roughly $121-$150 plus service. Most uncontested cases get a judgment in 3-6 weeks.
What NOT to Do at ANY Stage
This is the part where landlords blow themselves up. Do not, under any circumstances:
- Change the locks. Illegal under Section 92.0081 unless the lease specifically authorizes it AND you follow the lockout notice procedure in 92.0083, AND you provide a new key on demand. 99% of attempted “lock the tenant out” plays violate the statute. Don’t.
- Shut off utilities. Section 92.008 makes it illegal for a landlord to interrupt water, gas, or electric service to force a tenant out. The penalty is steep and obvious in court.
- Remove the tenant’s property. Self-help repossession of personal items is illegal and tort liability stacks fast.
- Threaten any of the above. A text saying “if you do not pay by Friday I am changing the locks” is itself a violation in some readings and is definitely Exhibit A in the tenant’s countersuit.
- Harass. Repeated calls, showing up at their job, contacting their employer. All of it bad. All of it shows up at the JP hearing.
The financial penalty for self-help eviction under Section 92.0081 is one month’s rent plus $1,000, actual damages, court costs, and attorney fees, per violation. Plus the original problem (unpaid rent) does not go away. You just stacked a second loss on top of the first.
This is the single most expensive mistake an owner can make in a non-payment situation. So don’t make it.
Documentation That Wins JP Court
If you do end up in front of a Justice of the Peace, here is what you bring:
- The signed lease. Original or DocuSign audit trail.
- The rent ledger. Date due, date paid, amount, balance. Clean and chronological.
- The Notice to Vacate with proof of delivery (certified mail receipt, posted-on-door photo with timestamp, or in-person service notes).
- All written communications. Texts and emails with the tenant about the late rent.
- Photos if condition is at issue.
- Witness statements if any conversation or incident matters to the case (signed and dated).
Bring two copies of everything. JPs in Travis County run efficient courtrooms and they appreciate organized paperwork. A clean file gets you a clean judgment.
The Math
Every month of non-payment is the rent you did not collect, plus the future damages clause in your lease (most TAA leases let you accelerate), plus the vacancy time after they leave, plus the turnover cost. On a $2,200/month Austin rental, three months of foot-dragging easily becomes a $10,000+ loss when you add it all up.
Owners who hope for the best lose the most. Owners who move decisively on day 10 (payment plan, cash-for-keys, or file) almost always come out ahead. The decision itself matters less than the speed of making it.
That is the brutal little secret of this part of the business. Hesitation is the expensive thing, not action.
When to Lawyer Up
JP court in Texas is owner-friendly and pro se (no lawyer) works fine for most uncontested non-payment cases. But hire an eviction attorney when:
- The tenant has hired counsel.
- The tenant is alleging habitability problems under Section 92.052 or 92.056.
- The tenant is alleging retaliation (you raised rent or filed shortly after a complaint).
- The tenant has requested an ADA accommodation under fair housing rules.
- The lease has multiple co-tenants and one is staying.
- The unit is in a HUD-subsidized program with its own procedural rules.
A $400-$800 eviction attorney fee on a contested case is cheap insurance. (I know good eviction attorneys in Austin. The KCP contact form goes to me if you need a referral.)
When to Call a PM
Here is the soft truth. If this is the second time it has happened to you, the screening process upstream needs work. If the property is more than 30 minutes from your house, the management overhead is already wearing you down without the crisis. If you are reading this at 11pm on a Tuesday with knots in your stomach, the stress is already telling you something.
Property management exists because handling this stuff at arm’s length and with procedure is a job. We do it for a living so owners do not have to wake up at 3am with the question “is what I want to do legal.” Here is what Kendall Creek’s management service covers and if you want to talk through whether your specific situation is a PM candidate, reach out.
Or read the rest of the playbook. Either way, do not freeze. Day 10 decisions save money. Day 60 decisions just confirm the loss.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to wait before I can file for eviction in Texas?
Your lease specifies the Notice to Vacate period. If the lease is silent, the default under Texas Property Code Section 24.005 is three days. You serve notice, wait the specified period, then file the forcible detainer suit in the appropriate JP court. So the floor is roughly 4-5 days after grace period expires, in practice most landlords wait 10-15 days to confirm there is no payment plan or workout possible.
Can I keep the security deposit to cover unpaid rent?
Yes, security deposits can be applied to unpaid rent under Section 92.104, and you account for it on the 30-day deposit accounting required by Section 92.103. See our 30-day security deposit rule explainer for the full procedure. The catch: the deposit is almost never enough to cover months of non-payment plus damages plus vacancy.
Is cash-for-keys legal in Texas?
Yes. It is a private settlement between landlord and tenant where the tenant agrees to vacate by a date in exchange for a cash payment, usually with the back rent waived. Get it in writing, signed by both parties, with the move-out date and the payment trigger spelled out. Pay after the keys are delivered and the unit is inspected, not before.
What is a “self-help eviction” and why does everyone warn against it?
Self-help eviction is any attempt to remove a tenant without using the courts. Changing locks, shutting off utilities, removing belongings, blocking access. Under Section 92.0081, Texas penalizes self-help eviction with one month’s rent plus $1,000, actual damages, attorney fees, and court costs. Per violation. It is the single most expensive mistake a Texas landlord can make.
What if my tenant is alleging the property is uninhabitable?
This is when you stop being pro se and call an attorney. Habitability counterclaims under Section 92.052 can turn an uncontested eviction into a contested hearing that requires evidence of repair requests, response times, and condition of the property. Our post on landlord maintenance responsibilities in Texas walks through what counts as habitable.
How much does a Travis County eviction cost?
Filing fees in Travis County JP courts run about $121-$150 depending on precinct, plus service costs (constable or private process server, typically $75-$150). If you hire an eviction attorney, add $400-$800 for an uncontested case, more for contested. Total out-of-pocket for an uncontested eviction is usually $500-$2,000 before you count lost rent, turnover, and re-marketing.
Should I hire a property manager just to handle one non-payment situation?
Probably not just for one. But if non-payment has happened twice, or if you live more than 30 minutes from the unit, or if the stress is wrecking your sleep, that is a different conversation. See our breakdown on when to hire a property manager in Austin for the math.
Related Kendall Creek Properties Resources
- The Texas Eviction Process: Notice, JP Court, and the 3-Week Timeline
- Texas Security Deposit 30-Day Rule Explained
- When to Hire a Property Manager in Austin
- Landlord Maintenance Responsibilities in Texas
- Kendall Creek Properties management services
If you are in the middle of this right now and need a second set of eyes on the situation, reach out through the KCP contact page. We answer fast, especially on Mondays when most of these calls come in.