Outlawing Lockouts

Outlawing Lockouts

This is part of our Expanding Tenants’ Rights series, which explores options for legal changes that would benefit tenants and tenant organizers.

Lesson Objectives

01

Learners will understand the concept of legal restrictions on landlord lockouts.

Learners will understand the current situation of these rights in Texas and the possible forms these rights could take.

02

03

Learners will be able to connect these rights to their organizing.

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Outlawing Lockouts

• This expanded right is a very straightforward one – a common practice among landlords is the lockout, also positively referred to as a “self-help eviction”, in which the landlord changes the locks on a unit without going through the legal eviction process
• The moral problem with this is obvious, and highlights the extreme differential in power between landlords and tenants and the ability landlords have to dictate tenants’ living conditions without strict governmental oversight

Image: Adobe

Outlawing Lockouts

The current state of this right in Texas:

• In Texas, landlords are allowed to change your locks if certain conditions are met:
• You must be behind in rent
• Your lease must include the landlord’s right to lock you out
• Your landlord must provide written notice
• Your landlord must give you the new keys on request
• Your landlord cannot force you to pay for your new keys
• The stated reasoning for this is that this is seen as a tool to force tenants who are behind in rent to talk with their landlord

Image: Adobe

Outlawing Lockouts

The current state of this right in Texas:

• In reality, this tactic is not used by landlords to try to encourage discussion with tenants – it’s used to intimidate tenants and attempt to force tenants out
• Landlords hope that tenants don’t know their rights and will leave after a lockout, thinking they’ve been evicted
• There are plenty of less damaging ways to incentivize landlord-tenant communication, and even if this method must be used, the law is not currently designed to achieve that goal

Image: Adobe

Outlawing Lockouts

The current state of this right in Texas:

• In Texas, a very common situation in which landlords exercise their ability to lock tenants out is the one seen in this story from San Antonio:

• “Around 50 residents of a north-of-downtown apartment complex were locked out Monday in what local officials are calling a violation of a local moratorium on evictions during the coronavirus pandemic.
• Contacted by phone, the complex's property manager, Edward Garza, confirmed that new locks were installed on the apartments of residents who owe rent. However, he said the move doesn't qualify as an eviction because residents can still ask to be allowed into their units. ‘We're doing everything by law,’ Garza said. ‘We talked to the lawyers. We're not breaking no laws. We're not doing nothing wrong.’”

Image: Google Maps

Outlawing Lockouts

Possible Changes Based on Example Laws:

• Obviously, the most direct change in law that would protect tenants from this practice would be to make it illegal in any circumstance for landlords to change the locks on tenants without an eviction order
• Most states in the US outlaw lockouts, and typically require landlords to pay relatively heavy damages to tenants they lock out illegally

• If nothing else, Texas lawmakers should look at building on this failed 2007 bill that attempted to reform lockout procedures

Outlawing Lockouts

Possible Changes Based on Example Laws:

• This reform is arguably the most overdue of all the changes we’ve talked about in this series – Texas is only one of 14 states to still allow lockouts, and is behind states like Alabama, Alaska, Kansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee when it comes to this issue
• Almost every state that has outlawed lockouts did so about 50 years ago, in response to nationwide calls for changes to landlord-tenant laws that were based on farming tenancy dating back to the founding of the US

References

https://www.housing-rights.org/lockouts

https://www.sacurrent.com/news/san-antonio-apartment-complex-locks-out-50-residents-despite-eviction-moratorium-23541329

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=80R&Bill=HB2571