Dallas-Fort Worth Real Estate Investor Club

I purchased a property earlier this month via "subject-to" and the belongings of a tenant were still in home.  His family lives a couple of houses down from property and approached me as I posted a "Notice to Vacate" on front door.  They told me that I needed to give tenant 60 days notice and I explained that it would only take about 2-3 weeks if we go through the courts.  After talking with them I felt I may have issues in the future so I decided to wait a couple of days and post another letter on the door.  This letter stated that I was now the legal owner and they must contact me if they wanted to stay in home.  They quickly called and I gave them a fax number to send over any contracts they had on the property.  I waited one week and nothing.  In the meantime I have driven by property several times and noticed that the property had no water or utilities (everytime I went to home no one was there).  This was an indication to me that the home had been abandoned. So under Texas Property Code 92.0081 which states that if a property is abandoned the owner has the right to enter into property and can even change the locks.  So I did today.  We just received a phone call from some unhappy relatives of the tenant saying we had no right to do what we did.  I explained to them Texas Property Code and that if the property is abandoned I have the right to enter into property.  They replied that they were going to hire an attorney.  Has anyone dealt with this issue?  Just want to cover my ASSets incase they do hire an attorney which I feel is very unlikely but never know.

I purchased this home from a distressed landlord in her 70s.  She did not want to deal with tenants and already fell behind 2 years on taxes and 2 years on mortgage.

Rocky Vasquez wrote:

I purchased a property earlier this month via "subject-to" and the belongings of a tenant were still in home.  His family lives a couple of houses down from property and approached me as I posted a "Notice to Vacate" on front door.  They told me that I needed to give tenant 60 days notice and I explained that it would only take about 2-3 weeks if we go through the courts.  After talking with them I felt I may have issues in the future so I decided to wait a couple of days and post another letter on the door.  This letter stated that I was now the legal owner and they must contact me if they wanted to stay in home.  They quickly called and I gave them a fax number to send over any contracts they had on the property.  I waited one week and nothing.  In the meantime I have driven by property several times and noticed that the property had no water or utilities (everytime I went to home no one was there).  This was an indication to me that the home had been abandoned. So under Texas Property Code 92.0081 which states that if a property is abandoned the owner has the right to enter into property and can even change the locks.  So I did today.  We just received a phone call from some unhappy relatives of the tenant saying we had no right to do what we did.  I explained to them Texas Property Code and that if the property is abandoned I have the right to enter into property.  They replied that they were going to hire an attorney.  Has anyone dealt with this issue?  Just want to cover my ASSets incase they do hire an attorney which I feel is very unlikely but never know.

I purchased this home from a distressed landlord in her 70s.  She did not want to deal with tenants and already fell behind 2 years on taxes and 2 years on mortgage.

Is the house in Tarrant County?

I know it is a pain, but I would follow the normal eviction process and evict via the court. You have already posted notice, so all that is left is the court and constable to set them out. It does cost money, but cheaper than hiring an attorney or losing the house.

When I worked for apt community the eviction cost was $73 and if the resident abandoned the apt we had to store there belongings for 30 days. If you win the evictions and they don't move than you have to file a writ the cost of that is $85 within about 7-10 days constable will come out so you can put there thing out on the curb.