How a bill to speed up evictions is testing Texas’ powerful landlord lobby

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that three weeks after Molly Cook was sworn in as a freshman state senator in February, the Houston Democrat was approached by a group of lobbyists with the Texas Apartment Association. “They asked me if I was a landlord,” said Cook, one of the few lawmakers who rents her home, “and said that they were here to support legislation that streamlines evictions.” The apartment association has been a powerful force at the Capitol for decades. Their efforts have helped turn Texas into one of the most landlord-friendly states, with laws that let property owners lock renters out while eviction cases are still ongoing and charge almost unlimited fees on top of rent. But the sweeping bill it pitched to Cook, widely marketed as a crackdown on squatting, is testing the group’s influence and just how far lawmakers are willing to go to strip tenants’ rights. Under mounting pushback from tenant advocates and lawmakers and ahead of a key House vote, the association said this week it was open to changing the bill’s most contentious reform, a provision that lawyers said would deny due process to the state’s 12 million renters.

As filed by state Rep. Angie Chen Button and state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, both Republicans, the bill would end a requirement that landlords provide notice to vacate when evicting a tenant for any reason other than falling behind on rent. It would also allow them to request a summary judgment in all types of eviction cases, meaning they could be decided without a trial. Proponents, led by the TAA, say the reforms would help speed up the eviction process for landlords and make it easier to reclaim their properties from people who illegally occupy them. Critics warn doing away with those protections would punish all renters in the state for the rare instance of an illegal squatter. The House vote could come as early as Friday. “It’s very, very easy” to evict a tenant in Texas, said state Rep. Gary Gates, a Richmond Republican and the owner of more than 30 apartment complexes across Harris County. “What they’re trying to do is, under the guise of squatters, they’re trying to take away due process. That’s not needed. I already have an incredible advantage.”