Texas Property Code
§ 92.0091 — RESIDENTIAL TENANT'S RIGHT OF RESTORATION AFTER UNLAWFUL UTILITY DISCONNECTION
PR § 92.0091Title 8. LANDLORD AND TENANT · Ch. 92. RESIDENTIAL TENANCIES · Art. A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Statute text
View on source(a)If a landlord has interrupted utility service in violation of Section 92.008, the tenant may obtain relief as provided by this section.
(b)The tenant must file with the justice court in the precinct in which the rental premises are located a sworn complaint specifying the facts of the alleged unlawful utility disconnection by the landlord or the landlord's agent. The tenant must also state orally under oath to the justice the facts of the alleged unlawful utility disconnection.
(c)If the tenant has complied with Subsection (b) and if the justice reasonably believes an unlawful utility disconnection has likely occurred, the justice may issue, ex parte, a writ of restoration of utility service that entitles the tenant to immediate and temporary restoration of the disconnected utility service, pending a final hearing on the tenant's sworn complaint.
(d)The writ of restoration of utility service must be served on either the landlord or the landlord's management company, on-premises manager, or rent collector in the same manner as a writ of possession in a forcible detainer suit.
(e)The landlord is entitled to a hearing on the tenant's sworn complaint for restoration of utility service. The writ of restoration of utility service must notify the landlord of the right to a hearing. The hearing shall be held not earlier than the first day and not later than the seventh day after the date the landlord requests a hearing.
(f)If the landlord fails to request a hearing on the tenant's sworn complaint for restoration of utility service before the eighth day after the date of service of the writ of restoration of utility service on the landlord under Subsection (d), a judgment for court costs may be rendered against the landlord.
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Legislative history
Added by Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 1112 (H.B. 882), Sec. 2, eff. January 1, 2010.