Just cause eviction rules in Houston, TX — sometimes called tenant protection or "for cause" eviction ordinances — list the specific legal reasons a landlord can end a tenancy.
Houston has NO local just-cause eviction ordinance. Texas is a no-cause termination state under Tex. Prop. Code § 91.001 — a month-to-month tenancy may be ended by either party on 30 days' written notice without stating a reason. Fixed-term leases may be terminated for breach under Tex. Prop. Code Ch. 24.
Texas does not require landlords to articulate or prove just cause to end a month-to-month tenancy. Tex. Prop. Code § 91.001 states a monthly tenancy may be terminated by either party on notice, and the tenancy ends on the later of the day in the notice or one month after notice is given. For fixed-term leases, the landlord typically must wait until the term expires unless the tenant breaches a material covenant such as nonpayment of rent, which then triggers a three-day notice to vacate under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005 (or longer if the lease provides) before an eviction (forcible-detainer) suit may be filed in justice court. Tex. Prop. Code Ch. 92 still bars retaliatory evictions under § 92.331 — within six months of a protected tenant act, the landlord may not file an eviction except for limited reasons listed in § 92.332.
There is no city enforcement of just-cause grounds in Houston. A tenant facing retaliatory eviction may raise it as a defense in the justice-court forcible-detainer case and may sue under Tex. Prop. Code § 92.333 for one month's rent plus $500, actual damages, court costs, and attorney fees. Wrongful lockouts violate Tex. Prop. Code § 92.0081 with civil penalty of one month's rent plus $1,000.
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