Evictions in TX; We received a default judgment for $6900

[confintx]

Last year my husband and I broke a lease and moved out. We did receive a notice to pay or vacate (3 days), but we were gone the next day. The next month (after we were gone) the landlord files and eviction and lawsuit and we received a default judgment for 6900. Our rent was 1500 and we had about 6 months left on the lease. The property was re-rented within days and there were no damages to the property (we cleaned it up spotless) I know we are responsible for the back rent (one month + late charges) but as the property was leased quickly, are why are we still responsible for the remainder of the lease. Also we were never served, the default judgment showed up in the mail. Is there anything we can do at this point. It has been one year. Please advise. THIS IN TEXAS.

[AFFA]

I wish to inform you that you cannot be held liable for $6,900. In this regard you will have to file a notice to vacate default judgment and you may mention reason of your non filing of reply to complaint. Default judgment is granted when a party to a lawsuit does not file its reply to complaint. In this regard as you had failed to provide any reply thus court knew about the facts presented by landlord and thus granted judgment. Further in case of breach of contract only actual losses can be taken.

AFF

We have only your words that the place was spotless and there was no damage.

Spotless is a matter of perception.

How can you expect to be served if you're not where anyone can find you because you were gone? That could be part of the issue. No one knows.

You broke the lease. The property may have been re-rented within days, but can you prove when the new tenants moved in? Hmmm, six months left on a lease of $1500 would be $9000.

Maybe you should talk with an attorney and discuss specifics of what you may do...and in the future, don't break a lease.

[Friend In Court]

The law does not favor default judgments but a trial on the merits. Did you receive the summons? If so, was there some reason you were unable to attend and defend?

There are reasons a judgment may be vacated. Look up the federal rules of civil procedure, Court Rule 60. All states, in one fashion or another, provide for vacating a judgment on the grounds set out under Court Rule 60 FRCP.

One of the reasons to vacate is that you had a bona fide defense to the suit. The facts you state in your post can be some of these that would constitute a legitimate defense.

Not being served is VERY good grounds to vacate a judgment -- failure of notice, due process.

If your lease provided for attorneys fees you may be entitled to attorneys fees to defend this judgment. My recommendation is that you seek counsel from a Texas real estate attorney to represent you and get this judgment vacated.

[confintx]

We left the property move in ready, and tenants were able to immediately move in and we saw them moving in. We do not dispute that we do owe something since we broke the lease, and we are ready to take care of the debt, BUT we do not want to pay more than we are responsible for.

We had a very good reason to break our lease, one the landlord was aware of. The property was going to foreclose. We were already in another property with this same landlord where we were paying rent (on time) and the foreclosure notices started, so the landlord quickly hustled us into another property and told us he would just tell the owners we moved out. So there we were 2nd property and it starts all over again, so we just moved out.

No we were not served, we just received the default judgment in the mail. We plan to speak with an attorney asap to take care of this. Thanks for all of the replies.

[sandyclaus]

Originally Posted by confintx We left the property move in ready, and tenants were able to immediately move in and we saw them moving in. We do not dispute that we do owe something since we broke the lease, and we are ready to take care of the debt, BUT we do not want to pay more than we are responsible for. We had a very good reason to break our lease, one the landlord was aware of. The property was going to foreclose. We were already in another property with this same landlord where we were paying rent (on time) and the foreclosure notices started, so the landlord quickly hustled us into another property and told us he would just tell the owners we moved out. So there we were 2nd property and it starts all over again, so we just moved out. No we were not served, we just received the default judgment in the mail. We plan to speak with an attorney asap to take care of this. Thanks for all of the replies.

Foreclosure of a property is NOT sufficient reason or excuse to break a lease. A lease survives the transfer of ownership - it would have been in effect through to its expiration, whether the LL was the one you were dealing with already, the bank, or a new owner who had obtained the property after the foreclosure was complete. And the foreclosure process can take a VERY LONG TIME, sometimes 18 months or more, from start to finish.

If you were so concerned about new tenants taking possession and your being held liable for the rent beyond the period when you had moved out, you would have been more attentive to the situation. Or had your mail forwarded (most courthouses will send a notice to the defendant when an eviction case is filed).

When that default judgment showed up in the mail was the time to start thinking about how to challenge it. If it was last year, it's entirely likely that the time for filing an appeal or trying to vacate the default judgment has already passed long ago. And if that default judgment reached you in the mail, then you would have also received other notices in the mail regarding the case long before now. The fact that you are just now trying to figure out a way out from under it sounds a bit like "too little, too late".

I'm thinking you may just have waited to long to challenge this, and I have the feeling that the attorney you hire will end up telling you the very same thing.