Bankruptcy and Keeping a Rental House

**Lynns** · 03-28-2009, 01:57 PM

This is regarding bankruptcy in TX. I have read so much but cannot find a specific answer. I will try to give you the short version.

We moved into a house in October with a verbal agreement from the owner to lease his house from him. He lives in Mexico and is in real estate. He sent us a blank lease at the end of November. My husband had to get help in filling it out. We mailed it back to him. He emailed the middle of Dec asking where it was and we told him we mailed it. He said he hadn't checked his P.O. Box.

We have not heard from him since then even though we tried to get a hold of him. We even got a "bankruptcy court" notice with his name on it sent our address. We didn't open it but could see there was a date in it for him to appear in TX court.

He called 3 days ago and threatened to evict us if we didn't wire him $5000. Now we know he doesn't have a leg to stand on because he hasn't signed the lease or mailed it back to us, much less contacted us.

My question is this... since he's lived in Mexico for more than 6 months (closer to 9, I think), shouldn't he have filed for bankruptcy under their law and not in TX? And could he have been trying to hide the fact that he had "rental property" because he would have had to claim the money as income?

We have also been storing his van and his belongings in the garage (which we moved there) because he said he would get them out by the end of Nov.Does it sound like he's trying to commit fraud?

All this time we have been thinking the house was in foreclosure so we hadn't even fully unpacked. We have been expecting someone to knock on the door and tell us we have 30 days to get out. Now he wants "back pay" and won't explain why he hasn't contacted us for almost 5 months. How do we know he's even up to date on the house payments now?? Is any of this public record? Any advice? How can we even trust him now?

Btw, this is not some shack. This is a 2650 sf home in a nice neighborhood. And we have 5 kids going through this uncertainty too!

Thanks in advance.

**Lynns** · 03-28-2009, 02:32 PM

Quoting Lynns

He lives in Mexico and is in real estate.

Sorry... meant to put New Mexico.

**cyjeff** · 03-28-2009, 02:41 PM

Where did the $5K number come from?

**Lynns** · 03-28-2009, 03:12 PM

I went back and looked at the email. I apologize... he rambled about different amounts of money but said we better go to the Western Union and wire him a minimum of $2500 "today". He even called our next door neighbor and sent her over to our house to make sure we sent it. He told her he sent the lease to us "2 months ago." (which we never received)

He also stated in his email "I have not waived any rights under the lease or common law by not contacting you previously but am advising you under direction of a local (Texas) real estate attorney that we will take whatever measure available to us under law to correct this situation. Do not mistake my lack of attention previously as indifference. Send me the money today and call me with the confirmation/routing number."

Btw, he is very unstable and the few conversations we had with him right after we moved in, he was drunk and either emotional or angry. He left hard liqour bottles all over the house when we moved in.

**cyjeff** · 03-28-2009, 08:41 PM

Okay.

Where did the $5K number come from?

Is that outstanding rental amounts? Have you been paying according to the verbal contract?

**Lynns** · 03-29-2009, 08:58 PM

Quoting cyjeff

Okay.

Where did the $5K number come from?

Is that outstanding rental amounts? Have you been paying according to the verbal contract?

$2500 is 2 months rent. Then he wants us to pay him $2500 per month until we "catch up." He said nothing about all his stuff still in the house and garage that he agreed to get by 11/30.

And no, we have not paid him anything as we were waiting on the lease.

Plus, his last email before he sent us the lease stated we were still "prospective" renters. He threatened back then to not let us stay because after we moved in, he wanted his ex-wife to be able to come into the house when we weren't there to get some of his things. When my husband said "no, we must be there when she comes", he reminded us that we "didn't have a lease with him yet".

Why would we send money to someone who was already threatening to make us leave? And we didn't have a lease and he DIDN'T CONTACT US FOR 4 1/2 months?

**LawResearcherMissy** · 03-30-2009, 03:21 AM

And no, we have not paid him anything as we were waiting on the lease.

Then he's well within his rights to serve you a notice to pay or quit, and initiate formal eviction proceedings if you don't pay or get out.

You moved in, creating a month-to-month contract. It doesn't matter that you have not yet signed a lease, you owe rent for the time that you've been living there.

His bankruptcy is irrelevant here. His anger problems and booze bottles are irrelevant here. He could have murdered his mother and buried her in the back yard, and it still would not relieve you of your obligation to pay rent.

**Lynns** · 03-30-2009, 08:14 AM

I would disagree. We are not trying to get out of paying rent. But, because he informed us he could make us leave (back in Nov.) because we didn't have a lease yet, he had not completely agreed on the terms. We tried contacting him to no avail. He also stated in his last email that he still has NOT agreed on the addendum where we take the money we spent cleaning up his house and fixing things OFF the rent. Plus, we will not be involved with someone who lied in bankruptcy court. We will move out if that is the case.

1-3.7. Refusal to Provide Tenant a Copy of Lease
A landlord's refusal to comply with a tenant's request for a copy of the lease may cause the lease to be invalid.

A basic principle of contract law is that a written agreement will not be binding unless it is signed and delivered by both parties. Tex. Prop. Code SS 5.021; Scroggins v. Roper, 548 S.W.2d 779 (Tex. Civ. App.--Tyler 1977, writ ref'd, n.r.e.).

There is an exception to this rule where the tenant has evidenced acceptance of the lease by his acts or conduct. Orgain v. Butler, 478 S.W.2d 610 (Tex. Civ. App.--Austin, 1972, no writ).

A landlord's refusal to provide a copy of the lease may constitute evidence that the landlord has not accepted the lease and that any lease which the tenant may have signed would constitute an offer which was never accepted by the landlord (with the tenant occupying the property on a month to month basis). See Capital Bank v. American Eyewear, Inc., 597 S.W.2d 17 (Tex. Civ. App.--Dallas 1980, no writ). (In some cases it may be advisable that a request for a copy of the lease include a statement that the request is for information purposes only and that, by making such a request, the tenant is not ratifying the lease or extending any previously unaccepted offers to be bound by the written lease).

The Texas Real Estate License Act requires that both parties be given a copy of an agreement conveying rights to real estate; however, the Act specifically exempts on site managers of apartment complexes and owners or her employees who rent or lease her real estate.

Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. art 6573a(3)(G,I).

Cross Ref: 1-3.4. Signature of Both Parties