Anita Miller
“Reprehensible and shameful.”
Kyle Mayor Travis Mitchell didn’t mince words when it came to what he thinks about the actions of landlords who put eviction notices on doorways in the middle of a statewide shelter in place order.
Mitchell spoke from his home during the council’s online meeting April 7 prior to a unanimous vote to prevent landlords from posting or filing eviction notices until May 8. That mirrors language of the Texas Supreme Court, which on
April 6 had instructed justices of the peace to postpone civil proceedings including evictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mitchell described the ordinance as “not incredibly powerful” but said it was to address a specific problem, “landlords giving people three days to vacate the premises.”
An unknown number of notices to vacate in three days were posted on the doors of residents at the Vista Plum Creek Apartments dated April 5, 2020.
One of them went to Lindsay Ehsai, who has a compromised immune system because of lupus, and is a caregiver for her elderly grandfather. “The minute this stuff started I had to stop working.” Ehsai said she’s working from home now and has been slowly trying to pay back the rent she owes. Even when she was receiving unemployment benefits last summer, every time she got a payment, “they got something.”
Soon after the notices told them to vacate, Ehsai said she and others got texts and emails asking them to come to the office to sign a promise to pay due rent and late fees, which have continued to accrue.
Ehsai can’t go, she says, for the same reason she can’t go anywhere else. “If I get sick I’m gonna die. I’m not going to that office.”
A person in the complex office who identified himself only by his first name told the Hays Free Press on April 8 he could not officially speak, but would refer our contact information to “corporate.” He would not say where the corporate offices were located.
In fact, the apartments are a property of GVA Property Management, with an office in Austin, who have not responded to a Hays Free Press email.
Whether or not the notices tacked on doors April 5 are affected by the city or state Supreme Court’s actions, none of the cases could proceed in court at the present time.
Hays County Pct. 2 Justice of the Peace Beth Smith said that even though evictions proceedings are on hold for the time being, once they resume the process will be essentially unchanged.
Landlords would again be able to evict for non-payment of rent or violation of a lease, and they can be posted the day after the rent is due. Smith said that “99 percent of the time,” those notices say residents must be out in three days.
However, that’s not the end of things. After the three days has passed, Smith said landlords can come to her court and file an eviction. At that point it goes to a constable’s office, who will serve the person addressed. Smith said she should be then hearing the case in 10 to 21 days.
Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, residents can still be evicted on the basis of criminal activity occurring in the building, or if the someone is threatened or in imminent danger due to the tenant. Those cases would be heard prior to May 8.
Mitchell said before the vote that his message to landlords was this: “Please stop this behavior. We’re going to put a law in place that compels you not to put people in the street starting three days from now.”
“We’re not asking for stuff for free,” Ehsai said. “We know they have bills just like we have bills. All we’re asking for is time.”
