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Austin Apartment Debt Defense Attorney
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Fighting Unfair Charges and Aggressive Collectors? You Have Rights
Months after you’ve moved out of your apartment, a letter arrives. It’s from your old property management company—or, more likely, a collection agency you’ve never heard of. It’s a bill for hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars.
Perhaps they are penalizing you for ending your lease early, or they’ve sent a bill with little to no explanation for the charges.
This experience is frustratingly common for tenants in Austin and across Central Texas. Landlords and large property management companies often pursue these debts aggressively. When you refuse to pay, they frequently turn the account over to a third-party debt collector to act as their agent.
You do not have to be a victim of these tactics. The Texas Property Code and powerful federal laws provide you with specific rights and protections. As an Austin-based attorney focused on tenant rights, I help people fight back against unjust apartment debt, stop harassing collection calls, and protect their financial future.
The Most Common Grounds for Apartment Debt Disputes
An apartment debt claim is often based on a landlord’s failure to follow Texas law, particularly regarding early lease terminations and mandatory move-out procedures. I regularly defend Austin-area tenants from claims involving:
Improper Early Lease Termination Penalties
Life is unpredictable. A new job, a family emergency, or other unforeseen events can require you to move before your lease term is officially over. When this happens, landlords often send a bill for all of the remaining rent due under the lease, which can amount to thousands of dollars. This is often illegal.
Under the Texas Property Code, landlords have a legal “duty to mitigate damages.” This means they cannot simply let the apartment sit empty and bill you for it. They are required to use objectively reasonable efforts to find a new, qualified tenant to take over the lease.
You are only responsible for the rent during the time the apartment was actually vacant, plus any legitimate costs associated with finding the new tenant. As your attorney, I force the landlord to prove exactly what steps they took to re-rent the unit and when. Their failure to do so can dramatically reduce or even eliminate what you owe.
Failure to Follow Legal Move-Out Procedures
Texas law sets out strict, non-negotiable rules for how landlords must handle the end of a tenancy. A landlord has exactly 30 days from the date a tenant surrenders the property and provides a written forwarding address to either return the full security deposit or provide a written, itemized list of all deductions.
This is a critical detail—the landlord’s 30-day clock doesn’t start until they have received your new address in writing. If a landlord fails to meet this deadline after you have provided your forwarding address, they can lose their right to withhold any part of the deposit and may be liable to you for three times the amount of the deposit plus your attorney’s fees if they acted in bad faith.
A landlord’s failure to follow these mandatory procedures can be a powerful tool in defending against any subsequent debt they claim you owe.
When Your Landlord Hires a Debt Collector: Know Your Rights
If you dispute the charges, your landlord may place the account with a third-party debt collection agency. This means you may soon start receiving calls or letters from a specialized rental collection agency like Phoenix Recovery Group, Hunter Warfield, National Credit Systems (NCS), or others.
A professional collector, now working on behalf of your former landlord, will begin aggressively pursuing you for the alleged debt.
These collectors typically work on a contingency basis, meaning they earn a large percentage of whatever they can get you to pay. This creates a strong financial incentive for them to use high-pressure—and often illegal—tactics to maximize their commission.
When a professional debt collector gets involved, you gain powerful protections under a federal law called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). This law makes it illegal for collectors to harass, mislead, or abuse you.
Under the FDCPA, a debt collector cannot:
Call you at unreasonable hours (before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.)
Call you at your workplace if you’ve told them you’re not allowed to receive calls there
Use harassing, obscene, or profane language
Make false threats, such as threatening to have you arrested or claiming they will garnish your wages (which is illegal for this type of debt in Texas)
Misrepresent the amount you owe or lie about their identity
Discuss your debt with your family, friends, or employer
Continue to contact you after you have sent a written request for them to stop
Most importantly, you have the right to demand validation of the debt. By sending a formal written request, you can force the collector to stop all collection activity until they provide proof that you actually owe the money and that they have the legal authority from the landlord to collect it.
Building Your Defense Against Unfair Apartment Debt
The good news is that these cases are often built on procedural errors and a landlord’s overreach of their legal rights. As your attorney, my job is to expose those weaknesses and build a powerful defense.
The Landlord and Collector Have the Burden of Proof: They must prove you owe the money with legitimate evidence. We will demand to see their advertising records for re-renting the unit, their full accounting ledger, and proof that they followed all statutory notice requirements. Often, they lack this crucial documentation.
Leveraging FDCPA Violations: If a debt collector has violated any of the rules listed above, not only can we use it as leverage in negotiating your debt, but you may also be able to file a separate lawsuit against them. The FDCPA allows victims to recover statutory damages, actual damages for emotional distress, and have their attorney’s fees paid by the law-breaking collector.
Asserting Your Tenant Rights Under the Texas Property Code: We will use the landlord’s legal obligations to your advantage. Did they fail their duty to mitigate damages? Did they fail to follow the strict 30-day rule for security deposit accounting after you provided your forwarding address? We use these failures to dismantle the claim.
Challenging the Legal Basis for the Claim: We will scrutinize every aspect of the landlord’s case. If they file a lawsuit, we will ensure they have the proper standing and have followed all rules of procedure required to bring the case before the court.
My Process: A Strategic Defense for Austin Tenants
When you hire my firm, I take over all communication with the landlord and debt collectors and begin executing a legal strategy to protect you.
Stop the Harassment: My first action is to send a formal letter of representation to any third-party debt collector. This letter will demand they cease all communication with you and direct all future contact to my office. It will also include a demand for debt validation under the FDCPA.
In-Depth Case Review: We will review every piece of paper related to your tenancy—your lease agreement, all email correspondence, any photos or videos you have from move-in and move-out, and the landlord’s demand letter.
Aggressive Negotiation: Armed with the law and the weaknesses in their case, I will negotiate directly with the landlord or collector. I use their failure to follow legal procedures and any FDCPA violations to negotiate a significant reduction in the amount owed—or, in many cases, a complete dismissal of the claim.
Courtroom Defense: If they refuse to be reasonable and proceed with a lawsuit, you will have an experienced attorney defending you in the Travis County JP Court. I will challenge their evidence, cross-examine their witnesses, and present your case to the judge.
Credit Report Repair: After we have successfully resolved the alleged debt, I will assist you in sending formal demands to the credit bureaus to have the negative collection account permanently removed from your credit reports.
Don’t Let an Unfair Bill Ruin Your Future
An unexpected bill from a former landlord can have serious consequences for your financial health and future housing prospects. You do not have to fight this alone.
Contact my Austin law office today for a confidential consultation. Let’s discuss the charges you’re facing and build a strategy to fight back, protect your rights, and move forward with a clean slate.