Q: Landlord raising rent in the middle of our agreement.
We agreed to stay in this house for two years. This was a verbal agreement. The first year, 2020, the landlord’s son would be here. Starting 2021, it would just be my family. Landlord agreed to pay taxes for 2020 & 2021, and if we decided to stay into 2022, we would begin paying the taxes. Now, one year in to our agreement, and now that her son moved out, landlord is changing our agreement to include taxes. Her justification is that she has always paid them January of the following year. We did not agree to this. Landlord emailed financial agreement in 2019. Specifically stating she pays taxes 2020 & 2021. And we start in 2022, but only if we want to remain in the house. She acknowledged she should have worded it differently, but says the increase is not changing. I do not want to pay an extra $325/month just because the landlord changed her mind. Texas Landlord tenant laws state it is illegal to change terms mid-agreement. What are my options? This has been so stressful on me. Thanks!
A: Oral agreements for more than one year are not enforceable. So, what you have is a month to month tenancy, which can be changed by either of you with 30 days notice. However, it's not clear what was emailed, which could change the analysis.
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