Q: In Texas can your residential landlord of an apartment complex fine you for thing outside of your lease?
EX: I received a lease violation and was fined for items on my patio. Nothing in my lease stated anything regarding items on a patio.
In Addition, I reported my landlord to the City of Austin about an ongoing 8 month German Cockroach infestation in my unit because they refused to provide more than just a "normal spray" which doesn't treat these specific roaches. Afterwards my LL retaliated by harassing/bullying me. They made false claims about my dog "attacking people", which was completely false and without any shred of evidence and it continued on. The second time I reported them to the code enforcement department was because we didn't have any hot water for over a month. They were given a violation and the next day they gave me a fine for having expired tags on my car, which is also not stated as a condition of my lease according to Texas property Code 92.0131.
A:
Your landlord can only "fine" you in accordance with your agreement. The reason doesn't necessarily have to be in the Lease itself. Often, tenants sign documents agreeing to be bound by a landlord's rules and regulations. Sometimes, that agreement is in the Lease itself; sometimes in another document. The "rules and regulations" may be online or in a different document. In some cases, tenants agree that the landlord can change its "rules and regulations" during the lease term.
But a landlord cannot simply make up a reason to fine a tenant if the tenant did not agree in some fashion.
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