Rep. Joe Deshotel of Beaumont has filed House Bill 2427 in the Texas House of Representatives. This bill addresses a number of tenant-landlord issues including:

• A tenant’s right to terminate a lease without penalty due to job loss or violent crime;
• Amounts owed to a landlord if a tenant terminates a lease early without cause;
• When a landlord may enter a rental unit;
• When a landlord may report a debt to a credit reporting agency;
• Evictions;
• Reimbursement of utility services if the landlord uses a tenant’s electricity; and
• No discrimination based on a tenant’s source of income.

Call your state representative to let him/her know your thoughts on the proposed legislation. Find out who represents you.

If you would like to speak before the Texas Legislature on these issues, contact the Austin Tenants’ Council at 512-474-7006.

Peter Mongillo of the Austin American Statesman recently answered this question from a reader:

Is there a minimum amount of time that a landlord has to notify you that rent will increase with a lease renewal? My lease ends at the end of the month, and I was given less than a month’s notice of the increase. Also, is there a limit on how much the landlord can raise the rent?

Notification of a rent increase depends on terms outlined in the lease, says Stephen Guerra of the Austin Tenants’ Council. For example, if a lease states that a tenant or landlord must give 60 days notice for termination of residency, then that is the minimum amount of time a landlord has to notify you in writing of a rent increase. If there is no written lease, then a landlord must give at least 30 days notice (unless a tenant pays weekly rent, in which case only a week’s notice is required), Guerra says.

At renewal time, there are no limits on how much a landlord can raise the rent, Guerra says. For more information, call the Austin Tenants Council at 474-1961 or visit www.housing-rights.org.