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Yes. A Texas tenant who is a victim of sexual assault can break the lease and walk away from the rest of the rent, and the assault does not have to have happened at the apartment. The right is in Section 92.0161 of the Texas Property Code. It cannot be waived. Most people, including many landlords, do not know it exists.
Section 92.0161(b) lets a tenant terminate the lease, vacate before the end of the term, and avoid liability for future rent and other sums due under the lease for ending it early, once the tenant does what subsection (c) requires.
Under subsection (c), the tenant must be a victim, or the parent or guardian of a victim who lives with them, of one of these offenses, committed during the preceding six-month period:
Read that list against the six-month clock, because the clock is the part that costs people this right. There is no requirement anywhere in subsection (c) that the offense happened at the apartment. A tenant assaulted somewhere else entirely still qualifies. That is different from the stalking provision in subsection (c-1), which does require that the stalking occur on the premises. Almost every summary of this statute gets that distinction wrong.
Subsection (c) requires a copy of one of the following, and one is enough:
No police report. No charge. No conviction. A SANE nurse, a treating physician, a licensed counselor, or a sexual assault advocate can each supply what the statute asks for. For an advocate reading this, that third option is the one to remember, because it means the survivor does not have to go back to a hospital or a police station to get out of a lease.
Subsection (d) makes the right effective only after all four of these have happened:
The order matters. The thirty days run from the notice, not from the assault.
Terminating a lease is a remedy against the lease. It is not a claim against anyone for the assault. If the assault happened at the complex, and the complex knew about prior violent crime on the property or about a specific developing threat and did nothing, that is a separate premises liability claim worth far more than a few months of rent. The two do not conflict. A survivor can do both.
Moving costs are also compensable through the Texas Crime Victims’ Compensation program in defined circumstances, which is a third, independent source. None of the three cancels out the others.
The six-month window is the emergency. Everything else on this page can be sorted out later. If the assault was within the last six months and the survivor wants out of the apartment, the documentation letter should be written this week.
We do not charge to answer this question, and we do not need to be hired to answer it. Call 713-521-0059.
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Under subsection (e), terminating the lease this way does not erase rent or other sums that were already unpaid before termination. Future rent is gone. Past due rent generally is not.
Generally, because subsection (g) creates a real exception. If the lease does not contain language substantially equivalent to this sentence, the tenant is released from all delinquent unpaid rent owed on the effective date of termination:
Tenants may have special statutory rights to terminate the lease early in certain situations involving certain sexual offenses or stalking.
That sentence is missing from a great many Texas leases. It is worth reading the lease before assuming any back rent is owed.
Subsection (f) goes the other direction. A landlord who violates this section is liable to the tenant for actual damages, a civil penalty equal to one month’s rent plus $500, and attorney’s fees.
Subsection (h) provides that a tenant may not waive this right. A lease clause purporting to give it up does not work.
Schiffer Law Firm represents survivors in civil claims arising from sexual assault, in Houston and across Texas. There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Call 713-521-0059.
No. For the sex offenses in subsection (c) there is no on-premises requirement. Only the stalking provision in (c-1) requires it.
No. Documentation from a licensed health care provider, a licensed mental health provider, a Chapter 420 sexual assault advocate, or a protective order is enough.
The offense must have occurred during the preceding six-month period. That window is the emergency.
Generally yes, but if the lease does not contain the statutory warning sentence, subsection (g) releases the tenant from all delinquent unpaid rent owed at termination.
