How to Evict Someone in Texas Without a Lease

To evict someone in Texas without a lease, you have to go through the courts. Deliver a written notice to vacate, and if the occupant refuses to leave by the deadline, file a forcible detainer suit in the justice court for the precinct where the property sits. A judge decides whether you get possession back, and a constable, not you, physically removes anyone who still won’t leave. The whole process usually runs three to five weeks when nothing goes sideways.

Do Not Lock Them Out or Cut Utilities

This is where owners get themselves sued. Texas law prohibits locking out a tenant or removing their belongings without a court order, and it doesn’t matter that there’s no written lease, that the person has never paid a dollar of rent, or that the property is yours free and clear. If someone qualifies as a tenant, the only legal way out is through a judge.

A tenant who gets illegally locked out can sue for a civil penalty of one month’s rent plus $1,000, plus actual damages, court costs, and attorney’s fees. If you also seized or held their belongings, the penalty adds another month’s rent on top.¹ Shutting off utilities to pressure someone into leaving carries the same exposure. Filing fees for a proper eviction are a fraction of what a self-help lockout can cost you.

Is Your Occupant Legally a Tenant?

Texas doesn’t require paperwork to create a landlord-tenant relationship. A “lease” under state law includes any written or oral agreement about the terms of occupancy.¹ Without a written lease, most occupants fall into one of two buckets:

A tenant at will is someone staying with your consent but with no agreement on how long. A friend who moved in without discussing terms fits here, as does someone paying rent month-to-month with no end date.
A tenant at sufferance is someone who originally had a right to be there but stayed past it. A former owner refusing to leave after a foreclosure sale, or a holdover after a rental term ended, fits this category.

Both are entitled to the formal eviction process. The category mostly matters because it determines the notice period.

Step One: The Written Notice to Vacate

No Texas justice court will hear your case without proof that you delivered proper notice and that the deadline passed. Get this step wrong and the judge sends you home to start over.

How Many Days You Owe

For a tenant at will or a tenant at sufferance, the minimum is three days’ written notice before you can file suit.² The same three-day floor applies to someone under an oral rental agreement who has defaulted or is holding over.

Month-to-month tenants get an extra step. Under a separate section of the Property Code, you first have to terminate the tenancy itself by giving at least one month’s notice.³ The tenancy ends on whichever date is later: the one you name in the notice or one month after you deliver it. If the person still hasn’t left, they become a holdover, and you then serve the three-day notice to vacate before filing suit. Many owners combine both notices into a single document, which is fine as long as the required time periods are actually met.

How to Deliver It

Texas permits several delivery methods:

Hand delivery to the occupant, or to anyone at least 16 years old who lives at the property.
First class, registered, or certified mail, or a commercial delivery service.
Placing it inside the premises in a conspicuous spot, such as taped to the inside of the front door.
Email or other electronic communication, but only if both parties previously agreed to that method in writing.

Mailed notice counts as received on the date it goes in the mail, not the date the occupant picks it up.² Keep proof: a certified mail receipt, a dated photograph of the posted notice, or a witness who saw you hand it over. Sloppy notice sinks a lot of cases.

Step Two: File the Eviction Lawsuit

If the deadline passes and the occupant is still there, file a forcible detainer suit in the justice court that covers the precinct where the property sits. Not a different precinct, not a higher court.

You’ll fill out a petition for eviction listing the names of everyone you want removed, the property address, the reason for eviction, and the details of the notice you delivered. Blank petition forms are at the clerk’s office.

Costs vary. The base filing fee in many justice courts is around $54, though counties add local fees on top. A constable’s citation service fee runs roughly $75 to $100 per person served.⁴ Each occupant has to be served separately, so costs climb with the number of adults on the property. Budget $150 to $250 for filing and service in a straightforward one- or two-occupant case.

Step Three: The Hearing

Most hearings get scheduled 10 to 21 days after filing. A justice of the peace hears it, not a jury, unless one side pays for a jury trial.

Bring your notice to vacate with proof of delivery, the filed petition, proof of ownership like a deed or tax record, and any texts, emails, or payment records with the occupant. If you accepted any rent from this person, be ready to explain when payments started and stopped. That history often controls what kind of tenancy existed and how much notice was owed.

The occupant can appear and raise defenses. The common ones in a no-lease case are that the notice was defective (wrong method, too few days, never received), that the eviction is retaliation for reporting code violations or asking for repairs, or that you waived the right to evict by accepting rent after you served the notice. Retaliation is a recognized defense when the landlord files within six months of the tenant exercising a legal right, though it doesn’t apply in nonpayment cases.¹

Win, and the court enters a judgment for possession. If the occupant doesn’t show up, you can get a default judgment, though the judge still has to confirm service was proper.

After the Judgment: Appeal Window and Writ of Possession

The occupant has five days from the signing of the judgment to appeal. Those five days include weekends and holidays; if day five falls on a day the court is closed, the deadline rolls to the next business day.⁵ To appeal, they have to post an appeal bond, deposit cash, or file a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs. You can challenge that statement if you think they can actually pay. An appeal moves the case to county court for a completely new trial, which can add weeks or months. Most occupants without a lease don’t appeal, because the available defenses are thin.

If no appeal is filed, you can ask the justice court for a writ of possession. The court can’t issue it until at least the sixth day after the judgment was signed.⁶ Once issued, the writ goes to a constable or sheriff. Before removing anyone, the constable posts a 24-hour written warning on the front door. If the occupant is still there when that window closes, the constable physically removes them and their belongings. The fee for a writ runs about $155 to $175 depending on the county, with hourly charges possible if the removal takes more than two hours.⁷

What Happens to Their Belongings

You are not required to store an evicted occupant’s property. When the writ is executed, the belongings go outside the unit at a nearby location. They can’t block a public sidewalk or passageway, and they can’t be placed outside during rain, sleet, or snow. If the weather is bad, the constable will either wait or direct the belongings into a nearby storage container.⁶ Once the writ has been executed, you’re not on the hook for watching over what’s out there.

One Boundary: Federally Backed Mortgages

If the property carries a federally backed mortgage (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, VA, or USDA), federal law may require a minimum 30-day notice to vacate regardless of what Texas allows. That requirement comes from the CARES Act, has no expiration, and applies even without a written lease. When in doubt, use a 30-day notice.

Squatters and Others Who Were Never Invited

Someone who entered without any permission at all, with no history of paying rent and no invitation to stay, is a grayer situation. Texas courts still generally require you to go through the forcible detainer process rather than remove them yourself, and the three-day notice under Section 24.005 applies.² If the person broke in or is trespassing, a police report is worth filing, but it doesn’t substitute for the eviction to regain possession.

Timeline and Total Cost

For a straightforward case with no appeal:

Notice to vacate: 3 days for a tenant at will or sufferance. One month plus 3 days for a month-to-month tenant.
Filing to hearing: 10 to 21 days after the petition is filed.
Post-judgment waiting: 5 days for the appeal window, then at least 1 additional day before the writ can issue.
Writ execution: 24-hour posted warning, then removal.

For a tenant at will, the fastest realistic path from notice to possession is about three weeks. For a month-to-month tenant, adding the termination notice at the front end pushes the total closer to seven or eight weeks. Out-of-pocket costs for a single-occupant eviction typically land between $250 and $400 for filing, service, and the writ. More occupants, a contested hearing, or an appeal to county court will push costs higher, and attorney’s fees on an appeal can run into the thousands.

1
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Chapter 92 – Residential Tenancies
2
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 24.005 – Notice Required Before Filing Certain Eviction Suits
3
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 91.001 – Notice for Terminating Certain Tenancies
4
Texas Office of Court Administration. Fees for Justice Courts – Effective 01/01/2026
5
Texas Law Help. Appealing an Eviction
6
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Chapter 24 – Forcible Entry and Detainer
7
Denton County, TX. Civil Fees