How Commercial Eviction Works in Texas

What an eviction suit does and does not decide

An eviction suit, called forcible detainer in the Property Code, asks one question: who has the right to actual possession of the premises right now. Property Code § 24.004 gives the justice court for the precinct where the property is located jurisdiction over eviction suits and directs it to adjudicate the right to actual possession. The same section says the justice court may not adjudicate title, and that counterclaims and joinder of third parties are not permitted. A tenant who believes the landlord owes it money for a wrongful lockout, an unreturned deposit or a breach of the lease brings that claim in a separate suit in a court of proper jurisdiction.

Since 2026 the procedure is governed by Chapter 24 as rewritten by Senate Bill 38 (2025) and by Rule 510 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, which the Supreme Court rewrote as a standalone rule for cases filed on or after January 1, 2026. Rule 510 states that the other Rules of Civil Procedure and the Rules of Evidence do not apply in eviction cases. Chapter 24 and Rule 510 apply to commercial and residential tenancies alike, with a few provisions, such as the rent-during-appeal rules, written for residential cases.

Step one: the notice to vacate

Property Code § 24.005(a) requires the landlord to give a tenant who defaults, or holds over after the term ends, at least three days' written notice to vacate before filing suit, unless the parties have contracted for a shorter or longer notice period in a written lease. Commercial leases often do: some shorten the period, some lengthen it, and many require a separate default notice and cure period before any notice to vacate. The lease controls, so the landlord must satisfy both the lease and the statute.

The 2026 amendments added a rule about the form of the notice in nonpayment cases. If the tenant's right of possession is terminated solely for nonpayment and the tenant was not late or delinquent before the month of the notice, the notice must be a notice to pay rent or vacate. If the tenant had been late before, the landlord may use either a notice to pay rent or vacate or a plain notice to vacate. A landlord evicting for holdover must also comply with the tenancy termination requirements of § 91.001.

The amendments also list how the notice may be delivered: by mail (including certified or registered mail or a delivery service), by posting the notice inside the premises in a conspicuous place, by hand delivery to a tenant, or electronically if the parties agreed to electronic notice in writing. Those methods are not required if the tenant actually received the notice, but the landlord bears the burden of proving it, so one of the listed methods with proof of delivery is the safer course.

Step two: the sworn petition in justice court

The landlord files a sworn petition in the justice court for the precinct where the property is located. The petition must identify the premises, the parties, the grounds for eviction and the facts supporting them, and must attach or describe the lease and the notice. Rule 510 allows a claim for unpaid rent to be joined with the eviction if the rent due and unpaid is not more than $20,000, excluding statutory interest and court costs but including attorney's fees. A larger rent claim, and any claim for future rent or other damages, must be filed in a separate suit in county or district court.

A corporation or other entity may appear in justice court through an owner, officer, employee, property manager or other authorized agent as well as through an attorney, under Rule 510.3. Service of the citation on the tenant follows Rule 510.8, and no trial may be held until four days have passed after service.

Step three: summary disposition or trial

The 2026 law added a fast track. Under Property Code § 24.005106 the landlord may include with the sworn petition a sworn motion for summary disposition, setting out the supporting facts and attaching the documents relied on. The tenant then has until the fourth day after service to file a response with its own facts and documents. If the court finds that service was proper and that no genuinely disputed fact would prevent judgment for the landlord, it may enter judgment without a trial. The court may consider a late response that shows a genuine dispute if judgment has not yet been entered.

If there is a genuine dispute, or no summary disposition motion was filed, the court sets a trial not earlier than the 10th day and not later than the 21st day after the petition is filed. Trial is before the justice or, if requested, a jury. The landlord must prove the tenancy, the default or termination, the notice to vacate, and its superior right to possession. The tenant's defenses are limited to matters bearing on possession: payment, a defective notice, waiver, a lease that has not actually terminated, or a landlord breach that excuses the default under the lease. If the tenant does not answer or appear, the allegations of the sworn petition are taken as admitted under Rule 510.16.

Step four: judgment and the writ of possession

A landlord who prevails is entitled to a judgment for possession and a writ of possession under Property Code § 24.0061. The writ may not issue before the sixth day after the judgment is signed unless a possession bond was filed and approved, and Rule 510.18 adds that it may not issue before the day after the tenant's appeal deadline. Issuance of the writ is a ministerial act not subject to review or delay. A constable or sheriff must serve the writ within five business days after it issues, posts a 24-hour warning on the front door, and then delivers possession to the landlord, removing the tenant's property to a nearby location. A writ may not issue more than 60 days after judgment (90 days for good cause) and may not be executed after the 90th day.

Step five: appeal to county court

Either party may appeal under Property Code § 24.005107 and Rule 510.19 by filing a bond, a cash deposit or a statement of inability to afford court costs with the justice court within five days after the judgment is signed. A tenant who appeals must affirm under penalty of perjury that it has a good-faith belief in a meritorious defense and is not appealing for delay. The justice court forwards the record to the county court between the sixth and tenth day after the appeal is filed, and the county court must hold trial within 21 days after receiving it. The trial is de novo, meaning the whole case is presented again as if the justice court trial had not happened, and eviction cases take precedence on the county court's docket.

An appeal suspends the writ of possession while it is pending. Rule 510.21 allows the landlord to recover, on appeal, damages suffered during the appeal, including rent for the period of possession, and the county court may set the bond accordingly. The county court's jurisdiction on appeal is no broader than the justice court's: possession and a rent claim within the limit, but no title questions and no counterclaims.

How long the whole process takes

A commercial eviction with no appeal can move from notice to writ in roughly three to six weeks: the notice period (three days or what the lease says), filing and service, a four-day minimum before trial and a trial setting within 10 to 21 days of filing, a five-day appeal window, and a writ on the sixth day. Summary disposition can shorten the middle. An appeal adds the transfer period and up to 21 days for the county court trial, plus any time the county court needs for a contested bond. A landlord who needs the space faster should weigh the lockout remedy, which is described in whether a commercial landlord can lock out a tenant in Texas, against the certainty a judgment provides.

Example

Suppose a Garland landlord's lease with a fitness studio requires a 10-day written cure notice before any default, and then allows the landlord to terminate on five days' notice. The studio misses March rent. The landlord sends the cure notice by certified mail on March 6 and, when nothing is paid, a five-day notice to vacate on March 18 by the same method, keeping the receipts. On March 25 the landlord files a sworn petition with a summary disposition motion attaching the lease, the ledger and both notices. The studio is served March 27 and files a response on March 30 claiming the landlord orally agreed to defer rent. The court finds a genuine dispute and sets trial for April 10. At trial the studio produces no writing; the lease requires modifications in writing. Judgment for possession is signed April 10. The appeal window closes April 15, the writ issues April 16, and the constable posts the warning and returns possession the following week. The landlord's separate suit for the remaining rent is filed in county court at law in May.

What each side should bring

• Landlord: the signed lease and amendments, the ledger, every default and vacate notice with proof of delivery, photographs of posted notices, and the written lease provisions on notice and remedies.
• Tenant: proof of payment, the lease's notice and cure clauses, any written agreement to defer or modify rent, correspondence showing waiver, and evidence of the landlord's own breach if the lease makes it a defense.

Tina Wysk represents commercial landlords and tenants in eviction, lockout and lease default disputes in Dallas-Fort Worth justice, county and district courts. The firm's real estate litigation practice handles the possession case and the separate suit for rent, damages and the guaranty together. For the landlord's full set of choices when a tenant stops paying, see what a landlord can do when a commercial tenant stops paying.