Commercial Real Estate Disputes: Leases, Contracts, Title and Co-Owners

Yes, when the tenant is delinquent in paying at least part of the rent, and only if the landlord posts a written notice on the front door stating where the new key can be obtained (Texas Property Code section 93.002). The key must be provided during the tenant's regular business hours once the delinquent rent is paid. A lockout for any other reason, or without the notice, exposes the landlord to the tenant's actual damages or one month's rent or $500, whichever is greater, plus attorney's fees. The lease can change these rules.

At least three days' written notice to vacate, unless the written lease provides a shorter or longer period (Texas Property Code section 24.005). The suit is then filed in the justice court for the precinct where the property is located, and a writ of possession may not issue before the sixth day after judgment. Since January 1, 2026 the statute lists the permitted delivery methods, so the lease and the current statute are both checked before the notice is sent.

Yes. Texas Property Code section 91.006 imposes a duty to mitigate when a tenant abandons the premises in violation of the lease, and a lease clause purporting to waive that duty is void. The landlord is expected to make reasonable efforts to relet, and the tenant or guarantor who raises the defense generally has to show what the landlord could have done and what it would have saved. The dispute is usually about the reasonableness of the effort, not about whether the duty exists.

Often, yes. Specific performance is a recognized remedy for a contract to convey real property, and the buyer must show that it was ready, willing and able to perform and that the contract's conditions were met or waived. The suit must be filed within four years (Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.004). Many contracts limit the buyer's remedies to the return of earnest money or name specific performance as the only remedy, so the contract is read first.

The contract decides. Most commercial purchase agreements say exactly when the earnest money becomes nonrefundable, what notices are required to terminate and what each party's remedies are on default. The title company or escrow agent holding the funds will not release them without agreement or a court order, so an impasse becomes a lawsuit over the contract terms, sometimes with the escrow agent asking the court to decide.

A co-owner generally has the right to ask a district court to partition the property, either by dividing it or, where division is not practical, by ordering a sale and splitting the proceeds after an accounting for taxes, improvements and rents. A partnership or operating agreement that governs the property may replace that right with a buyout or a vote. The first question is what document the co-owners signed, if any.

It depends on the words of the guaranty. Texas courts enforce guaranties as written, so a continuing, unconditional guaranty of all lease obligations is treated differently from one limited in time or amount, or one that requires a demand on the tenant first. Defenses can include a material modification of the lease without the guarantor's consent, a failure to mitigate that reduces the debt, or a release. The guaranty and the lease amendments are read together.