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I lived Houston more than 18 years and Harvey was the most devastating one that I experienced. God bless Houston and I am glad to see everybody is helping each other. I believe Houston is strong city and I am happy to part of this city!
After Harvey, if you have rental house, unless agent is not a property manager for your rental property, agent has no responsibility after the lease was signed.
Tenants needs to contact with their landlords or landlords vice versa. If property is okay, no problem. However, if tenant has no rental insurance for your belongings, as a landlord you are not responsible for it. If property is damaged seriously, then both parties have rights and option to terminate the lease and allow the tenant to move and get their deposit back. If tenant stay even property is flooded and withholding rent due to fixing home issues, the tenant may have evicted. Try to figure it out middle way to solve issues.
Also keep in mind that Paragraph 25 of TAR’s Residential Lease deals with casualty loss references the Texas Property Code Section 92.054 :
(a) If a condition results from an insured casualty loss, such as fire, smoke, hail, hurricane, or a similar cause, the period for repair does not begin until the landlord receives the insurance proceeds.
(b) If after a casualty loss the rental premises are as a practical matter totally unusable for residential purposes and if the casualty loss is not caused by the negligence or fault of the tenant, a member of the tenant's family, or a guest or invitee of the tenant, either the landlord or the tenant may terminate the lease by giving written notice to the other any time before repairs are completed. If the lease is terminated, the tenant is entitled only to a pro rata refund of rent from the date the tenant moves out and to a refund of any security deposit otherwise required by law.
(c) If after a casualty loss the rental premises are partially unusable for residential purposes and if the casualty loss is not caused by the negligence or fault of the tenant, a member of the tenant's family, or a guest or invitee of the tenant, the tenant is entitled to reduction in the rent in an amount proportionate to the extent the premises are unusable because of the casualty, but only on judgment of a county or district court. A landlord and tenant may agree otherwise in a written lease.
Please see more info below this link:
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/SOTWDocs/PR/htm/PR.92.htm
Please call an attorney for legal advice. As a Realtor, I cannot give legal advice to my clients or even pass on legal advice that I may hear from a lawyer.
