Eviction Notice in Austin? What to Do in the First 72 Hours

Nothing in Texas landlord-tenant law generates more panic — or more search traffic — than a notice to vacate taped to the door. The single most important fact, the one the notice itself never explains: it is not a court order. It’s step one of a legal process with built-in time, defenses, and off-ramps, and the tenants who lose worst are the ones who self-evict or skip the hearing.

This guide maps the entire Travis County eviction timeline — notice, suit, hearing, appeal — with each stage cited to the statute or court rule that governs it, and the specific defenses (defective notice, bad accounting, unauthorized late fees) that come up most in Austin JP courts.

Not legal advice, and evictions move fast: if a suit has already been filed against you, contact Texas RioGrande Legal Aid or a tenant attorney today, not after reading this page. Free eviction defense exists in Austin and it works best when engaged early.

The Complete Travis County Timeline

Add it up: even the fastest uncontested case runs about three weeks from notice to writ, and any contest or appeal extends it. That time is your negotiating room — use it deliberately rather than waiting in dread.

The CARES Act 30-Day Notice — Still Alive, Still Missed

The federal CARES Act’s eviction moratorium expired, but its 30-day notice-to-vacate requirement for covered properties survives for nonpayment cases. Covered properties include those with federally backed mortgages (Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA/USDA) and those participating in federal programs like Section 8 or LIHTC — which is a large share of big Austin complexes. If your building is covered and the notice gave you 3 days, that defect is a genuine defense that Travis County judges have dismissed cases over. Legal aid can run the property lookup in minutes; you can also check Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s public loan-lookup tools yourself.

Defenses That Actually Work in JP Court

Not every grievance is a defense; these are the ones that move judges:

• Defective notice: wrong number of days, never delivered in a manner § 24.005 allows, demanded amounts the lease doesn’t authorize, or a CARES-covered property using a 3-day notice.
• Payment and accounting errors: rent paid but misapplied, late fees that violate § 92.019 (which requires late fees to be reasonable and caps them for smaller properties by percentage of rent), or “fees first” application that manufactured a rent shortfall.
• Acceptance of rent after notice: a landlord who takes a payment after the notice may have waived that notice — the details matter, but it comes up constantly.
• Retaliation (§ 92.331): an eviction filed within 6 months of your good-faith repair request or code complaint, without one of the statute’s exceptions (like genuine nonpayment), is a defense and a counterclaim.
• Title/wrong-party problems: the suit must be brought by the party entitled to possession; management-company paperwork errors happen.

What doesn’t work: arguing conditions or personal hardship without a legal hook, or not showing up. JP eviction dockets produce default judgments by the dozen every week — attendance is half the defense.

Answering the Suit, Practically

You don’t need formal pleadings in justice court — Rule 510 lets you answer in plain language, in writing or orally at the hearing, but a written answer filed before the hearing is better: it prevents an early default and frames your defenses. One page: case number, your name, “I deny the claims and request a trial,” then bullet your defenses (defective notice, payment errors, CARES coverage, retaliation). File it with the JP clerk in person or through eFileTexas — there’s no fee to answer. If you need more time and have a jury-trial basis, a jury demand (small fee, waivable with a Statement of Inability) typically moves the setting out further.

The Appeal, Step by Step

Losing at the JP level is not the end — the appeal gives you a completely new trial in county court:

1. Within 5 days of judgment, file one of: an appeal bond (set by the judge), a cash deposit, or a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs (the sworn form is free and on the Texas Judicial Branch site).
2. In a nonpayment case appealed on a Statement of Inability, you must pay one rent period into the court registry within 5 days of the notice the court sends, and keep paying rent into the registry as it comes due — miss this and possession can issue without the new trial.
3. The case is docketed de novo in county court: new judge, new evidence, and time — typically several more weeks — during which negotiated move-outs and dismissals get signed every day.

Rental Assistance and Free Help in Austin

• Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (tlra.org) — free eviction defense for income-qualifying tenants; they staff Travis County dockets.
• Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas — pro bono civil representation.
• Austin Tenants Council — counseling, and the people who can tell you in one call whether your notice is defective.
• Travis County and City of Austin emergency rental assistance — programs open and close with funding cycles; 2-1-1 Texas (211texas.org) maintains the current list. A pending assistance application, documented to the landlord, settles a striking number of nonpayment cases.

Notice Periods in Neighboring States

The Texas 3-day default is on the short end. Verify before relying — legislatures move these:

Official Sources Used in This Guide

• Texas Property Code Chapter 24 (Forcible Detainer)
• Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, Part V, Rule 510 (Eviction Cases)
• Texas State Law Library — Eviction guide
• Travis County Justice of the Peace Courts
• Statement of Inability to Afford Payment (Texas Judicial Branch)

The Five Most Common Mistakes

1. Self-evicting on the notice. Moving out in a panic ends your possession but not the money claim — and it forfeits defenses (defective notice, CARES coverage, bad accounting) that might have won.
2. Skipping the hearing. Default judgments are the house specialty of every eviction docket. Attendance alone converts dozens of cases a week into negotiated outcomes.
3. Paying partial rent without a written agreement. Partial payments without a signed reinstatement deal can leave the eviction alive while consuming the money you needed for the appeal or the move.
4. Missing the 5-day appeal window. Five calendar days, weekend rules notwithstanding — calendar it the moment judgment enters. The Statement of Inability form makes the appeal accessible even when a bond isn’t.
5. Ignoring the record. Even a case you settle should end, on paper, in dismissal. Ask for it in every agreement — “landlord will move to dismiss with prejudice upon payment” — because the docket entry is what the next leasing office sees.

Quick Answers for Skimmers

• A notice to vacate is not a court order — only a judge can order you out, and only a constable can remove you (§ 24.005; Ch. 24).
• Default notice: 3 days, unless the lease changes it — or 30 days for CARES Act-covered properties.
• Hearing: 10–21 days after filing (Rule 510.4); answering and appearing costs $0.
• Appeal: 5 days, by bond, deposit, or the free Statement of Inability form — with rent paid into the court registry in nonpayment cases.
• Free defense: Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and Volunteer Legal Services staff Travis County eviction dockets.

Related Guides on This Site

• Repair disputes under § 92.052 — a repair complaint followed by an eviction filing within 6 months raises the § 92.331 retaliation defense.
• Rent increases — late-fee stacking and mid-lease “adjustments” create the accounting errors that defeat nonpayment claims.
• Landlord entry and lockouts — if the response to your dispute was changed locks or cut utilities, §§ 92.008–92.0081 penalties apply immediately.

Your Defense File: The Checklist

Assemble immediately, not the night before the hearing: the notice to vacate and a photo of how it was delivered, the lease (default, notice, and late-fee paragraphs flagged), complete payment records from the portal plus bank statements, any texts or emails about payment plans, the CARES property lookup result if it applies, your repair requests or complaint numbers if retaliation timing is in play, and the citation with its answer deadline circled. Bring three copies. Eviction hearings run minutes, not hours — the tenant who can put a document behind every sentence gets taken seriously, and the file often matters more than the argument.