After the Eviction: Recovering Move-Out Balances from Co-Living Tenants in Texas

A co-living move-out balance is collectable in Texas if three things are true: the charge is one the lease allows, you sent a timely itemized deposit accounting, and you place it while the resident is still findable. Miss the first two and part or all of your claim may fail. Miss the third and you have a claim nobody pays.

This guide picks up where the eviction ends. It covers what you can recover, what the judgment does and doesn’t include, and how to place each tenancy so it gets paid. It is written for Texas landlords and residential property managers running shared housing, and it is general information, not legal advice.

What Is Actually Collectable After a Co-Living Move-Out

The short answer: rent the resident owed, lawful fees, and damage beyond normal wear and tear, less the deposit.

Rent owed through move-out, or through the judgment date if you evicted, is the core of the balance. Texas lets a landlord deduct from the deposit any damages and charges for which the tenant is legally liable under the lease or as a result of breaching it (Tex. Prop. Code §92.104(a)).

Three limits apply.

• No wear and tear. You may not charge for normal wear and tear (§92.104(b), defined at §92.001(4)).
• Late fees must be lawful. The fee must be in the written lease, reasonable, and charged only after rent is two full days late. The safe harbor is 12% of monthly rent in a building of four or fewer units and 10% in a larger building (§92.019). An improper late fee costs you more than it brings in: $100, three times the fee, and the tenant’s attorney’s fees.
• Fees and interest only if the paperwork supports them. Attorney’s fees and court costs are recoverable when the lease or a judgment provides for them. A judgment also earns post-judgment interest at the rate the Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner publishes each month (Tex. Fin. Code §304.003).

What is not collectable: anything the lease doesn’t support, or anything you didn’t itemize in time.

Why Co-Living Balances Are Harder Than Single-Lease Balances

In a standard apartment, one household owes one balance. In co-living, a single unit can produce four separate balances, four separate deposits and four separate forwarding addresses.

The lease structure decides who owes what.

• One joint lease. Each co-tenant is generally responsible for the whole rent, not just a share (TexasLawHelp, Roommates).
• Separate per-bedroom agreements. Each resident owes only their own balance and is not liable for another occupant’s unpaid rent or lease violations.

That second structure is common in co-living. It means you cannot send roommate A to collections for roommate B’s room, unless A also signed a joint-liability provision or a guaranty.

Shared charges add friction. If the utility bill, the cleaning fee or common-area damage was split among residents, each resident’s ledger has to show their share and the basis for it. “The kitchen was trashed” is not an itemization. A per-person charge tied to the lease and to a dated inspection is.

Residents in shared housing also move often. Every week a file sits, the contact data gets older.

The 30-Day Window: Security Deposit Rules That Can Cost You the Damages Claim

This is the most important section in this guide.

Texas requires you to refund the deposit, or account for it, on or before the 30th day after the resident surrenders the premises (§92.103(a)). If you keep any part of it, you must send the balance with a written description and itemized list of all deductions (§92.104(c)). The statute waives the list when the only thing owed is undisputed rent. Itemize anyway. Most co-living balances include non-rent charges, and any dispute removes the exception.

The clock has one condition. You don’t have to refund or itemize until the resident gives you a written forwarding address. The resident doesn’t lose the deposit by failing to give one (§92.107).

The penalties run against the landlord (§92.109).

• Presumption. Missing day 30 creates a presumption of bad faith.
• Bad-faith retention. Retaining a deposit in bad faith costs $100, plus three times the amount wrongfully withheld, plus the resident’s attorney’s fees.
• Forfeiture. This is the rule that kills collections. A landlord who in bad faith fails to send the itemized list forfeits the right to keep any of the deposit and the right to sue the resident for damage to the premises.

So the deposit letter is not paperwork. It is the foundation of the damages claim.

In co-living, run the clock per tenancy. On a joint lease, many Texas lease forms start the 30 days only after all residents have surrendered and send one jointly payable refund. On separate per-bedroom agreements, treat each resident’s move-out as its own 30-day deadline with its own itemized letter. The statute does not address per-bedroom leases by name, so have your counsel confirm how your forms handle it.

Keep proof of the mailing date. A postmark is evidence. A memory is not.

What the Eviction Judgment Covers and What It Doesn’t

The plain answer: a Texas eviction judgment decides who gets the unit, plus unpaid rent. It usually does not decide damages.

An eviction case is about possession. Back rent can be joined if the rent owed is $20,000 or less, including attorney’s fees. The judgment can award delinquent rent as of the date it is entered, court costs, and attorney’s fees where the law allows (Tex. R. Civ. P. 510; Tex. Prop. Code §24.006).

Everything else stays outside the case. The court decides possession, and a claim that can’t be raised in the eviction case can be brought in a separate suit. Repair costs, cleaning charges and damage to common areas are separate claims that need their own proof.

Two practical consequences follow.

• The judgment is only part of the debt. Place the judgment amount and the separately itemized damages together, and label which is which.
• Unnamed co-tenants are outside the judgment. In an eviction on a written lease, every tenant you want to evict must be named and served. A judgment does not reach a co-tenant who wasn’t. A roommate who moved out before the filing is collected on the lease, not the judgment.

What changed in 2026: Senate Bill 38 and the rewritten Rule 510 made Texas eviction cases faster and the same in every precinct, starting with cases filed on or after January 1, 2026. They did not expand what an eviction judgment awards. Damages still go in a separate claim.

What to Put in the Placement File for Each Tenancy

Build one file per tenancy, not one per unit. Each file should stand on its own if the resident disputes it.

Proof the charge is owed

• The signed agreement for that resident, plus any joint-liability addendum or guaranty
• The deposit disposition letter, with proof of the date it was mailed and the address used
• Move-in and move-out condition reports with dated photos
• Invoices or estimates behind every damage charge

Proof of the amount

• The full resident ledger from move-in to move-out
• A short note explaining any shared charge split among residents
• The eviction judgment, if one was entered, kept separate from the damages amount

Ways to find the resident

• The forwarding address the resident gave you
• Phone numbers and email addresses on file
• Date of birth and Social Security number, if collected at application
• Employer and emergency contacts from the application

Send sensitive identifiers only through a secure channel. Never by email.

How Fast the Balance Stops Being Collectable

Age is the enemy of every receivable. Residents change phones, jobs and addresses. Each change makes the next contact harder, and the first months after move-out are when placement pays.

The legal clock is longer, but it does run. A Texas lawsuit on a lease debt generally must be filed within four years (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §16.004). A judgment goes dormant if no writ of execution issues within ten years (§34.001). A dormant judgment can be revived only within two years after that (§31.006).

The practical rule: send the deposit letter by day 30, then place the balance soon after, not at year-end. An accounts receivable management process that flags every move-out at day 30 makes that automatic.

Placing a Batch of Move-Out Balances

Co-living operators often close out several rooms at once. Place them as a batch, one record per tenancy.

Southwest Recovery Services clients place accounts through the SWRS Client Portal using the General New Debtors template. Each record goes in with consistent fields and its supporting documents, through an authenticated, encrypted channel. You can check each account’s status, with time-stamped activity, at any time. The October 2026 portal upgrade is described in this announcement.

If a resident pays you directly after placement, report it in the portal. That way no one contacts a person who has already paid.

“I only get paid if we collect. So when an account doesn’t pay, I want the client to see exactly what we did on it. That’s what the portal is for.” — Steven Dietz, Founder and CEO, Southwest Recovery Services

Collection of a former resident’s balance is consumer collection, and federal and Texas law govern it.

• Federal law. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the CFPB’s Regulation F apply to third-party collection of residential rent. The resident receives a validation notice and has 30 days to dispute. Call frequency and calling hours are limited.
• Texas law. The Texas Debt Collection Act requires a third-party collector to file a surety bond with the Secretary of State and prohibits abusive and deceptive practices.

Southwest Recovery Services works on contingency, so you pay nothing unless we collect. We run 12 offices in eight states with nationwide ability. If you are weighing agencies, our guide to choosing a collection agency without losing the customer relationship covers the questions to ask.

Protecting the Relationship

The resident who left owing $1,900 may be a renter again in your other building. Or their sibling might. Or they may write the review your next applicant reads.

Accurate, itemized and compliant collection protects that relationship. Inaccurate collection damages it, and it often fails anyway.

So collect only what the lease supports. Itemize it on time. Place it while the resident can still be found. Stop contact the moment someone pays you directly. Most residents pay when the number is right and the contact is respectful. That is how we treat every placed account, consumer or commercial. Property managers keep placing with us: one property management client has placed 1,634 accounts, most recently in October 2026, and $587,671 has been collected on them to date, about $360 per account placed. Results vary with each account.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I send a roommate to collections for the whole balance if only their name is on the lease?

If they are the only tenant on the lease, the lease balance is theirs. Unpaid rent and damages they are liable for under it can be placed. If co-living residents signed separate per-bedroom agreements, each owes only their own balance unless they also signed a joint-liability provision or guaranty.

Do I have to send the itemized deposit letter before placing with a collection agency?

Practically, yes. Texas requires the refund or itemized accounting within 30 days after surrender, once you have a written forwarding address. A bad-faith failure to itemize forfeits your right to sue for damages. Send the letter first and keep proof of the mailing date.

What if the tenant never gave me a forwarding address?

Your duty to refund or itemize doesn’t start until they give one in writing. Prepare the itemized accounting anyway and send it to the last known address. If the resident later provides an address, the 30-day duty applies then.

Does my eviction judgment cover the damage to the unit?

Usually not. A Texas eviction judgment covers possession, unpaid rent up to $20,000, court costs and attorney’s fees where allowed. Damage claims go in a separate suit.

How long do I have to collect a move-out balance in Texas?

Generally four years to sue on the lease debt. A judgment stays enforceable for ten years and can be kept alive with a writ of execution. Recovery odds drop long before the legal deadline.

Can I charge the late fee in my lease when I place the balance?

Only if the fee meets Texas law: written in the lease, reasonable, and charged after rent was two full days late. A fee within 12% of monthly rent (four units or fewer) or 10% (larger buildings) is presumed reasonable.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Have your lease forms and deposit procedures reviewed by Texas counsel.

Ready to place a batch of move-out balances? Request a quote or sign in at swrsportal.com.