All sorts of strange things happen when you decide to file an eviction lawsuit. Especially, if:
- you don’t keep good records;
- your Lease is less than perfect;
- you have no idea who’s in your house.
Believe it or not, this happens. Particularly, in the event when your former Tenant says: “I’m done with this place, but my cousin is sticking around.” If there’s nothing in writing, you have no idea who the cousin actually is. This can pose problems when you are filing an eviction.
In “The Cousin Exchange Program” situation, if you do have a written Lease with a specified Tenant who left but let someone in their place, sue that person. That’s easy.
It gets complicated when you have only an oral agreement. And oral agreements are perfectly valid in the state of Texas. They are just hard to prove.
I’ve had Landlords who say: “Well, I had this deal with this person for a long time and I’ve never got their real name. I know him as Jo-Jo.” If that’s the best you got, then use that, but… Does Jo-Jo have a last name? Is Jo-Jo even his actual name?
If you’re exercising a judgement against somebody who signed the Lease, the name they disclosed in that Lease is the name you use. But if you don’t know people’s names, it is possible to do a lawsuit against “John Doe” or “Jane Doe.”
This happens sometimes when you purchase a foreclosure. So, let’s say you’ve purchased a foreclosure and the person you foreclose doesn’t actually live in the house. They were renting to somebody else.
And you show up knocking at the door, saying, “Hello, I own this house.” And they slam the door in your face because they have no idea who you are. It doesn’t mean you can’t sue to evict them. But who do you send a Notice to Vacate? And how do you file properly?
In the event of a foreclosure, you would file for eviction of the premises and you would sue the “Occupants.” If you know unnamed occupants only – it’s the best you’re going to get.
You’re not entitled to collect rent in a post-foreclosure situation. So, you’re not really gaining anything if you do know their names. But you do want whoever’s in there out, and you do want to be able to send a Notice to them.
You can send Notice in the name of the former owner, whoever was an original owner of this foreclosure. And then you also can send a Notice to all other occupants. That should keep you covered in the event of having to obtain a writ of possession to clear all other occupants off the premises.
When you don’t know somebody’s name, you can go with John Doe. If you know a nickname, you can use that. If you know somebody by multiple names, always disclose those names as an “otherwise known as” or an “a.k.a.” in your eviction filing.
So, do your best always to have a name. But if you don’t, you can still evict John Doe, evict Jane Doe or evict “unknown occupants.” You can always put that down and have the court assist you in the process of clearing up the property from someone who’s unauthorized to stay.
There is one important factor. If you are contacted by an occupant and they say: “I’ve been paying my rent,” those people might have certain rights. If they present you with a Lease or with a proof of their rent payment, there are rights to consider there. That’s slightly more complicated.
But if you hear nothing and if you get no response from anybody in there: John Doe, Jane Doe, an “unauthorized occupant,” or all other occupants, these are the ways to identify people who you otherwise don’t know the names of.
