Texas Real Property Law for Commercial Landlords

I have found that landlords generally face thetenant abandons the leased premises in breach of
same set of issues and have the same set ofthe lease, the landlord has the duty to mitigate
questions pertaining to their rights, duties and(lessen) the damages that the landlord would
obligations as landlords under Texas law. Theexperience as a result of the abandonment. Thus,
answers to these questions depend on whetherthe landlord should not let the premises lie vacant
residential tenants or commercial tenants arein hopes of being able to recover lost rents from
involved. Although commercial and residentialthe tenant. This duty to mitigate damages may
property ownership and operation have somenot be waived by the tenant, so any provision in
similarities, the differences are numerous andthe lease that tries to waive this duty or exempt
diverse enough to justify separate treatment forthe landlord from liability is void.II. Security
each area. This article is intended to discuss issuesDepositA security deposit is any advance of
related to commercial property with commercialmoney, other than a rental application deposit or
tenants only. This article is my attempt to createan advance payment of rent, that is intended
a quick and very general reference guide on theprimarily to secure performance under a lease.III.
rights, duties and obligations of commercialRetention of Security DepositBefore returning the
landlords and operators under the Texas Propertysecurity deposit, the landlord may deduct from
Code. It is by no means complete, but hopefully isthe deposit damages or charges for which the
informative enough to assist the reader in askingtenant is obligated under the lease or resulting
informed questions of legal counsel and thus befrom a breach of the lease. However, normal
more efficient and economical while consulting legalwear and tear (does not include deterioration that
counsel.You should not take this article as legalresults from negligence, carelessness, accident or
advice, and I strongly urge you to seekabuse) may not be withheld from the security
competent legal advice for your specific situation.deposit.If the landlord retains any portion of the
The Texas legislature updates and passes newsecurity deposit, the landlord must refund the
laws relating to landlord/tenant issues on a regularbalance of the security deposit and give the
basis. In addition, Texas courts regularly interprettenant a written description and itemized list of all
these laws. Thus, the laws discussed in this articledeductions. However, this description and itemized
are in effect as of December 2005. I have notlist is not required if the tenant owes rent and no
assumed any duty or obligation to update thiscontroversy exists concerning the amount of rent
article beyond this date.I. Duty to MitigateIf aowed.