Could this be considered retaliation?

[hotinhouston]

Jurisdiction

Texas

I moved in last year on Aug 28 2025, 1 year lease. The house had maintenance problems immediately after moving in. The ac didn't work, when we turned the water on there were several leaks. We contacted the landlord and he put a bandaid on it. Over the past year we have made 18 maintence requests. All of them have been "fixed". In July our rent assistance was stopped because the landlord didn't want to participate. In July the landlord died. We didn't know until the beginning of August when we got an email from his son in law saying he is going to take over. The property is owned by an elderly lady who is the matriarch of the family, we have never spoke to her directly. We also received a non renewal on Aug 1 from the son in law and the ac also broke the same day. I sent a repair request to the landlord like I always did, I didn't know he had died at the time. I sent the request to the son in law after he said he was taking over. The son in law acknowledged it and said to move out. I asked again to repair it, he said pay the rent, so I did. He sent a notice to vacate for non payment. I asked why he sent a non renewal, he said the answer for the non renewal is in the notice to vacate. The notice to vacate gave non payment as the reason. The non renewal was sent before the rent was due so how could he say he didn't want to renew the lease because of non payment? He was the one that ended our rent assistance. I think he intentionally ended our assistance as a reason to kick us out. He wasn't expecting us to pay it but we did. Fast forward to today, he filed an eviction on Aug 20, I filed a repair and remedy claim on Aug 24 because the ac is still broken and it's 100 degrees in the house. I won the eviction because the rent was paid. The judge told him to wait 5 days for the appeal window to close and then he can send another notice and start all over. He has been dodging service in the repair and remedy case so that has stalled. He sent a repair guy to look at the ac but he has not fixed it. He sent another notice to vacate on the 13 and it said to be out by the 12th, which is impossible. So with all of that said, could this be considered retaliation for requesting repairs? It's not our fault they did a half ass job on the repairs and things kept breaking. We are also considered hold over tenants, we cannot simply leave because we cannot even pack our stuff because it's too hot with no ac, and we can't find another place because the eviction he filed, even though we won it still shows up. He has manufactured the situation and is making our lives hell.

 

[zddoodah]

Paragraphs would have been nice.

Could this be considered retaliation?

Before I try to read your gigantic block of text, I'm going to point out that "retaliation" isn't some magic word. No one who posts here regularly is from Alabama, but "retaliation" is only a legally meaningful concept in a couple of contexts.

In July our rent assistance was stopped because the landlord didn't want to participate.

Rent assistance? Participate in what?

In July the landlord died. We didn't know until the beginning of August when we got an email from his son in law saying he is going to take over. The property is owned by an elderly lady

I don't follow. First you say that the landlord died and referred to the landlord using "his," but then you say the property is owned by a woman. What does this mean? Either you're commenting on a transfer of title that occurred after death or you're drawing a distinction between "landlord" and "owner." If it's the latter, you'll need to explain that distinction.

We also received a non renewal on Aug 1 from the son in law

OK...what does the least say happens at the end of the one-year term?

Fast forward to today

Why are you still living there despite the lease having expired at the end of August and not having been renewed?

could this be considered retaliation for requesting repairs?

What is the antecedent of "this"? Considered by whom?

He sent another notice to vacate on the 13 and it said to be out by the 12th, which is impossible.

"The 13[th]" of what month? "The 12th" of what month? Why is it impossible?

 

[adjusterjack]

The word "retaliation" is not a magic word that gets you showered with a pile of money.

He has very likely violated the Texas Residential Landlord Tenant statutes, which you should study carefully.

https://law.justia.com/codes/texas/property-code/title-8/chapter-92/

https://law.justia.com/codes/texas/property-code/title-4/chapter-24/

Which may entitle you to some compensation. It's a civil matter and you may have to file a separate lawsuit for any damages you think might be appropriate.

Look for some sort of tenants' rights or assistance agency or organization in your area. Might be some help there.

 

[Red Kayak]

Fast forward to today, he filed an eviction on Aug 20, I filed a repair and remedy claim on Aug 24 because the ac is still broken and it's 100 degrees in the house. I won the eviction because the rent was paid. The judge told him to wait 5 days for the appeal window to close and then he can send another notice and start all over.

Count this as a win for you, because he accepted rent after trying to kick you out.

However, you are now month-to-month because your old lease has ended. He can give you a 30 day notice.

He sent another notice to vacate on the 13 and it said to be out by the 12th, which is impossible.

So, he sent a Notice to Vacate on Sunday (Sept 13).
1) Is this in line with the judge's instructions? (Did he wait 5 days?)
2) September has 30 days. So, 30 days notice would be Oct 13... So he's actually only given you 29 days notice, starting on a Sunday... Texas requires 30 days (one month) notice.

The joy of being on a month-to-month lease is that the landlord can terminate the lease.

Currently, you can benefit from your landlord's ignorance by getting some local help (see adjusterjack's post).

However, realistically, you need to start planning to move, because eventually your landlord might learn how to follow directions.

 

[army judge]

Rent assistance? Participate in what?

Rent assistance is ANOTHER government "give away to Ne'er do wells" using the tax dollars confiscated from TAXPAYERS to Molly coddle BEGGARS!!!!

 

[hotinhouston]

Rent assistance is ANOTHER government "give away to Ne'er do wells" using the tax dollars confiscated from TAXPAYERS to Molly coddle BEGGARS!!!!

Rent assistance is from SSVF, supportive services for veteran families. My husband is a veteran and is going to school to get his aviation dispatch license. He gets a housing stipend every month, his counselor made a mistake with the paperwork so his stipend wasn't paid for that month, so to make sure the rent was paid we turned to SSVF to cover the rent until we got it sorted out. The landlord refused to participate aka accept the rent.

 

[Red Kayak]

Rent assistance is from SSVF, supportive services for veteran families.

This is an important detail.
Have you been able to get any advice/help from SSVF?
It seems very odd that your LL unilaterally stopped "participating" in your rent assistance July (before the end of the lease). I would assume that part of your lease agreement would have included both parties participating for the duration of the lease, since the assistance was calculated into you ability to pay.

It would be different if your LL's family had contacted you in July and given you notice that they were not agreeable to renewing the lease. That would be perfectly acceptable (legally). Inconvenient for you, but understandable. Maybe they want to fix up the house, for example.

However, it sounds like, in the drama of your original LL passing that his SIL didn't know what the process was, didn't do the paperwork, and then was going to evict you for not paying the full amount of rent, even though the reason he wasn't getting the assistance amount was his fault. And, after you saw that, you paid the amount due in full, and he actually accepted it. That's why he failed to evict you for non-payment of rent.

Now that you are month-to-month, it is pretty easy for a LL to give you a 30 day/1 month notice to vacate, with no particular reason. (You're in TX, not California.) However, your LL has given you 29 days notice, which is less than a month. And it is unclear from what you posted if your LL followed the judge's directions and waited the correct number of days before refiling. (FWIW, 5 business days for an appeal window makes more sense than 5 days.) But as I pointed out before, they'll eventually figure out how to do the paperwork correctly.

I'm including a website that might have some helpful contact info, although you're plenty aware of this already:

Vet Uplift | Texas Veteran Housing Assistance & Programs (2026 Guide)

Complete guide to veteran housing programs in Texas. Texas Veterans Land Board home loans, TVLB low-interest loans, HUD-VASH, SSVF, and homeownership assistance for Texas veterans.

vetuplift.com