- Jurisdiction
- Texas
My husband and I recently (about 2 months ago) moved into a house with a man who said he owned the home. He didn't charge us rent as he said he had no rent payments, and he wanted to help us get back on our feet. My husband has done thousands of dollars worth of work on the land and around the house as a sort of work trade to earn our keep, and we pay toward bills. Recently, we discovered that he does not own the home, isn't on a lease, and that he's lied to us about many things that I won't go into right now.
Over the past couple of weeks, this person has become increasingly hostile, violent, threatening, and has displayed mental behavior that is gravely concerning.
He has threatened to kill my husband and I. He has been abusive toward our dog, and she went missing while he was home. She was gone for three days before some random people returned her (the story was very fishy and she was returned after I talked about taking legal action). He has made false police reports. He has cut off the electricity to only our room after we paid the electric bill, and has locked the breaker box without giving us access to the key. He went out of town today, called the water department, told them we are squatters and instructed them to turn the water off (they didn't). He has restricted our access to the mail box and held our mail without our consent. He has made lewd sexual comments toward both my husband and I verbally and in text. He has sent incessant texts/called us an inappropriate number of times and yelled at us to "answer our phones!" in voicemails and in person. He has opened our bedroom door both unannounced and when we told him not to, and walked in on me while I was nude/dressing on multiple occasions. He has left the bathroom open so that he could be seen while engaging in sexual activity (knowing this is unwanted). He has threatened to call the police and lie to them to get us in trouble. He has placed padlocks on the front and back doors and laundry room without giving us the key, and he would lock us out if he saw us exiting. He changed the locks to the front and back doors. He has followed us around the house, tried to provoke us, antagonize us, and has used any means possible to frighten us.
I attempted to talk to the police about this. He used to be a volunteer firefighter in town and knows a couple of the officers in this area. We were told that because he is a resident here he's within his rights, despite the many laws he's broken, both civilly and criminally.
He is currently out of town. We want to get an emergency protective order so that he's not able to stay the residence anymore but when I called the DA's office I was told we couldn't because he's not our family member, even though, from what I understand, because we have lived in the same dwelling, we are technically a part of the same household and thus do qualify for a protective order.
Other pertinent details: this person is not on a lease. The owner of the house does not want him here but has allowed him to stay for reasons I won't go into now. We don't know the owner but are supposed to speak with him in the next day or two, and he currently is okay with our presence in the house. We are not on a lease, beyond a verbal agreement we made with the roommate. We are in Kaufman County, Texas.
Over the past couple of weeks, this person has become increasingly hostile, violent, threatening, and has displayed mental behavior that is gravely concerning.
He has threatened to kill my husband and I. He has been abusive toward our dog, and she went missing while he was home. She was gone for three days before some random people returned her (the story was very fishy and she was returned after I talked about taking legal action). He has made false police reports. He has cut off the electricity to only our room after we paid the electric bill, and has locked the breaker box without giving us access to the key. He went out of town today, called the water department, told them we are squatters and instructed them to turn the water off (they didn't). He has restricted our access to the mail box and held our mail without our consent. He has made lewd sexual comments toward both my husband and I verbally and in text. He has sent incessant texts/called us an inappropriate number of times and yelled at us to "answer our phones!" in voicemails and in person. He has opened our bedroom door both unannounced and when we told him not to, and walked in on me while I was nude/dressing on multiple occasions. He has left the bathroom open so that he could be seen while engaging in sexual activity (knowing this is unwanted). He has threatened to call the police and lie to them to get us in trouble. He has placed padlocks on the front and back doors and laundry room without giving us the key, and he would lock us out if he saw us exiting. He changed the locks to the front and back doors. He has followed us around the house, tried to provoke us, antagonize us, and has used any means possible to frighten us.
I attempted to talk to the police about this. He used to be a volunteer firefighter in town and knows a couple of the officers in this area. We were told that because he is a resident here he's within his rights, despite the many laws he's broken, both civilly and criminally.
He is currently out of town. We want to get an emergency protective order so that he's not able to stay the residence anymore but when I called the DA's office I was told we couldn't because he's not our family member, even though, from what I understand, because we have lived in the same dwelling, we are technically a part of the same household and thus do qualify for a protective order.
Other pertinent details: this person is not on a lease. The owner of the house does not want him here but has allowed him to stay for reasons I won't go into now. We don't know the owner but are supposed to speak with him in the next day or two, and he currently is okay with our presence in the house. We are not on a lease, beyond a verbal agreement we made with the roommate. We are in Kaufman County, Texas.
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