Dallas Details Plan for Permanent Eviction Ordinance

Dallas’ City Council is working on an ordinance that would offer permanent protections to tenants facing evictions. A draft of the permanent ordinance was outlined in a Dec. 9 memo to the council from the Office of Equity and Inclusion.

While initial plans called for the permanent ordinance to receive City Council consideration by the end of the year, it now looks like it won’t get a vote until sometime in early 2023.

According to the memo, the city’s Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee will take up the permanent ordinance at its Jan. 23 meeting. From there, it could go to the full City Council sometime in the first quarter of next year.

The memo gives a glimpse of what the permanent ordinance could look like. It would give tenants at least seven days to respond to an initial notice of proposed eviction. If a tenant responds to the notice within the first five days with an offer to settle their late rent, they have at least 20 days to get the money to their landlord. If a tenant responds with that offer six or seven days after the initial notice, they get 10 days to pay up. If they don’t respond to the notice at all, their landlord can file for eviction.

Landlords who don’t abide by the ordinance could get slapped with a fine of up to $500. Exceptions are carved out in the ordinance that would allow landlords to evict tenants committing crimes on the property, damaging the property or putting others at risk of physical harm. 

“Any time it becomes harder to evict a tenant for nonpayment, landlords will have to apply stricter requirements.” – Nathan Barrett, landlord

tweet this

Nathaniel Barrett, a Dallas landlord who owns and operates a dozen apartments in the city, told the Observer last month that such an ordinance could help tenants but also bring unintended consequences. He worries landlords may make it harder for some people to rent at their properties. “Any time it becomes harder to evict a tenant for nonpayment, landlords will have to apply stricter requirements,” Barrett said.

The permanent ordinance is still making its way through the pipelines of City Hall, but tenants and landlords have already gotten a glimpse at the protections it would offer.

Throughout the pandemic, thanks in part to local attorney Mark Melton, some tenants have had extra time to avoid eviction. An ordinance passed by the city in 2020, written by Melton, gave tenants up to 60 days to avoid eviction as long as they provided proof that they were financially affected by COVID-19.

This ordinance was never intended to be permanent. Even with it in place, though, people would get evicted for a number of reasons. In some instances, tenants didn’t have a lawyer to represent them in court to ensure the protections provided in the city’s eviction ordinance or by the national eviction moratorium in place at the time were being implemented.

That’s where Melton and his nonprofit Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center come in, providing free legal representation to anyone in the city facing eviction. For landlords who did abide by the ordinance, there was nothing to prevent them from evicting a tenant at the end of the 60 days, even if they had the money to pay the late rent.

After a while, the original eviction ordinance became less effective because it was harder for people to prove their finances were negatively affected by COVID-19. In November, based on recommendations from Melton and the Apartment Association of Greater Dallas, the city made some changes to the temporary eviction protections it offered.

Now, instead of tenants having to provide evidence that their finances were negatively affected by the pandemic, all they have to do is provide proof that they applied for some form of rental assistance. If they do this, they get a full 60 days to avoid eviction. In that time, they can try to settle the rent with their landlord. If the tenant comes up with the late rent in the first 10 days after an eviction notice is posted on their door, the landlord has to take the money and let the tenant stay. These changes will remain in effect until the city adopts the permanent eviction ordinance early next year.