Verbal L/O In Texas
I have a mess in Texas. We have the deed for a rental property that use to belong to an X spouse. The X spouse gave the tenants a verbal L/O and is also claiming to still own the property and is collecting the rent. I have been told, without consulting an attorney, that the verbal L/O has some kind of weight?? Does anyone have any knowledge of Texas law?
Thanks
No, unless there is something new in Texas relating to verbal Contracts, all real estate Contracts must be in writing to be enforceable. Just about every state goes by the Uniform Commercial Code as it relates to Contract Law, which provides consistancy and uniformity (although real estate Contracts are exempt from the stricter requirements such as font and type size). The only exception in real estate is that a verbal month-to-month is allowed in many states. This is the result of a loophole, because if a Lease is up, and you do not give the Tenants a new Lease but allow them to stay, it converts to a month-to-month (which would be verbal), so as a result of that glitch, you can give a verbal month-to-month at the onset as well. Other than that unintentional loophole, it is my understanding that all real estate Contracts must be in writing. You can have verbal agreements in other fields, but not in real estate.
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