When Your San Antonio Roommate Stops Paying Rent But Won't Move Out

If your roommate is on the lease and has stopped paying their share but refuses to leave, you cannot evict them. Only the landlord can file an eviction in a Bexar County Justice Court. You also cannot change the locks, shut off the Wi-Fi in their name, move their belongings to the curb, or turn off the CPS Energy account to force them out. Every one of those moves exposes you to liability under Texas Property Code § 92.0081 (interrupting utilities) and § 92.331 (lockouts) — and those protections apply between co-tenants, not just landlord to tenant.

That is the blunt version. The useful version is that you have three real levers: get the landlord involved, restructure the lease, and sue for the money in JP court. Which one you use depends on whether your roommate is actually on the lease, whether the landlord will cooperate, and how much runway is left on the term.

Step one: figure out their legal status

Before anything else, pull the lease and confirm who signed. The options are narrower than people think:

• Co-tenant on the lease. Both names on the signature page. You both owe 100% of the rent to the landlord (joint and several liability), and neither of you can remove the other without the landlord's consent.
• Unauthorized occupant. They moved in after you signed, never got added, and the lease requires landlord approval for additional occupants (almost every SABOR-area lease does). The landlord can evict them; you technically can ask them to leave as your guest, but if they have been there long enough to establish residency, a Bexar County JP may treat them as a tenant at sufferance and require formal process.
• Your subtenant. You sublet a room to them with the landlord's permission. You are effectively their landlord and you can file the eviction yourself under Chapter 24 — but you have to do it right.

Most roommate disputes in San Antonio involve the first category, so the rest of this focuses there.

The joint-and-several trap

When you both signed the lease, the landlord can come after either one of you for the full rent. If your roommate stops paying their $900 share on a $1,800 apartment in Alta Vista or the Medical Center, the landlord does not care who pays — they want $1,800. Pay short, and the entire household gets a notice to vacate under § 24.005, followed by an eviction filing in whichever JP precinct the property sits in (Precinct 1 covers the west side and downtown, Precinct 2 the north central/Stone Oak area, Precinct 3 the northeast including Converse and Live Oak, Precinct 4 the south side).

That means your first move is almost always to pay the full rent on time, then chase your roommate separately. Letting the rent go delinquent to teach them a lesson wrecks your own credit and rental history.

Getting the landlord involved

Call the landlord or property manager and ask two specific questions:

1. Will they file an eviction against your roommate for non-payment if you continue paying your own share?
2. Will they agree to a lease modification removing the non-paying roommate and leaving you as sole tenant?

Most corporate property managers (Greystar, RPM, the big Stone Oak and Alamo Ranch operators) will refuse the first option because partial-payment eviction is messy and their policy is to evict the household. Independent landlords are more flexible. Either way, get the answer in writing — email is fine.

If the landlord will evict the whole unit unless everyone is current, you are back to paying the full rent and recovering from your roommate in court.

Restructuring the lease

The cleanest exit is a lease amendment that removes the non-paying roommate and either leaves you alone on the lease or adds a replacement. Landlords will typically agree if:

• You can qualify for the rent on your own income (most require 3x monthly rent in gross income), or
• You bring a replacement roommate who passes their screening.

Expect a re-screening fee ($50–$75 is common in San Antonio), and expect the landlord to want to address the security deposit. Under Texas Property Code § 92.103, the deposit belongs to whoever the lease says it belongs to — and if the lease is silent, it is held jointly. A departing roommate often wants their share back immediately. The landlord will not refund a partial deposit mid-lease. That is a cash settlement between you and the roommate, not the landlord's problem.

If the roommate refuses to sign off on being removed from the lease, the landlord cannot force them off. You are stuck until renewal — or until the landlord evicts for non-payment.

Suing for their share in JP court

Bexar County Justice Courts handle civil claims up to $20,000, which covers almost any roommate dispute. Filing is done through eFileTexas, filing fee is roughly $54 plus service, and you file in the precinct where the defendant lives or where the lease was signed.

To win, you need to show:

• A valid lease or written roommate agreement naming the split.
• Proof you paid the full rent (bank statements, Zelle/Venmo records to the landlord or management portal receipts).
• Proof they did not pay their share, or paid short.
• A demand for the money — a dated text or email works.

Judgments are not self-executing. Even with a judgment in hand, collection on a roommate who has no wages to garnish or bank account to levy is often the real problem. Texas does not allow wage garnishment for consumer debt except in narrow cases. Realistically, the judgment matters most when they eventually buy a car, try to rent again, or need clean credit.

Utilities in your name

If the CPS Energy or SAWS account is in your name only, you are 100% liable to the utility. CPS will not split the bill or chase your roommate. Same with Spectrum or AT&T. The only clean path is to keep paying, keep receipts, and add those amounts to your JP court claim.

Do not shut off utilities to pressure them. § 92.0081 and San Antonio's local code treat that as a tenant-side lockout in a shared-housing context, and judges do not like it.

What most people get wrong

• Changing the locks. This is the single most common mistake. A co-tenant has a legal right to possession. Locking them out triggers § 92.331 damages and can undo your entire case. Correct move: leave the locks alone and document everything.
• Tossing their belongings. Even if they have not paid in three months, their property is still theirs. Texas has a landlord's lien in very narrow circumstances (§ 54.041) — it does not apply between roommates. Correct move: leave their stuff untouched, photograph the condition of common areas, and raise the issue through the landlord.
• Withholding your own share to offset theirs. You are jointly liable. Short-paying the landlord puts your name on the eviction petition and on your rental history. Correct move: pay in full, sue separately.
• Assuming a verbal agreement is unenforceable. Texas JP courts routinely enforce oral roommate agreements when there is a paper trail — Venmo memos that say "April rent," text messages agreeing to a 50/50 split, a Google Doc budget. Correct move: gather every screenshot before you confront them.
• Trying to evict a co-tenant yourself. You have no standing under Chapter 24 against someone whose name is on the same lease as yours. Correct move: push the landlord to act, or wait out the term and decline to renew jointly.
• Forgetting the deposit. If your roommate leaves owing you money and the deposit refund at move-out goes to a single check in both names, you will fight again at the end. Correct move: put the deposit-split agreement in writing now, ideally as part of the lease amendment.

When to bring in a lawyer

If the amount exceeds a few thousand dollars, if the roommate has threatened you, or if there is a domestic violence element, do not try to litigate this yourself. Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and St. Mary's Center for Legal and Social Justice both serve Bexar County, and the San Antonio Bar Association runs a lawyer referral line. For protective orders, Bexar County Family Justice Center handles walk-ins.

If you are in this situation and already planning your exit, start the next search early. Browse current listings at /rentals, or look through more tenant-side guides at /resources before you sign the next lease — this is the moment to decide whether you want a co-tenant on paper again or a sole lease with a separate room-rental side agreement.