Retaliation Under § 92.331: What a Texas Landlord Cannot Do After You Complain

If you asked your landlord in writing to fix a leaking roof and two weeks later you got a non-renewal notice, a rent hike, or a sudden eviction filing, Texas Property Code § 92.331 is the statute you care about. It bars a landlord from punishing a tenant for exercising a right for six months after the protected act, and § 92.333 lets you recover one month's rent plus $500, actual damages, court costs, and attorney's fees when the landlord does it anyway.

That is the short version. The long version — what actually qualifies as "protected," what the landlord is still allowed to do, and how you prove the motive — is where most retaliation claims in Bexar County JP courts fall apart.

What § 92.331 actually protects

Subsection (a) lists four things you can do that start the six-month clock. A landlord may not retaliate because the tenant:

• Exercises or attempts to exercise a right or remedy granted by the lease, municipal ordinance, or federal or state statute.
• Gives the landlord a notice to repair or exercise a remedy under Chapter 92 (that is the § 92.052 repair request, in writing, sent the way the lease requires).
• Complains in good faith to a governmental entity responsible for enforcing a building or housing code about a violation that materially affects health or safety. In San Antonio that is typically the City's Development Services Code Enforcement division (311 or the SA311 app), or for utility-related hazards, CPS Energy or SAWS.
• Establishes, attempts to establish, or participates in a tenants' organization.

The complaint has to be in good faith and based on a real condition. You cannot manufacture a fake code complaint the day before your lease expires and then claim retaliation when the landlord declines to renew.

The six-month window

The clock runs six months from the protected act. If you sent a certified § 92.052 repair letter on March 1, the landlord is in the retaliation zone until September 1. Anything adverse inside that window — a rent increase outside the normal renewal cycle, a sudden decision not to renew a tenant who has been there five years, a petition for eviction on a disputed ground — is presumptively suspect and will have to be explained.

After six months the presumption fades. The landlord can raise rent, non-renew, or change the rules for ordinary business reasons without the statute hanging over the decision.

What counts as a retaliatory act

Subsection (b) names the prohibited conduct. A landlord may not, in bad faith:

• File an eviction proceeding (a forcible detainer suit in Bexar County JP Precinct 1, 2, 3, or 4).
• Deprive the tenant of the use of the premises — short of the full lockout prohibited separately by § 92.0081.
• Decrease services to the tenant (stop maintaining the pool, quit doing pest control that was in the lease, cut off amenities).
• Increase rent or terminate the lease.
• Engage in, or threaten to engage in, bad-faith conduct that materially interferes with the tenant's rights under the lease.

The key word throughout is "bad faith." Retaliation is about motive, and motive is what you have to prove.

What § 92.332 lets the landlord still do

This is the section tenants usually miss. § 92.332 carves out situations where the landlord's action is not retaliation even if it lands inside the six-month window:

• The tenant is delinquent in rent when the landlord gives notice to vacate or files eviction.
• The tenant, a household member, or a guest intentionally damaged the property.
• The tenant is holding over after lease expiration.
• The tenant has materially breached the lease (unauthorized occupants, unauthorized pets, repeated noise violations documented by the property).
• The landlord's action is based on a good-faith belief the tenant is causing a nuisance, damaging the property, or using it for criminal activity.
• The landlord's action is based on a natural disaster or necessary repairs that require the unit to be vacated.
• A rent increase applies to the entire property as part of a reasonable pattern (a standard annual increase across all units, documented).

If the landlord has a clean paper trail for any of these, your retaliation claim collapses. That is why rent ledgers and lease-violation notices matter more than the landlord's tone of voice.

Your remedy under § 92.333

When you prove retaliation, § 92.333 gives you:

• A civil penalty of one month's rent plus $500.
• Actual damages (moving costs, temporary housing, lost deposit, the delta on higher replacement rent).
• Court costs.
• Reasonable attorney's fees, less any delinquent rent or sums the tenant owes.
• The right to recover possession or terminate the lease, depending on what the landlord did.

You can raise retaliation as a defense inside an eviction case in JP court, or bring it as an affirmative claim in a separate civil suit. In practice, tenants in Bexar County raise it most often as a defense to a § 24.005 notice to vacate that arrived suspiciously soon after a repair letter.

How to actually prove the motive

Judges do not take your word that the landlord retaliated. Build the record before you need it:

• Put the complaint in writing. Email or certified mail — Texas courts treat certified with return receipt as the gold standard for § 92.052 notices.
• Keep the timeline tight and dated. A calendar showing March 1 repair letter, March 14 inspection request, March 19 non-renewal notice is far more persuasive than testimony.
• Pull the code enforcement record. If you filed with SA Code Enforcement, request the case number and inspection notes. A documented violation bolsters the "good faith" element.
• Compare to other units. If the landlord claims the rent increase is portfolio-wide, ask for it. If only your unit went up, that is evidence.
• Preserve every text and portal message. Screenshots with timestamps. Do not rely on the property management portal to keep records you can later access — export them.

What most people get wrong

• Verbal complaints do not start the clock. Telling the leasing agent about the AC at the pool is not a § 92.052 notice. It has to be in writing and delivered the way the lease specifies — usually certified mail to the address on the lease.
• Being behind on rent kills the claim. § 92.332(1) is the most common exception. If you stopped paying rent to "get their attention," you handed the landlord a clean defense. Use § 92.0561 repair-and-deduct or § 92.056 termination, not self-help non-payment.
• Non-renewal at the end of a fixed term is not automatically retaliation. Month-to-month and lease-end non-renewals are legal by default under § 91.001. They only become retaliation if the six-month window applies and the timing and bad faith are provable.
• The six months runs from the protected act, not from the repair itself. If the repair was never made, you can send a second § 92.052 notice and restart the clock.
• Rent increases on the whole property are not retaliation. If every unit goes up 6% at renewal, yours going up 6% is not retaliatory, even if you filed a code complaint last month.
• You still have to mitigate. If the landlord retaliates and you walk away, you cannot sit in a hotel for three months and bill it all as actual damages. Courts expect reasonable replacement housing.

When to bring in a lawyer

Retaliation cases turn on motive and timing, which makes them fact-heavy. If the dollar amount is small and the landlord is a small owner, JP court small claims (up to $20,000) is workable pro se. If the landlord is a large property management company with in-house counsel, or if you are also fighting an eviction, talk to a Texas attorney — Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and St. Mary's Center for Legal & Social Justice both handle tenant matters in Bexar County at no cost for qualifying renters.

If your current rental has gone sideways and you need to move, browse active listings at RentInSA's /rentals, or use /agents to find a tenant-side agent who has worked these disputes before. More on Chapter 92 rights is at /resources.