I had to submit a writ of reentry as I was locked out by my mentally unstable landlord after a rent payment dispute to get back inside my apartment. Even though I was on a verbal agreement with the landlord I had resided in the apartment for over a month and had all my possessions in it.
I am a college student and a month-to-month tenant when I was locked out by the landlord (which is illegal in any jurisdiction without a notice of eviction and the appropriate court procedure). I called Tyler TX police to get back inside the apartment. The police said that they will not help me and that I need to get JP (which is JP James Meredith) to get me a writ of reentry.
The next day I filled out a writ of reentry and called JP Meredith (of Troup, TX) to ask about the physical location of the court to file my writ of reentry. The judge through his clerk REFUSED TO ACCEPT OR EVEN LOOK AT my writ, saying that in order to accept my writ I have to have an eviction procedure initiated against me by my landlord. The landlord evicted me illegally by locking me out WITHOUT going to court so how am I supposed to have an eviction case filed against me?!
I explained to the clerk who was in communication with the judge that it is ridiculous to require an illegally evicted tenant to have a file officially filed by his landlord on him to file a writ of reentry - all in vain.
Even though I may be on a verbal contract - all my property was inside the apartment and I did not have access to it. The police refused to help me retrieve my property from the apartment. I would probably be refused a writ of possession too.
Their reason: I am not on the lease with the apartment complex. A tenant is a tenant, regardless of whether he is on a lease or not, after he has resided on the property for over a month, has his property in the apartment and has made payments to the landlord for it. That is what the first part of the discovery of the writ of reentry is for. Discovery is when I am supposed to show proof to the Justice of the Peace that even though I am on a verbal agreement, I HAVE PROOF THAT I AM A MONTH-TO-MONTH TENANT AND THAT I LIVE THERE and that he should AT LEAST ACCEPT my writ of reentry.
I feel my tenant rights have been trampled and I am completely disgusted by this judge. I attempted to contact another judge's office in the same county to find who I could complain about this judge to but they said I have to complain to him about himself.
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