[TX] Landlord evicting me, has proof of my misdeeds because of his hidden camera : legaladvice

Authored by reddit.com and submitted by Crisis_Redditor

Many months ago I rented a nice quiet 2 bedroom house for myself. A few months into the lease my boyfriend from out of state came and stayed with me for about 10 days. About a month later my landlord started the eviction process because I broke the lease. See, my lease clearly states no guest may stay with me at the house for longer then 4 days in a row and no more then 8 days in any 30 day period. So, the landlord is correct, I broke the lease.

Our court date is next week, and I'm fighting the eviction because that seems like a bad clause and I like the place. I figured he just sort of was being over protective of his house and was checking up frequently and noticed my bfs car or something, well it turns out that wasn't it. See he e-mailed me today with a settlement offer. If I moved out by Sunday he would withdraw the eviction, it won't show up on my records, and he'll wave all fees. He said he could prove that I broke the lease and sent 10 photos, one for each day that my boyfriend was here. Well, the photos are from inside the house. I'm not 100% sure where the camera is, but based on what I can see in the pictures, it must be in or near the ceiling fan.

So, I'm pretty sure what I did was (probably) not so bad. Though I'm very sure what he did is definitely illegal. Now, my bf wants me to call the cops and have him arrested. To be clear, I do too. But I know he's planning on submitting those photo as evidence against me in court next week. I want to let him, and then call the cops. Is that a stupid plan?

Last little wrinkle, I'm out of state at my boyfriends house for the weekend, so I can't exactly consult a local attorney at the moment. Which is also why I don't want to call the cops right now, since I'm not home to let them in and show them stuff in the house. Please reddit lawyers, you're my only hope(until I can get home and deal with this better).

Update: First of all, thank you all for reading and responding to my post. Second, I want to apologize for taking so long to respond, I needed time to process everything and to figure out what I'm going to do next.

I have decided to fly home today, and when I get home I will contact the police and have them look around the house.

Many people suggested I get a lawyer, but I don't know what kind to get. Would it be a tenant lawyer?

Am I allowed to change the locks in the house, given everything? Otherwise I'm going to stay at a friends house when I get home.

Still_Mighty on September 29th, 2018 at 06:06 UTC »

Bad news, she’s probably gonna have to move out of the property- why would she ever consider staying after such a huge breach of trust?

Good news, her landlord is the one that’s fucked, not her. She gets to break the lease and not have to deal with the eviction process or even the remainder of the term.

Treecreaturefrommars on September 29th, 2018 at 05:11 UTC »

There is nothing quite like someone taking aim at someone else, and then end up shooting themselves in the foot instead.

OMGorilla on September 29th, 2018 at 05:00 UTC »

Holy shit. If this is real...

That dude is going to fucking jail prison, and she could probably sue him for enough to just get the house for free.

I really hope she can get the police to secure an arrest right away and get a warrant to seize his computers and storage devices. I bet this dude has some really damning evidence saved. Probably even folders titled, ‘Topless’, ‘Nude’, ‘Towel’, etc.

Glad he’s stupid.