New Landlord Not Saddled with Rent Payment Waivers of Its Predecessor

What Happened: A landlord sued to evict a physician tenant for not paying rent. While acknowledging that she was five months in arrears, the tenant noted that she had been allowed to pay late two years earlier without being charged late fees and that the landlord had thus waived its right to timely rent. The court agreed and found the landlord liable for wrongful eviction.  

Decision: The Texas Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s ruling and ordered the tenant to pay the landlord the $24,823 in rent remaining on the lease.   

Reasoning: The problem with the tenant’s waiver argument was that it was based on what had happened with the previous landlord. There was no contention that this landlord had ever accepted late rent once it took over as owner of the building. Moreover, the lease contained an “integration clause” saying that the written lease terms constituted the entire agreement between the parties, which ruled out the possibility of any oral agreements.

• CHCA Woman's Hosp., L.P. v. Uwaydah: 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 4690, 2019 WL 2376115