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Students Forced Out of Crest at Pearl Over ‘Structural Issues’ SHARE

Students Forced Out of Crest at Pearl Over ‘Structural Issues’

Mar 28, 2025

Students Forced Out of Crest at Pearl Over

‘Structural Issues’

By ELIJAH CARLL Reporting Texas

On Valentine’s Day, tenants living at the Crest at Pearl apartment complex on West Campus were greeted by calls and emails from management, telling them to move out immediately. What most tenants didn’t know then was that over the past two years, four code complaints had been led surrounding observed structural issues in the building.

For one tenant, a student who moved into a larger penthouse last year, the warning signs were obvious the moment they walked through the door.

“When we walked in the room, the oor was actually slanted,” the tenant said. “We contacted management and they said everything was ne.”

City inspectors conrmed the tenant’s observation in person, with one rolling a pingpong ball, watching it “roll all the way to the window on the other side of the room.”

The tenant, a senior at UT, wishes to stay anonymous as he negotiates his lease with American Campus Communities, the company that owns Crest at Pearl along with 13 other West Campus apartments. He says that after moving tenants out, they were given free stays at a hotel, but were initially denied the opportunity to break their leases or receive refunds on their rent. One tenant, who moved into another Crest at Pearl unit after their initial expulsion, had their rent increased by $1,160 for a smaller unit.

Exterior of the Crest at Pearl apartment Dateline: March 27th, 2025. Elijah Carll/Reporting Texas

A level tool on the oor of a penthouse unit at Crest at Pearl. Taken by a code compliance inspector with the City of Austin’s Development Services Department.

Lea Downey Gallatin, an attorney with the Austin Tenants Council, says the tenants may be able to sue the company for breach of contract given previously undisclosed structural issues. If all else fails, Gallatin says, organizing can be a powerful tool for tenants in this situation.

“There’s no way that landlords aren’t counting on the fact that this might be someone’s rst time renting an apartment,” Gallatin said. “Apartment buildings in West Campus go up fast. (In) my own experience as a student, (it) was physically lower quality housing than people I knew who were living elsewhere.”

The UT Tenants Union, which pushed the city government to ban construction of windowless apartment units last year, posted about Crest at Pearl on social media after receiving tips from tenants. After their post, Crest at Pearl began oering $500 gift cards to tenants who chose to resign their leases.

“If this is such a serious structural issue that students are having to move out … Should students have been moving out a year ago?” said Nam Thrikutam, a cofounder of UTU. “I think there’s just such a lack of transparency that it creates a lot of fear and intimidation with these students.”

For Thrikutam, she hopes the union can help tenants stand up to corporate landlords in situations like this. “You need to know these life skills on how to take care of yourself, on how to advocate for yourself,” Thrikutam said. “That’s what we’re really here for.”

Reporting Texas

Gov. Abbott wants to stop 'squatters.' So, Texas lawmakers proposed bills speeding up evictions.

KUT 90.5

| By Audrey McGlinchy

Published April 25, 2025 at 5:01 AM CDT

LISTEN • 6:44

A man removes items from a home in Southwest Austin in 2018. Several residents of the home were forced to leave after a judge ruled against them in eviction court.

Texas lawmakers have heeded calls from top Republicans, including Gov. Greg Abbott, to le bills to "crack down on squatters "

The term is used to describe someone illegally occupying a home

“This is an important bill that will try to end this squatters’ plague that has swept from coast to coast,” Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Republican from Houston, said at a Senate hearing earlier this month He did not provide data to prove that squatting is widespread

Five Days To Vacate: How a sudden setback can lead to an eviction in Travis County

But these bills would impact renters, not just squatters who never had a right to be on the property in the rst place Senate Bill 38 and its counterpart in the House would

GabrielC.Pérez / KUTNews

make it easier to evict people in the state, including presumably tens of thousands of renters with leases.

While the push for these bills has been led by Republicans, several Democrats have also signed onto them

Proponents of the legislation say it's necessary to ensure landlords can regain possession of their property faster. Tenant advocates warn the bills could strip renters of legal rights in a state where they currently have few

“This is the equivalent of using a shotgun in a schoolyard to kill a mosquito This is not a squatter bill,” said Nelson Mock, a housing attorney with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, which represents tenants in much of the state. “This is a bill that undermines tenants’ rights all across the board ”

Concerns about legal rights

Current law requires landlords and tenants be given a hearing in front of a judge who decides whether to grant an eviction

Evictions are often cut-and-dry cases where a judge is deciding whether a contract (the lease) has been violated Judges commonly spend just minutes on each case On a sday morning, a judge in Southwest Austin heard a dozen eviction cases in about half an hour

SB 38, which has passed the Senate, allows for what’s called a summary disposition It would give judges the option to not hold a hearing before a tenant is evicted.

If a judge agrees, a landlord could le evidence showing a tenant has not paid rent or has violated their lease in another way, such as having a pet not allowed under the agreement. The renter would get four days to respond to the landlord’s ling. If they don’t, the judge could sign an order to have them evicted

Last year, landlords led a record number of eviction cases in Travis County. Justices of the peace, which are lower court judges, oversee these cases. In 2018, then-Judge Nicholas Chu presided over evictions cases in a downtown courthouse.

Supporters of this provision say it allows judges to handle the most straightforward cases quicker

GabrielC.Pérez / KUTNews

“These reforms are going to improve eciency,” Corey Rogers, an attorney and representative of the Texas Apartment Association, told senators in March, “and provide fairness for all owners of rental property who rely on that income to cover their mortgages and other expenses.”

But opponents of the bill worry it could lead to tenants being locked out of their own eviction proceedings, stripping them of the right to defend themselves

“Due process is a constitutional right You can’t change that,” Mark Melton, a lawyer who founded the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center, argued in front of lawmakers last month.

“I also have a constitutional right to my property,” Rep. Jeff Leach, a Republican from Plano, snapped back

A renter would still have the right to appeal the ruling But barring an appeal, someone could be forced from the home they were living in in the span of a week.

Currently, eviction proceedings in Texas take at least several weeks.

What is squatting?

Sen. Bettencourt, the lead author of SB 38, has called squatting a “plague.” Lawmakers have touted stories like the one of a homeowner in Mesquite, Texas, who reportedly spent more than a year trying to evict a man who moved into her home while she was out of town

Bettencourt has said at hearings he estimates there could be upwards of 10,000 squatting cases in the state, although he has not given a timeframe for this number.

People who study squatting in the U.S. say there is no good data on the problem. And that’s likely because there are so few cases

“I think it’s quite uncommon in the U S , ” said Claire Herbert, a sociology professor at the University of Oregon who has studied squatting practices in the U S

KUT reached out to justices of the peace to ask how many squatting cases they typically handle. Judge KT Musselman in Williamson County said he has seen one or two squatting cases in the six years he’s been a judge He called it a “[t]otal non-issue” in the precinct he oversees.

But judges like Musselman may see dozens of eviction cases a week. Last year, just over 300,000 landlord-tenant cases were led in Texas, the vast majority of which were eviction cases, according to the Texas Oce of Court Administration.

The term “squatting” does not appear in Texas property law But lawyers told KUT these cases are typically handled as either “forcible entry and detainer” cases, which are civil issues, or as trespassing cases, which are criminal

Some opponents of these bills have called them Trojan horses eviction bills dressed up as so-called squatter legislation.

In 2024, the National Housing Law Project began tracking "anti-squatter" legislation across the country, including bills led in Georgia, Alabama and Florida Housing lawyers wrote that while these bills were "nominally targeted at squatters," they also impacted renters and people who initially had a legal right to be in a home

KUT reached out to Bettencourt’s oce for this story, but was unable to secure an interview KUT also reached out to the oce of Rep Angie Chen Button, a Republican from the Dallas area who is the lead author on a similar bill in the House, but did not hear back

Other changes to eviction law

SB 38 would also change other parts of eviction law, including how landlords can tell tenants they intend to le an eviction

State law currently gives landlords several options, including delivering the notice in person, mailing it or attaching it to the inside of a tenant’s front door SB 38 would give landlords more options, including placing the notice somewhere inside the apartment.

Supporters say this gives landlords more exibility. But opponents worry it could be abused

“Under this bill a landlord technically could go into a tenant’s apartment, put it under a pile of papers, and that would be sucient notice,” said Shoshana Krieger, project director for Building and Strengthening Tenant Action, a nonprot that helps low-income renters.

Another change under this bill would give landlords the option to hire someone other than a law enforcement ocer to remove a tenant from the home

/ KUTNews

Under current law, constables and their ocers serve writs of possession, which is when a tenant is forcibly removed from a home after being ordered evicted by a judge. In 2018, two deputies with the Travis County Constable Precinct 3 try to evict a tenant in an apartment in Southwest Austin.

GabrielC.Pérez

Under current law, if a renter does not leave within a certain amount of time after a judge orders an eviction, a landlord can ask for a writ of possession. This gives constables the ability to forcibly take someone out of a home and put their belongings outside.

Under SB 38, if the constable’s oce is busy and this doesn’t happen within ve days, the landlord would have the right to hire another law enforcement ocer, including an off-duty ocer, to do it

Again, supporters argue this gives landlords exibility and ensures evictions aren’t delayed. But opponents of the bill and others like it worry this could unnerve renters.

“It could be a person who just looks like someone off the street who has no identication that’s physically removing you and your family from their home,” said Ben Martin, research director at Texas Housers, a nonprot that educates low-income residents about housing

Lawmakers have passed SB 38 out of the Senate It’s been sent to a committee in the House.

SupportforKUT'sreportingonhousingnewscomesfromtheAustin CommunityFoundationandVikingFence. SponsorsdonotinuenceKUT's editorialdecisions.

Audrey McGlinchy

Audrey McGlinchy is KUT's housing reporter She focuses on affordable housing solutions, renters’ rights and the battles over zoning Got a tip? Email her at audrey@kut org Follow her on Twitter @AKMcGlinchy See stor

by Daniel Johnson

BLACK FARMWORKERS SUE MISSISSIPPI GROWER FOR FAVORING WHITE FOREIGN LABOR, ALLEGING WAGE DISCRIMINATION

The suit argues that Black workers were paid $10 an hour while foreign white workers received more.

On May 15, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Southern Migrant Legal Services (SMLS), and the Mississippi Center for Justice (MCJ) announced a joint lawsuit filed in federal court

on behalf of five Black U.S. farmworkers. The suit alleges that Gregory Carr discriminated against the workers by favoring white foreign laborers, resulting in thousands of dollars in lost wages.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Greenville, Mississippi, alleges that Carr’s misuse of the H-2A visa program informed his decision not to rehire Michael Anthony Nash, Jimmy Shaw, Vinnie Cason, Grant Lewis, and Charleston Taurvonta Harris, all Mississippi natives who formerly worked for Carr as migrant or seasonal farmworkers.

The suit also argues that Carr paid those workers and other Black workers on his farm $10 an hour while paying the foreign workers more. In addition to this, he misclassified the Black American workers on his farm as independent contractors and did not make the required contributions and tax payments that he was supposed to as an employer.

According to Kimberly Jones Merchant, the president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Justice, “The intentional underpayment and misclassification of Black farmworkers in favor of white foreign labor not only violates federal law but has become increasingly common in the Mississippi Delta, holding our communities back for generations and perpetuating the historical exploitation faced by Black agricultural workers in our community.”

As Jones Merchant alluded to, the suit marks the ninth case filed by SMLS and MCJ challenging the discriminatory practices of farmers in the Mississippi Delta, the other eight cases were all resolved in the favor of local workers and resulted in a significant wage recovery for the local workers who argued that the misuse of the visa program caused them to lose wages.

According to Marian Delaney from the SMLS, federal protections for American workers only matter if they are actually enforced.

“This case shows how the H-2A program can be manipulated to exclude and underpay Black American workers. Federal protections are only meaningful if we enforce them–and that’s exactly what our clients are demanding through this lawsuit,” Delaney said.

In April 2024, a similar case was resolved through the arbitration of a judge, who resolved the case on what was deemed mutually agreeable terms.

According to Hannah Wolf, an attorney who represented the 14 workers in that case, the SMLS would continue pursuing cases that resulted in American workers being replaced by foreign workers due to the intentional misuse of the H-2A program.

“The H-2A program requires employers first to try to recruit and hire local workers, but we continue to hear from U.S. workers who report being pushed out of their jobs and replaced with guest workers. We will continue to investigate those claims and bring legal action when warranted,” Wolf said.

Rob McDuff, one of the lawyers for MCJ, added, “We hope our legal efforts will make clear to farmers in the Delta, and across the U.S., that they need to pay fair wages to local workers.”

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Trump Budget Proposal Would Eliminate Legal Services for Tens of Thousands of Veterans, LowIncome Texans

JUNE 23, 2025 | KRISTA TORRALVA & MARK CURRIDEN

LegalaidactivistsinTexasare“deeplyconcerned”thatPresidentDonaldTrump’sproposedfiscalyear2026 budgetcallsforeliminatingLegalServicesCorporation,thefederalnonprofitthatprovidesfundingtolegal aidorganizationsacrossthestatethathelpmilitaryveteransaccessrightfulbenefits,victimsrecoverfrom naturaldisasters,survivorsofdomesticviolenceobtainprotectiveordersandmore.

InTexas,theproposedeliminationthreatensmorethan$45millioninannualgrantsthathelpfundthree majorlegalaidorganizations:LoneStarLegalAid,LegalAidofNorthWestTexas,andTexasRioGrande LegalAid.Thosegrantsaccountforapproximatelyone-thirdoftheseorganizations’totalfunding.

ThefiscalyearbeginsonOct.1,andthepossibilityofhavingtooperatewithoutLSCfundingisalready creatingaclimateofuncertainty.“Devastating”isoneofthewordsheardaroundthelegalaidcommunity. Search The Texas Lawbook Appellate Bankruptcy

RetiredTexasChiefJusticeNathanHecht,whoiswidelyrespectedinconservativepoliticalcircles,saidit “wouldbeacalamity”ifCongressandthepresidentdefundtheLSC.

“ThatlossinTexascommunitieswouldbedevastating,”saidBettyTorres,executivedirectoroftheTexas AccesstoJusticeFoundation,whichalsosupportsthethreemajororganizations.“Inthatcase,offices woulddefinitelybeshutteredalloverthestateandstaffwoulddefinitelybelaidoffand,ultimately,that meansthousandsofpeoplewhowon’tgetservices.”

LSC-fundedorganizationshelpTexanswithcivillegalmattersrangingfromdisasterrecovery,benefitsfor militaryveterans,domesticviolenceprotectiveordersandhousingdisputes.Statutoryrestrictionsdictate howLSCanditsgranteescanusefunds,whilealsolimitingthetypesofcasesLSC-fundedprogramsassist onto“reallybasicneedsofpeople,”saidTexasSupremeCourtJusticeBrettBusby.Busbywaspartofa TexasdelegationthattraveledtoWashington,D.C.,inApriltovisitwithsenatorsandcongresspeopleto petitionforcontinuedfundingforLSC.

Studieshaveshownthatcivillegalaidhasastrongpositivereturnoninvestment,saidJusticeBusby,who hasbeenalongtimesupporteroflegalaid.Forevery$1invested,civillegalaidreturns$7.48inothertypes ofgovernmentfundsthestatedoesn’thavetospend,accordingtothelasteconomicimpactstudydonein Texas.Inoneotherstate,Louisiana,thatnumberwasasmuchas$17.99.

Federalfundingoflegalaidalsohasstrongsupportinthebusinesscommunity.

SixcorporategeneralcounselfromTexas—ATT’sGCDavidMcAtee,DellGCRichRothberg,JacobsCLO JoanneCaruso,Kimberly-ClarkChiefAdministrativeOfficerJeffMelucci,Phillips66GCVanessa SutherlandandUSAACLOBobJohnson—joined98otherchieflegalofficersatlargeAmericancompanies insigningalettertomembersofCongressstatingthatfederalfundingofLSCis“criticaltoensurethe stabilityoffamiliesandcommunities.”

“Unaddressedlegalissuesresultingfromalackofaccesstolegalresourcesleadtoeconomicinstability whichnegativelyaffectsfamiliesandthebusinesscommunity,”theGCsstateinthetwo-pageletter.

“Somebody’sabletogettheirlegalproblemresolved,sotheydon’tenduphomeless,theydon’tendup withoutajob,kidsdon’tendupoutofschoolbecausetheirparentshavehadtorelocate.Thatcausesother governmentexpenditures,”Busbysaid.“Soitmakessense,notonlyfromahumanitarianperspective,but fromafiscalperspective,tospendthismoneyontheLegalServicesCorporation.…Inthecurrentbudget environmentwherethey’reunderstandablylookingtocut,that’snotagoodplacetocut,becauseyou’re goingtoendupspendingmoremoneyelsewhereasaresult.”

WithoutLSCfunding,courtswouldbefurtherbacklogged,theexistinghousingcrisiswouldgrowandthe needforshelterswouldexpand,saidHannahAllison,directorofstrategicinitiativesatTexasRioGrande LegalAid,whichprovidesaidtoabout23,000peopleacross68SouthwestTexascountieseachyear.

“We’retalkingaboutourneighborswhoarejustonesinglehurdleawayfromlosingeverything,and oftentimesgenerationally,”Allisonsaid.“It’sanimpactthatisfacedbytheirchildrenandtheirchildren’s children.”

Theuncertaintycreatesasignificantchallengeforthelegalaidorganizationsthataretryingtoputtogether theirbudgetsnowandmakesstaff“incrediblynervous,”saidMerritKlapperich,deputydirectorofLegalAid ofNorthWestTexas,whichservices114counties.

Createdin1974underPresidentRichardNixon,LSChassurvivedpastattemptsatelimination.President RonaldReaganproposedcuttingLSCin1974.FormerHouseSpeakerNewtGingrich’s1994legislative agendaContractwithAmericaalsothreatenedtoendLSC.UnderPresidentTrump’spreviousterm, proposalstoeliminatetheLSCinfourconsecutivebudgetswererejectedbyCongress.

LSChasenjoyedstrongbipartisansupportinthelastdecade,LSCPresidentRonaldFlaggsaid.Thisyear, 37statesupremecourtchiefjustices,includingTexasJusticeJimmyBlacklock,and40attorneysgeneral signedlettersurgingCongresstomaintainLSCfunding.TexasAttorneyGeneralKenPaxtonwasnotably absentfromthelist. TheTexasLawbook requestedaninterviewwithPaxton.

TexasSenatorJohnCornynhaslongbeenasupporterofLSC.

“Equalaccesstojusticeisanonpartisanissue,”CornynsaidinavideoLSCpublishedonYouTubeinearly JunethatincludedRepublicanandDemocraticsenatorsandrepresentativesfromacrossthecountry.“And I’llcontinuesupportingLSC’slife-changingwork.”

“LSCensuresthatthemostvulnerableAmericanshaveaccesstocounsel,includingdomesticviolenceand humantraffickingsurvivors,children,theelderly,andthedisabled,”Cornynsaid.

TheLawbook requestedinterviewswithCornynandfellowTexasSenatorTedCruz.

“Ithinkweseemuchmorerecognitionoflegalaidasbeing…anonpartisanissue:thatadomesticviolence survivorshouldgethelp,thatasurvivorofahurricaneorafloodshouldgethelp,thataveteranshouldget helpingettingtheveteransbenefitstheyearnedbytheirservice,”Flaggsaid.

“That’snotaRepublicanissue.That’snotaDemocratissue.That’safundamentalfairnessissue,andit’s alsoaconstituent-serviceissue,”Flaggsaid.“WhenItalktopeopleonCapitolHillandtheytellmethat theirjobisconstituentservices,Isay,‘That’sourjob,too.’Whenyourconstituentsneedhelpwithhousing, familyissues,publicbenefits,youmembersofCongressroutinelyreferyourconstituentstotheprograms wefund.”

Thatsaid,Flaggadmits,“therisksassociatedwiththeWhiteHouseproposalsseemgreaterthantheywere eightyearsago.”

LSC’sbudgetstoodat$560millionforfiscalyears2024and2025,afigurethatadvocatessayhasnotkept pacewithinflation.LSC’sbudgetin1994was33percentlessat$400million.

For2026,theorganizationisrequesting$2.1billion—afigureFlaggsaysadjustsforinflationandreflects whatisneededtoavoidturningawayhalfofeligibleclients.

Texascurrentlygetsabout8percentofLSC’sbudgetandwouldcontinuetogetthesamepercentageifLSC gottheincreaseitseeks,Flaggsaid.

Content of The Texas Lawbook is controlled and protected by specic licensing agreements with our subscribers and under federal copyright laws. Any distribution of this content without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.

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BUSINESS

New Texas laws will crackdown on residential solar scams, crooked companies

The industry has run for years without regulations to combat fast-talking salespeople who go door-to-door making promises they can’t keep

By Sara DiNatale, Business Reporter

June 24, 2025

Improper installation of a rooftop solar system split the wooden beams supporting Ana Rebollosa’s roof, causing leaks that carved holes in her ceiling She paid a roofer to remove the solar panels When this photo was taken last year, they were stacked outside in her yard and she was working with a friend to repair the roof.

NewTexaslawswillcrackdownonresidentialsolars

A sweeping act to regulate the at-home solar industry has become law in Texas a measure major industry players say has been sorely needed as thousands of Texans have already been stuck with predatory loans, junk systems and wrecked roofs because of unscrupulous companies

Everlit

Jessica Phelps/San Antonio Express-News le photo

0:10 0:10 / / 0:15 0:15

In some cases, customers have been tricked into agreements that could put ownership of their homes at risk. The new law creates a licensing system for salespeople, costly nes for bad actors and requires installers to carry insurance.

It was among the bills Gov. Greg Abbott allowed to become law without his signature by this week’s deadline.

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IN BROAD DAYLIGHT: How Texas’ solar energy boom victimized thousands of homeowners

Attorneys who specialize in solar consumer cases say the law is needed. After a series of stories last year exposed the industry’s practices, new nancing and contracting schemes have surfaced that could lead residential solar buyers to risk their homes to foreclosure

“Predators that go into unregulated markets, once their strategy gets found out, they develop new ones,” said Alex Gilbert, an attorney with nonprot Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.

Until the new law begins going into effect Sept. 1, Texans are largely defenseless once they’ve signed a contract.

The state has allowed the industry to run unchecked for years, without the kind of oversight developed by other states to combat fast-talking salespeople who go door to door falsely promising $0 energy bills and government-funded solar systems.

Customer complaints to the Texas Attorney General skyrocketed in recent years as sales teams targeted the elderly, disabled, and non-English speakers after a deadly winter storm in early 2021 exposed the fragility of the statewide electric grid, an Express-News investigation found.

As a result, even Texas solar businesses have come out in favor of new oversight because their own reputations have been damaged by those doing poor work across the state The newspaper’s ndings also fueled lawmakers to act, with sweeping changes proposed during the legislative sessionthat ended this month.

Senate Bill 1036 is the second solar consumer protection bill added into law this session. The rst which Abbott signed in May requires creation of a stateauthored consumer guide that outlines common missteps and red ags. SB1036 requires salespeople to hand out that guide while offering a lease or sale of a system.

RELATED: New Texas law aims to protect homeowners from rooftop solar scams

Championed by Sen. Judith Zafrni, a Laredo Democrat, SB 1036 creates civil penalties for those found lying to customers Fines are up to $2,500 for each offense and up to $50,000 for repeat infractions The maximum nes go up to $10,000 and $100,000 in each category if the victim is 65 or older.

“This legislation, passed by the Texas Legislature and signed by the Governor, will go a long way toward ensuring that unscrupulous salespeople and companies cannot take advantage of vulnerable consumers, particularly the elderly,” the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, which will enforce the legislation, said in a statement. “SB1036 has common-sense protections for the public, while also ensuring Texas small business owners are not overburdened by regulation”

Risks still ahead

The Express-News found awed design and shoddy workmanship left many homeowners saddled with systems that produced little or no power. In some cases, solar panels were installed facing north away from the sun or on tree-shaded roofs, rendering them all but useless.

While some parts of the bill are effective this September, other major aspects like salespeople’s background checks, registration requirements, and monetary nes won’t be in effect until June or September 2026.

Ana Rebollosa, right, repairs damage to her roof with help from a handyman friend, Jason Owens She says a solar power company bungled the installation of rooftop panels, causing leaks that damaged the interior of her home. She paid a roofer to remove the panels but was still stuck with a 25-year, $46,000 loan. Jessica Phelps/San Antonio Express-News le photo

That means Texans still need to be on guard. With President Donald Trump and the GOP’s push to remove residential rooftop solar tax credits from the federal budget, advocates are concerned homeowners might be more at risk of rushing through agreements as they try to cash in on the program before the end of this year.

Many homeowners, under the false guidance of dishonest sales teams, think the tax credits will knock tens of thousands of dollars off the cost of their rooftop array In actuality, many people don’t qualify for the breaks.

RELATED: ‘Kneel for the deal’: Inside the high-pressure sales culture that powered Texas’ solar energy boom

If a homeowner is lower income or on Social Security and already isn’t paying much, or anything, in federal taxes each year, they won’t be able to benet from the credits on their income taxes.

“They so often pick people who are more easily victimized to do the worst practices on,” Gilbert said of unscrupulous salespeople and companies.

New schemes

Gilbert’s experiences as an attorney defending solar victims match the Express-News’ ndings in its four-part series ‘In Broad Daylight.’ Elderly customers often don’t understand what they’re agreeing to or have their signatures forged Spanish speakers are often sold a system on false promises in their own language with contracts written only in English.

In a case just getting started in the Rio Grande Valley, an elderly man consolidated solar panel loans with some smaller existing debt at the suggestion of his lender. Gilbert said his client had no idea his home had been put up as collateral until he got the foreclosure notice after falling behind on his massive monthly panel costs.

Increasingly, the team at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid is seeing loans that cover panel systems and roof repairs, the attorney said. The team helps a large swath of Texas

including 68 counties along the Coastal Bend region and South, Central, and West Texas by providing legal representation to people who otherwise can’t afford it.

The changes to some customers’ roofs modications to the structure of the home for installation of the panels can give businesses and lenders a legal stake in the property, Gilbert said That’s different from a lien tied only to the panels, which is typical in solar panel-only loans

Homeowners who understand they’re taking out a loan are usually sold on the idea that the panels’ energy bill savings will more than cover the cost of the payment. But that’s often not reality.

Kevin Sherrod, an installer for Atma Energy, carries a solar panel being installed on a home in New Braunfels Atma is among the reputable solar panel companies in the area that supported stricter regulations to stop bad actors tarnishing the industry in Texas

Jessica Phelps/San Antonio Express-News le photo

The Express-News investigation found many households were unable to afford both the loan payment and their mostly unchanged energy bills. In many cases, that was because systems were poorly designed or their home poorly suited for solar.

RELATED: How a hidden fee pushed the cost of Texas residential solar systems through the roof

The series was built on an analysis of more than 1,000 consumer complaints led with the attorney general. It found that more than 50% of complainants said they were still making loan payments on rooftop systems that were unnished, faulty or never worked.

Another 28% said their systems were generating much less power than promised and usually not enough to offset their cost.

Under current law, they have little recourse

‘They did nothing wrong’

But defaulting on loan payments isn’t the only risk to homes, legal experts said. Gilbert’s colleague, Ethan Siegel, handled a case last year in which a couple from Cameron County came close to losing their home even though they kept up with payments.

A contractor’s attempted use of a mechanic’s lien was the culprit Such a lien is a claim led on a property to secure payment for work or materials provided during construction or repairs.

The facts of the case were outlined in a series of legal documents reviewed by the Express-News. The couple who fought off the foreclosure declined to speak with a

But Siegel, who represented them in court, said he considers their experience a cautionary tale. The couple understood they were taking out a loan agreement to cover the costs of the panels and roof repairs. The installation company hired a subcontractor to handle the roof The subcontractor essentially hired its own “subsubcontractor,” Siegel said, to secure supplies

Then, that subcontractor disappeared without paying the company that purchased materials. That’s when the roofer went after the couple’s home to recoup its costs for supplies. Siegel said the contractor ultimately failed to prove to the court it had led the mechanic’s lien correctly.

“In theory, if they had led the mechanic’s lien properly our clients would not really have had much defense to their house being foreclosed on,” he said “And they did nothing wrong”

Such cases show how important homeowners know exactly who they are doing business with, Siegel said. But that can be a challenge without a system of statesanctioned accountability.

Coming regulations

Such abuses motivated the industry’s leading trade groups and Texas-based companies to push for robust regulation

“Solar gives Texas families and the grid many benets,” Mark Stover, executive director of the Texas Solar and Storage Association, told the House Committee on State Affairs. “Unfortunately, some bad actors have given the industry a black eye

and harmed consumers along the way. It’s time to tighten up regulations, expand consumer trust and ensure transparent transactions with responsible companies.”

Ann Baddour, who advocates for the nancially vulnerable with the nonprot Texas Appleseed, worries that if the state doesn’t get control of y-by-night solar companies soon, more Texans will be worse off

Appleseed published its own report on Texas’ residential solar panel problems, nding residents in 141 of the 254 Texas counties have submitted solar panel-related complaints to the attorney general.

“This affects so many areas urban communities and rural communities.” Baddour said. “I feel like the time is now to combat it. I’m fearful as these companies start to look more to home equity loans that people will lose their homes if we don’t start to nip some of these practices in the bud”

The new Residential Solar Retailer Regulatory Act prohibits “knowingly, or recklessly (making) a false, misleading or deceptive oral or written statement to another person when engaging in residential solar retail.” It also bars sales reps from falsely stating or implying they are afliated with a local utility a common tactic. The state could revoke a company’s or salesperson’s registration based on evidence of such misconduct.

“They not only have to be registered and vetted but also be associated with a specic solar retailer,” Baddour said of the new regulations. “They can’t just come in and sell systems from multiple players. Companies also have to have accountability.”

The law also requires the installation be performed by an electrical contractor not just under the guidance of one and that their name and license number be clearly

stated. If the homeowner has a choice of contractors, the retailer must list options with their license numbers included.

The new set of laws will apply only to systems contracted on or after Sept. 1.

Siegel, the attorney, hopes the insurance requirements could be a potential avenue of relief for customers who have been scammed He also sees the benet of a state agency providing new resources for Texans

“The best thing for us to tell consumers and potential clients is to contact someone else as quickly as you can,” he said, when details are still fresh. “Maybe that’s us. Maybe with this bill, that’s a government agency.”

June 24, 2025

Sara DiNatale BUSINESS REPORTER

Sara DiNatale covers energy, the Texas grid, ERCOT, CPS Energy, and labor for the San Antonio Express-News. She can be reached at (210) 446-3358, sara.dinatale@express-news.net, or @sara dinatale.

Sara joined the sta in 2023 She won a 2024 George Polk Award for her investigation on the Texas residential solar industry, 'In Broad Daylight.' She spent six years in Florida at the Tampa Bay Times, where she covered breaking news before settling into business reporting. She also covered labor, the economy, and health care at Mississippi Today, where her reporting was recognized by the Green Eyeshade Awards and the Mississippi Press Association. She’s a graduate of the University at Bualo (2015) and a native of Western New York.

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