A North Harris County couple says they were locked out of their own apartment and belongings without warning, forced to sleep in their car while insisting they had done nothing wrong. Mohammed Nkosi says he and his pregnant wife paid their rent on time at Palms on Rolling Creek Apartments, yet management changed their locks anyway, refusing to explain why.
Nkosi told Click2Houston that he and his wife had paid their rent and done everything required of them, denying that they owed any money or were facing eviction. He said he showed the outlet bank statements indicating their electric bills were paid on time, along with approved rent payments sent via Zelle. A property manager identified only as Frank countered that the couple was facing eviction and claimed Nkosi owed $5,000, though Frank also said management did not have to ask for consent to change the locks and refused to explain why they were changed in the first place.
The dispute did not begin with the lockout. Nkosi said the couple had already contacted management about a roughly 48-hour power outage that hit their unit, during which his pregnant wife could not refrigerate her insulin. Frank claimed the couple had not responded to his calls and texts, while Nkosi said it was management that ignored the couple's calls regarding both the outage and, later, the lock change.
911 Calls and a Shock at the Breaker Box
When Nkosi discovered the locks had been changed, he called 911. A Harris County deputy responded and took his information, according to the account he gave Click2Houston. During the visit, the deputy checking the breaker box tied to the outage was shocked by an electrical current, an incident that unfolded on the same day as the lockout, Wednesday.
With no way back into their home, Nkosi and his wife slept in their car and later paid out of pocket for a hotel room. Frank declined further comment to the outlet beyond his initial claims about the couple's rent status and unanswered messages.
What Texas Law Says About Lockouts
Texas Property Code Section 92.0081 requires that even when a landlord changes locks over delinquent rent, the landlord must post written notice on the front door and give the tenant a new key 24 hours a day upon request, regardless of whether the rent is ever paid, according to FindLaw. If a landlord fails to meet that standard, the same statute entitles a tenant to recover possession or terminate the lease, plus statutory damages equal to one month's rent plus $1,000, actual damages, court costs and attorney's fees, per Residential Rights.
Tenants facing an unlawful lockout in Texas also have a faster option than standard civil litigation: filing a sworn complaint in Justice Court under Section 92.009 for an ex parte writ of reentry, which allows a sheriff or constable to use reasonable force to immediately restore access, FindLaw notes. Separately, Section 92.008 bars landlords from intentionally cutting off utilities like electricity unless the interruption is tied to bona fide repairs, construction or an emergency — a provision directly relevant to the couple's 48-hour outage and the spoiled insulin.
Formal removal of a tenant also requires more than a management decision. Under Chapter 24 of the Texas Property Code, a landlord cannot permanently evict or remove a tenant without completing a judicial process in Justice Court, including a court judgment and a writ of possession executed by law enforcement, according to Holmes Law, PLLC. Nkosi said the couple plans to pursue legal action over what happened.
A Complex With a History of Complaints
Palms on Rolling Creek, at 17100 Rolling Creek Dr in North Harris County, is a 179-unit community built in 1969 and operated by Eglinton Properties Management, according to property listing site SafeButler. Tenant review aggregates as of this year show the complex rated 2.2 out of 5 on ApartmentRatings across 79 reviews and 3.4 out of 5 on Google across 104 reviews, with recurring complaints about unreturned management communications, maintenance delays and utility issues — a pattern that echoes Nkosi's account of being ignored when he raised concerns about both the outage and the lock change.
Renters elsewhere in Harris County facing similar disputes are not without options. The county runs an Eviction Defense Coalition offering free legal advice and courtroom representation through organizations like Lone Star Legal Aid for qualifying low-to-moderate-income renters, according to Harris County Housing and Community Development, with representation available across all 16 of the county's Justice of the Peace precincts.
For now, the standoff between Nkosi's family and Palms on Rolling Creek remains unresolved, with each side offering a starkly different account of who is telling the truth about the rent, the outage and the locks.
