Eviction Appeals in Texas: Five-Day Deadlines, the Good-Faith Affirmation, and the County Court Trial

After a Justice Court issues a final judgment in an eviction case (a forcible detainer action), either party may appeal to the county court, and a great many tenants do. Senate Bill 38, which took effect January 1, 2026, made eviction appeals faster, tighter, and more procedurally demanding than they used to be. Tenants must now swear under penalty of perjury that the appeal is made in good faith. They must pay rent into the court registry to remain in possession during the appeal. The county court must hold trial within 21 days. And the court rules that govern the appeal, Rule 510 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, are not the same rules many landlords think they remember from years past. This page is a walk-through of how Texas eviction appeals actually work in 2026.

One caution: any references you may have seen to Rules 749, 750, or 752 are obsolete. Those rules were repealed in 2013 and replaced by Rule 510. SB 38 then layered new procedural requirements on top of Rule 510 starting January 1, 2026.

The five-day deadline to perfect an appeal

A party who wants to appeal a Justice Court eviction judgment has five days from the date the judgment is signed to perfect the appeal. There is no motion-for-new-trial requirement and no extension built into the rule. Missing the five-day window is jurisdictional; the county court has no authority to hear an untimely appeal, regardless of the merits.

In our experience, the most common five-day failure isn’t the tenant who appeals late. It’s the tenant who files a defective Statement of Inability and a landlord who fails to challenge it within the five-day window. Either side can lose the case on a procedural defect alone.

Five days means five calendar days, not business days. Weekends and holidays count toward the five-day window. If the fifth day falls on a weekend or court holiday, the deadline rolls to the next business day under the standard time-computation rule, but landlords should never rely on a rollover and should treat the fifth calendar day as the operative deadline.

Perfecting the appeal requires one of three things, all filed with the Justice Court (not the county court):

• A cash deposit in the amount of the appeal bond set by the Justice of the Peace; or
• A surety bond approved by the Justice of the Peace; or
• A Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs (the document formerly called a “pauper’s affidavit”) on the form prescribed by the Texas Supreme Court.

Filing any of these three with the Justice of the Peace within five days perfects the appeal and divests the Justice Court of jurisdiction. Handing the bond or statement to the JP in person counts as filing.

What is the appeal bond and how is it set?

The Justice of the Peace sets the appeal bond at the time of judgment. The bond amount is intended to cover rent that will accrue during the appeal plus any damages the appealing party might be ordered to pay. The bond is payable to the prevailing party, the landlord, where the tenant appeals.

Under SB 38 and the current rules, the bond cannot be set so high that it effectively denies the right to appeal. A tenant who cannot afford the bond has the alternative of filing a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs.

The landlord can contest the amount of the bond if it appears too low to cover anticipated rent and damages during the appeal, but practically, JP courts set bonds in a fairly standardized range and bond contests are uncommon.

The Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs

Under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145, a person who cannot afford court costs can file a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs in lieu of paying. In an eviction appeal, the same statement substitutes for the appeal bond.

The statement must be on the Texas Supreme Court’s prescribed form, signed under penalty of perjury, and filed with the Justice Court within the five-day appeal window. It details the tenant’s income, expenses, dependents, and assets.

The landlord can contest the statement within five days of being served with it. A contest forces a hearing, usually within a few days, at which the JP determines whether the tenant qualifies for indigent status. If the JP sustains the contest, the tenant must post a bond within a short window or the appeal fails. If the JP overrules the contest, the appeal proceeds without bond.

SB 38’s good-faith affirmation requirement

This is the single most significant procedural change SB 38 made to eviction appeals. Beginning January 1, 2026, a tenant who appeals an eviction judgment must include a sworn affirmation, signed under penalty of perjury, that the appeal is made in good faith and not for the purpose of delay.

The affirmation requirement applies regardless of whether the tenant is appealing with a bond or with a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs.

A false affirmation is perjury under Texas law and exposes the tenant to criminal prosecution as well as sanctions in the eviction case itself. For landlords, the affirmation creates new tools for challenging delay-only appeals. If the tenant appeals, refuses to engage in discovery, requests continuances, and offers no defense at trial, the landlord can move for sanctions and attorney’s fees on the theory that the affirmation was false. SB 38 does not specify the form of the affirmation; courts have generally accepted a one-paragraph statement appended to the appeal bond or Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs.

Registry payment: keeping possession during the appeal

A tenant who has appealed a nonpayment-eviction judgment can stay in the property during the appeal only if the tenant pays rent into the court registry. The mechanics:

• Within five days of filing the appeal bond or Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs, the tenant must pay one rental period’s rent into the Justice Court registry.
• Rent must continue to be paid into the registry as it comes due during the appeal.
• If the tenant fails to make any of these payments on time, the landlord can move for a writ of possession and the JP must issue it after a short hearing.

SB 38 added a statutory floor: if there is no written lease specifying a rent amount, the court sets the registry payment at the higher of $250 or the fair market rental value of the premises, as established by evidence at the JP hearing.

This registry payment is in addition to the appeal bond, not a substitute for it. A tenant who posted a bond and stopped paying rent into the registry loses the right to remain in possession even though the appeal continues. For landlords, the registry payment requirement is the strongest tool available to keep an appealing tenant from gaining months of free occupancy.

After the appeal is perfected: what happens next

Once the appeal is perfected, the Justice Court forwards the case file (called the transcript) to the clerk of the county court within a short window. Further proceedings in the JP court are suspended.

The case sits in the county court clerk’s office for eight days. After eight days have passed, either party can request that the case be set for trial.

If the defendant did not file a written answer in the JP court and does not file one in the county court within eight days after the transcript is filed, the county court can enter judgment by default against the defendant.

SB 38’s 21-day county court trial deadline

SB 38 imposes a hard outer deadline: the county court must hold trial within 21 days after the transcript is filed by the JP court. This is a marked change from the pre-2026 practice, where county court trials could drift for months.

Continuances are still possible, but only on a showing of good cause and only when the requesting party can demonstrate that the continuance does not undermine the policy of speedy resolution. Under SB 38, a tenant cannot use repeated continuances to extend possession beyond the statutory window.

The 21-day deadline applies to the trial setting, not to disposition. A trial that begins within 21 days but takes longer to conclude does not violate the statute. Practically, eviction appeals are bench trials and most conclude in a single sitting.

The trial de novo standard

The appeal to county court is a trial de novo, meaning the case is tried again from scratch. The county court judge does not review the JP’s decision for error; the judge holds a new trial as if the JP proceeding had never occurred.

Both parties can plead and prove all relevant facts, call witnesses, introduce exhibits, and recover damages caused by withholding or defending possession during the pendency of the appeal. Recoverable damages include lost rentals, court costs, and reasonable attorney’s fees in both the JP and county court if statutorily authorized (see § 24.006 and applicable lease provisions).

The county court can:

• Affirm the JP judgment for possession;
• Reverse the JP judgment and rule for the tenant;
• Modify the judgment;
• Assess damages for either party, including the registry payments held by the court; and
• Award attorney’s fees if statutorily authorized.

Federal floor: when CARES Act and HUD/Section 8 minimums apply

SB 38 expressly preserves federal minimum requirements where they apply. For properties subject to the CARES Act 30-day notice (federally backed mortgages, LIHTC, HUD/Section 8, and similar covered properties), the underlying notice-to-vacate analysis is governed by the federal floor, and a defective notice at the JP level can be a basis for reversal on appeal.

Tenants in voucher-holder situations and other federally regulated tenancies may also have additional procedural protections (Section 8 termination notices, VAWA protections, and reasonable accommodation requirements under the federal Fair Housing Act) that come up at the appeal level even if they were not properly raised at the JP level.

When the appeal ends: final judgment, writ, and beyond

When the county court issues its final judgment, that judgment is the operative judgment in the case. If the county court rules for the landlord, the writ of possession is then issued out of the county court, not back at the JP level. Six days must pass after the county court’s judgment for possession before the writ issues, mirroring the JP-level rule.

A county court judgment in an eviction case can be appealed to the Court of Appeals on legal error, but the right to remain in possession during a Court of Appeals review is extremely limited, and most landlord-tenant disputes do not extend that far.