Collecting Unpaid Rent in Round Rock, Georgetown & Cedar Park, TX: A Property Manager's Guide to Williamson County

Williamson County's Four Justice Courts

Evictions go to the JP precinct where the property sits, and the precinct lines don't follow city limits.

Williamson County has four Justice of the Peace and constable precincts, on boundaries that took effect January 1, 2022 (Williamson County). The county's own eviction petition asks you to name the property and its justice-court precinct (eviction petition, rev. January 2026), so the precinct is the first thing to get right.

Court locations are from the county's justice courts directory; the official precinct map and the county's address lookup are what control. Don't assume a Georgetown address means JP 3. Professional filers can use eFileTexas, and paper filing still works through the right clerk. The harder venue question is whether the property is in Williamson County at all.

Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander and Pflugerville Cross Into Travis County

Four of the county's biggest cities sit partly in Travis County, and the property's county decides the court.

Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander and Pflugerville each include land in both Williamson and Travis counties (City of Round Rock; City of Cedar Park). Pflugerville is the one that trips people up most: the city runs elections in both counties, and the Williamson County map shows it reaching only the county's southern edge (Williamson County Pflugerville map). The mailing city, ZIP code, leasing office and tenant's employer don't decide venue. The parcel does.

A portfolio that runs along the county line should tag every unit with its county and precinct in the property management system, so nobody guesses at filing time. Travis-side properties follow our Austin guide, including Travis County's higher fees. On the Williamson side, the base cost is low and the local charges are the uncertain part.

How Much Does an Eviction Cost in Williamson County?

Filing is $54 statewide. Constable service and the writ are local charges that Williamson doesn't publish in a clearly dated 2026 schedule.

The Texas Office of Court Administration sets a $54 base filing fee for an eviction, small claim or debt claim in justice court, and says service charges are separate and vary by county (Texas OCA). That's where Williamson gets murky. The county's current writ of possession form leaves the officer's fee blank (Williamson County writ form), and the figures circulating online for constable service and writ execution trace back to older county instructions rather than a dated 2026 schedule. We're not quoting them.

Travis figures are from the Travis County 2026 constable fee schedule, as covered in our Austin guide. Call the Williamson JP clerk for the current service and writ charges before you budget a batch of filings. Fees are only half the planning; the other half is how fast a case moves.

Eviction and Collection Timelines

The 2026 Texas rules put an eviction trial 10 to 21 days after filing, so an uncontested case usually reaches judgment in two to three weeks.

Under the Texas Supreme Court's 2026 Rule 510 order, the trial must be set 10 to 21 days after filing, the constable must make a diligent service attempt within five business days, and trial can't happen sooner than four days after service (Texas Supreme Court, Rule 510 order). Possession takes longer than judgment: you wait out the post-judgment period, request and pay for the writ, and the officer posts a 24-hour notice before returning to supervise removal (Williamson County guidance).

• Uncontested eviction to judgment: about two to three weeks from filing.
• Possession: longer, by the writ request and the 24-hour notice.
• Contested or appealed: potentially several more weeks.
• Separate small claim after move-out: the defendant generally has 14 days after service to answer (Texas State Law Library), so plan on roughly six to ten weeks from service.

These are planning ranges built from the rules, not county statistics. Williamson publishes calendars and case records but no median time to possession by precinct. Most balances, though, surface after the resident has already left, which puts them in a different kind of case.

After Move-Out: Small Claims, Not Debt Claims

An owner suing a former resident for unpaid rent normally files a small claim. The debt-claim track is for assignees, collection agencies and lenders.

Texas justice courts have two money-case tracks, and the debt-claim rules are written for claim assignees, collection agencies, financial institutions and businesses that lend money at interest (Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 508). A landlord collecting its own rent ordinarily uses small claims. Williamson County publishes a separate justice court civil petition that lets you state the debt, court costs and any attorney's fees the lease and law allow. For a money-only case, venue can depend on where the former resident lives and where the events happened, not only where the unit is.

If the resident is still in the unit, the eviction petition can include unpaid rent through judgment, which is usually cheaper than a second case. Once they've moved, the question is whether a judgment is worth chasing at all, which our guide to eviction judgment collection covers. Before any of that, it helps to know what local help a resident might already be using.

Local Rules and Rent Assistance

We found no local Williamson County ordinance that adds a notice period, right to cure or diversion step. Assistance exists, but it doesn't pause a case.

As of October 15, 2026, we found no 2024-2026 ordinance from Williamson County, Round Rock, Georgetown, Cedar Park, Leander or Pflugerville creating local just-cause rules, a longer nonpayment notice, a court-mandated right to cure or an Austin-style diversion step. The statewide Texas Rent Relief and Texas Eviction Diversion programs closed in 2023 (TDHCA), so don't point residents to them. What's left is local and funding-limited:

• Williamson County allocated $185,910 in Emergency Solutions Grant funding for rapid rehousing through Bluebonnet Community Services in its 2025-2026 plan (county action plan). Its standards allow a one-time payment of up to six months of arrears, including late fees, for eligible households (ESG standards).
• Round Rock passes federal block-grant funding to nonprofits that offer rent assistance rather than running its own program (City of Round Rock).
• Cedar Park refers residents to emergency-housing and financial-assistance providers (City of Cedar Park).
• Pflugerville reported no households receiving rental assistance through its 2024 block-grant program; Travis-side residents can use the Travis County Community Center in Pflugerville.

If a resident says help is coming, ask the provider for a written pledge amount and payment date before agreeing to delay or dismiss a filed case. Who those residents are matters too, because a lot of Williamson County's renters moved there for a job.

Tech Employers, New Supply and Concessions

Big employers bring renters in and transfer them out, and a supply wave gave those renters plenty of choice.

Dell's Round Rock headquarters had about 12,000 employees in 2024 (City of Round Rock financial report), the county's economic development partnership lists Apple at about 7,000 in unincorporated Williamson County (Williamson County EDP), and Samsung reported 1,150 employees in Taylor in 2025 as its campus began significant operations (Samsung 2025 impact report). That means relocation clauses, job-transfer move-outs and contractors on short stays, especially around Taylor, Hutto, Pflugerville and Round Rock. No public source measures the resulting turnover rate.

Sources: Newmark Austin multifamily snapshots for Q4 2024, Q3 2025 and Q2 2026. Rents and occupancy have leveled off as deliveries slowed. Build-to-rent adds competition the apartment numbers miss: one developer opened or built 634 detached rental homes across Georgetown, Liberty Hill and Williamson County in 2025 (MultifamilyBiz). In August 2025, 30.5% of Austin units offered a concession, averaging 12.9% off, the highest share of any major market (RealPage). Those concessions are exactly what show up later as disputed line items.

What's Collectible After a Lease Break

Concession repayment, reletting fees and relocation buyouts are collectible only as the signed lease says.

A free month or discounted rent isn't automatically recoverable because the resident later defaulted. The current Texas Apartment Association sample lease requires a resident who uses the early-termination option to repay concessions, credits and discounts (TAA 2025 lease sample), but your claim rests on the signed lease and concession addendum, not the form. Texas landlords also have to mitigate after abandonment; a reasonable reletting fee may be recoverable, while an inflated one can be challenged (Texas State Law Library).

Relocation clauses matter more here than in most markets. A job transfer doesn't end a fixed-term lease on its own, but a negotiated relocation clause can, usually with notice, an employer letter, a minimum distance and a buyout or concession repayment (Texas Apartment Association). If the resident met the clause, the collectible amount is what the clause preserves, not the rest of the term. If they missed a condition, document which one and calculate the mitigated loss. Split the move-out ledger into separate lines so each charge can be defended on its own:

• Unpaid rent through move-out
• Early-termination or buyout fee, if the lease provides one
• Concession repayment, with the addendum attached
• Reletting costs, with marketing records
• Damage, with move-in and move-out inspection evidence
• Utilities and other pass-through charges

A ledger built that way is also what a collection agency needs to work the account. The last question is how Williamson compares with the county next door.

Williamson County vs. Travis County

Same state law and the same trial window. Williamson has fewer courts, far fewer filings and lower base costs.

Filing counts are summed across each county's JP courts from the Texas OCA monthly landlord-tenant caseload dataset, which also counts repair-and-remedy cases, so treat it as a close measure of evictions rather than an exact count. 2026 runs through August only. Fewer filings doesn't make Williamson legally faster; both counties run on the same statewide rules. For turning a judgment into payment, see eviction judgment collection. For statewide context, see the Texas property managers' collection agency guide. If you'd rather hand the file off, an experienced collection agency for property managers can work balances on both sides of the county line.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Where do I file an eviction in Round Rock?

  In the Williamson County JP precinct that contains the property, usually JP 1 in Round Rock, but not every Round Rock address. Check the county's address lookup first. If the property is in the Travis County part of Round Rock, file in the Travis County JP precinct instead.

• How many justice courts does Williamson County have?

  Four. JP 1 is in Round Rock, JP 2 in Cedar Park, JP 3 in Georgetown and JP 4 in Taylor. The precinct boundaries took effect January 1, 2022 and don't follow city limits.

• How much does it cost to file an eviction in Williamson County?

  The base filing fee is $54, the same statewide amount for evictions and small claims. Constable service and the writ of possession are separate local charges. Williamson County doesn't publish a clearly dated 2026 schedule for them, so confirm both with the assigned precinct before filing.

• How long does an eviction take in Williamson County?

  Under the 2026 Texas rules, the trial is set 10 to 21 days after filing, so an uncontested case usually reaches judgment in about two to three weeks. Possession takes longer: you have to request and pay for the writ, and the officer posts a 24-hour notice before supervising removal.

• Can I collect a rent concession back from a tenant who broke the lease?

  Only if the signed lease or concession addendum says so. Many Texas apartment leases require repayment of concessions on early termination, but the claim rests on the actual signed documents, not a standard form.

• Is Williamson County faster than Travis County for evictions?

  Not legally. Both counties follow the same statewide 10-to-21-day trial window. Williamson has fewer JP courts and far fewer filings, about 4,500 landlord-tenant cases in 2025 against Travis County's 14,262, but it publishes no median time-to-possession.

• Does Williamson County have an eviction diversion program?

  We found no county or city ordinance in Williamson County that adds a diversion step, longer notice or right to cure as of October 2026. Assistance is available through county-funded rapid rehousing and nonprofits, but applying doesn't pause an eviction.

Related: Rent Collection Laws in Texas · Collecting Unpaid Rent in Austin · Texas Property Managers' Collection Agency Guide · Eviction Judgment Collection · Collecting Unpaid Rent After Move-Out · Collection Agency for Property Managers