Legally Speaking: Understanding your repossession rights

Question: I own an equipment dealership in Texas. One of my customers, a limited liability company, recently rented a skid steer and never returned it. I have a GPS unit installed on it, so I know exactly where it is in a storage facility. It is being kept behind a gate and blocked in with a backhoe. I contacted the local police, but they say it is a “civil matter.” An attorney from an online legal forms company where I downloaded my form rental contract says I need to get a court order whenever I want to take back my equipment. I’m not sure I believe that, and I don’t see anything in their form contract about what to do in a situation like this. What do you say?

Find James Waite’s answer to this question in the September issue of Rental Management magazine.

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