Texas Landlord-Tenant Laws

Security Deposits

No cap on the amount, but a strict 30-day return clock and a treble-damages penalty for bad-faith withholding.

Texas doesn't cap how much you can collect as a security deposit — the lease sets the number, and one month's rent is the common baseline. The 30-day return clock starts on the later of two events: the tenant surrendering the premises and the tenant giving you a forwarding address in writing. Until both have happened, the clock hasn't started — but don't treat a missing address as a free pass; the obligation revives when the address arrives.

If you withhold any portion, you must provide a written itemized list of deductions. Normal wear and tear is never deductible — Texas defines it as deterioration from intended use, excluding negligence, carelessness, accident, or abuse. One important exception to the itemization duty: it isn't required when the tenant owes rent and there's no controversy over the amount.

The §92.109 penalty

A landlord who retains a deposit in bad faith owes the tenant $100 plus three times the amount wrongfully withheld, plus reasonable attorney fees. Missing the 30-day deadline creates a presumption of bad faith the landlord must rebut. This is one of the most commonly litigated statutes in Texas justice courts — a calendar reminder at move-out is cheap insurance.

Rent & Late Fees

No rent control anywhere in Texas — but late fees are capped by statute at 10–12% and can't be charged until rent is two full days late.

Texas has no rent control, and state law prevents cities from adopting it except in narrow disaster scenarios. Rent amounts and increases are contract terms — mid-lease increases require lease authorization, and at renewal the market decides.

Late fees are a different story. Since the 2019 amendments to §92.019, a late fee must be either 'reasonable' or fall within the statutory safe harbor: 12% of monthly rent for properties with four or fewer units, 10% for properties with more than four. The fee must be in the written lease, and it cannot be charged until the rent has remained unpaid for two full days after the due date. Initial fees plus daily fees are allowed in combination, but the combined total is subject to the same cap.

Charging an illegal late fee is expensive: the tenant can recover $100 per violation plus three times the improper fee plus attorney fees. Audit your lease's late-fee clause against the cap — legacy leases written before 2019 are a common source of violations.

Lease Requirements & Disclosures

Oral leases up to a year are enforceable, but several written disclosures are mandatory — and Texas has detailed security-device requirements most states lack.

A lease for longer than one year must be in writing to be enforceable; shorter terms can technically be oral, though written is the only sensible practice. Texas requires landlords to disclose in writing the name and address of the property's owner or management company on request, and federal lead-based-paint disclosure applies to pre-1978 housing.

• Security devices: Texas requires keyed deadbolts, window latches, and keyless bolting devices on exterior doors, rekeyed between tenants at the landlord's expense (Prop. Code subch. D).
• Right to repair-and-deduct and the tenant remedies of ch. 92 can't be waived in the lease except in narrow statutory ways.
• Late-fee, notice, and deposit clauses must track the statutes above — clauses that contradict ch. 92 are void.
• Parking/towing rules for multiunit properties must be provided in writing.

Landlord Entry & Notice

Texas has no statute governing entry notice — the lease controls, which makes a good entry clause essential.

Unlike most states, Texas has no statutory notice period for landlord entry. Your lease should spell out when and how you may enter (repairs, showings, inspections) and how much notice you'll give. Without a lease provision, entry rights are murky and a tenant could claim trespass or breach of quiet enjoyment — 24 hours' notice for non-emergencies is the professional norm even though no statute requires it.

Evictions

A 3-day notice to vacate (modifiable by lease), then a forcible-detainer suit in justice court — fast by national standards, but strict on procedure.

Before filing an eviction (forcible detainer) suit, the landlord must give the tenant at least three days' written notice to vacate — unless the written lease sets a different period, shorter or longer. The notice must be delivered per §24.005: in person, by mail, or by the statute's posting procedure.

Suit is filed in the justice court for the precinct where the property sits. The process is fast — trial is typically within about three weeks of filing — but procedural mistakes (defective notice, wrong parties, premature filing) restart the clock. Texas also permits contractual landlord liens on tenant property for unpaid rent, but the entry-and-seizure rules of §54.044 are strict; most professional operators simply don't use them.

Habitability & Repairs

Landlords must repair conditions that materially affect health or safety; tenants get a structured repair-and-remedy process, including repair-and-deduct.

Under Property Code subchapter B, a landlord must make a diligent effort to repair conditions that materially affect an ordinary tenant's physical health or safety — think broken heat, sewage backups, or security-device failures — after the tenant gives notice and is current on rent. Seven days is the rebuttable presumption for a reasonable repair window.

If the landlord doesn't perform, the tenant's statutory remedies include terminating the lease, judicial orders, damages and penalties, and — after strict preconditions — repairing and deducting up to the greater of one month's rent or $500. The tenant cannot lawfully just stop paying rent; Texas has no general rent-withholding right, which is worth explaining to tenants before disputes escalate.

Termination & Renewal

Month-to-month tenancies end on one month's notice from either side; fixed terms end per the lease.

For month-to-month tenancies, §91.001 requires notice equal to at least one rent-paying period — a full month for monthly tenancies, timed to the rental period unless the lease says otherwise. Fixed-term leases end on their own terms; holdover tenants convert to the periodic tenancy the lease specifies (or month-to-month by default).

Texas has no statutory notice requirement for rent increases at renewal — but a rent increase can only take effect when the current term ends or with the tenant's agreement, so as a practical matter increase notices ride on the termination-notice timeline.

Fair Housing

Federal Fair Housing Act protections apply statewide; Texas adds a parallel state act, and several cities extend protections further.

The federal Fair Housing Act protects against discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability, and the Texas Fair Housing Act mirrors it at the state level. Some Texas cities (Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth among them) add protections — commonly source of income or veteran status — through local ordinance, so screening criteria should be reviewed against the city where each property sits.

Practical compliance basics: apply written screening criteria uniformly, document every applicant decision, and treat assistance-animal requests as reasonable-accommodation requests rather than pet applications.