Texas Lease Agreement

Required Landlord Disclosures (7)

1. Lead-based paint and hazards: Texas landlords must provide the federally required disclosures regarding lead-based paint and hazards, which apply to all houses built before 1978. Landlords who own homes built prior to 1978 must include a lead-based paint and hazard disclosure form and an EPA Pamphlet.

2. Copy of lease: Within 3 business days of signing a new lease, landlords must provide a copy to one individual on the lease and additional copies to any other listed tenants who request a copy (92.024).

3. Owner and management details: Landlords must provide the property owner’s name and address and, if applicable, the information of any off-site property management companies (92.201).

4. Early termination clauses: Texas landlords are required to include language in their agreements indicating that tenants may be able to break their leases early in certain situations. These involve military deployments and family violence (92.016.f).

5. Parking agreements: In the case of a multi-unit tenancy, landlords must provide potential tenants with a copy of any parking and vehicle towing rules and policies before signing a lease (92.0131).

6. Tenant remedies: Lease agreements must include underlined or bold language detailing the remedies available to a tenant if a landlord fails their maintenance obligations, including the tenant’s rights to repair and deduct (92.056.g).

7. Floodplain risk and history: Landlords must provide tenants with a form indicating whether or not the rental unit is in a 100-year flood plain (more than 1% chance to flood each year) as defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The form must also state whether or not the property has flooded in the last five years (92.0135).

Security Deposit Regulations

Maximum Security Deposit Amount: Texas state law does not set a maximum security deposit amount.

Receipt of Deposit: In Texas, landlords are not required to provide tenants with a security deposit receipt.

Deduction Tracking: Texas landlords must provide their tenants with a written description and itemized list of all deductions when returning a security deposit. This requirement is waived if the tenant owes outstanding rent when the lease is terminated, and there is no dispute about the amount of rent still owed (92.104).

Returning a Tenant’s Security Deposit: Landlords must return security deposits within 30 days of the lease termination (92.103). However, the statutory window for Texas landlords to return the security deposit only starts once the tenant sends written notice of their forwarding address (92.107).

Landlord’s Access to Property

Advance Notice: Texas state law does not require landlords to provide advance notice to enter their properties. However, the standard practice is 24 hours.  Landlords may want to include language in the lease clearly outlining notice policies.

Immediate Access: Legally, Texas landlords can access their properties immediately at any time, but the general practice is to only do so in emergencies.

Landlord Harassment: In Texas, failure to provide notice of entry does not grant a tenant the right to early termination, as such actions are not innately considered landlord harassment. Some exceptions may apply if the landlord makes repeated and unwarranted entries to the property as a form of retaliation against a protected action taken by the tenant (92.331).

Rent Payment Laws

Grace Period: Tenants in Texas can make payments up to two days late without any financial penalties from their landlords (92.019.a).

Late Rent Fees: Texas landlords can charge a late fee after two days as long as it’s reasonable and included in the lease agreement. Texas defines reasonable fees as no more than 12% of the monthly rent for properties with less than four dwelling units. The fee can be no more than 10% of the monthly rent for properties with more than five dwelling units. (92.019).

Tenant’s Right to Withhold Rent: In Texas, landlords must make a “diligent effort” to repair any conditions putting the health and safety of their tenant at risk. If the landlord fails to make repairs after being given written notice, tenants can withhold $500 or up to one month’s rent, whichever is greater, from their rent payment (92.0561).

Breach of Rental Agreement

Missed Rent Payment: After the 2-day rent grace period, Texas landlords can charge late fees equal to 10-12% of monthly rent, depending on the number of dwelling units on the property (92.019). Alternatively, landlords may choose to issue a 3-day notice to quit (eviction notice) (24.005).

Lease Violation: In Texas, landlords can issue a 3-day notice to quit (eviction notice) for any lease violations, with the option to cure the violation if the lease allows the tenant to do so (24.005). If the tenant fails to leave within 3 days, the landlord can proceed with an eviction lawsuit filed with the court precinct where the property is located (24.004).

Self-Help Evictions: Texas allows landlords to change the locks on tenants who are late on rent, but there are strict requirements on when they can do so, and the tenants must always have access to the new keys. This type of self-help eviction is temporary, highly regulated, and not a legal substitute for the full legal eviction process (92.0081).

Lease Abandonment: If a tenant abandons their lease, Texas landlords must “mitigate damages” by making a good-faith effort to find a new tenant as soon as possible. However, until that happens, the original tenant will be liable for any owed rent, late fees, and applicable damages (91.006).

Ending a Lease

Month-to-Month: Both Texas landlords and tenants can voluntarily end a month-to-month lease by providing the other party with at least one month’s notice (91.001.a-b).

Fixed-Term: Texas tenants may be able to legally break their fixed-term lease early for several reasons. Applicable scenarios include military service (92.017), family violence (92.016), security device violations (92.165), maintenance violations that cause risk to the tenant’s health or safety (92.056.e1), unlawful lockouts (92.0081.h1), disclosure violations (92.205.a5), or smoke alarm violations (92.260.6).

Property Abandonment: After obtaining a writ of possession, Texas landlords can remove any leftover possessions and place them nearby unless it’s raining, sleeting, or snowing. In the case of inclement weather, landlords may be able to obtain a container free of charge from their municipality in which to place the possessions (24.0061.d).

Renewing a Lease

Required Renewals: Texas landlords are not required to renew tenant leases but may be required to give adequate notice of termination depending on the type of lease (see next section).

Required Notice: Texas landlords must provide a month’s notice before termination if they do not wish to renew a month-to-month lease. For leases shorter than a month, the statutory notice period is equal to the duration of a single rent period (91.001).

Rent Control & Stabilization

Texas does not have any regulations establishing standardized rent control or stabilization. However, with the governor’s approval, local municipalities may temporarily enact rent control if a housing emergency is caused by a natural disaster or energy shortage (214.902).