Texas Landlord-Tenant Laws: A Plain-English Guide

Before the lease: criteria, deposits and the lease itself

Screening

Texas expects you to have written tenant selection criteria and make them available to applicants, so write yours down before you list the unit: minimum income, credit, rental history, and how you treat criminal records. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, get written consent before running a report and send an adverse action notice when a report leads to a denial. Review criminal records individually instead of using a blanket ban. HUD withdrew its 2016 guidance in 2025, but the Fair Housing Act still applies.

Deposits

There’s no cap (Tex. Prop. Code §§ 92.101-92.109). One month’s rent is common, and many landlords charge more for weaker applications. Keep the amount consistent across applicants with similar profiles, and note it in the lease.

Writing the lease

Because so much in Texas runs on the lease, the lease is where you do most of your work. Spell out the late fee and its start date, the entry clause, the notice-to-vacate period, and whether notices can go by email. Under SB 38, email notice only works if the tenant agreed to it in writing. Since 2022, Texas leases also need a flood disclosure notice.

During the tenancy

Rent increases

Texas has no rent control, and Tex. Local Gov’t Code § 214.902 bars cities and counties from adopting it except during a governor-approved housing emergency. For a fixed-term lease, the rent holds until the term ends. For month-to-month, give at least the notice period the lease requires, which is usually one month.

Late fees

A fee is presumed reasonable at up to 12% of monthly rent in a structure with four or fewer units, or 10% in a structure with more than four, and only after rent is unpaid two full days past the due date (Tex. Prop. Code § 92.019). Rent due on the 1st means the earliest late fee lands on the 4th. On $1,800 rent in a single-family house, the safe harbor is $216.

Entry

No statute sets a notice period. Your lease decides.

Repairs, locks and security devices

You must rekey within 7 days of each tenant turnover and provide the security devices Texas requires, such as keyed deadbolts and door viewers (Prop. Code ch. 92, subch. D). Repair duties are triggered by written notice from a tenant who is current on rent, so keep a dated log of every request.

Lockouts and utility cutoffs are where small landlords get burned. Tex. Prop. Code §§ 92.0081 and 92.008 set narrow rules, and violations carry statutory penalties.

Ending the tenancy

Notices

A month-to-month tenancy ends with at least one month’s notice (Tex. Prop. Code § 91.001) unless you agreed otherwise in writing. For nonpayment or a lease violation, Texas uses a 3-day notice to vacate unless the lease sets a different period, and there’s no statutory cure period. Since SB 38, a tenant’s first nonpayment generally calls for a “pay rent or vacate” notice instead of a plain notice to vacate.

Move-out and the deposit

Ask for a written forwarding address at move-out, because your 30-day clock doesn’t start without it. Then send the refund or an itemized list of deductions within 30 days. Bad faith costs $100, plus three times the wrongfully withheld amount, plus attorney fees.

Eviction overview

File the eviction petition in the justice court for the precinct where the property is located. A constable or authorized server serves the citation, and under SB 38 constables must attempt service within 5 business days. Trial is usually 10-21 days after filing. The tenant has 5 days to appeal to county court; after that, you request a writ of possession, and the constable posts a 24-hour warning before executing it. Uncontested cases take about 3-5 weeks. Expect roughly $54 to file plus $75-$150 for constable service, but fees vary by county, so check with the court.

What’s different in Texas

• SB 38 rewrote eviction procedure on January 1, 2026: new Rule 510, email or commercial-carrier notice, pay-or-vacate notices for first-time nonpayment, possession-focused cases and a 5-business-day service deadline.
• A late-fee safe harbor of 12% or 10% of rent, with nothing charged until rent is 2 full days late.
• Strict lockout and utility rules under Prop. Code §§ 92.0081 and 92.008, with statutory penalties.
• Rekeying within 7 days of every turnover, plus required security devices.
• No rent control and no entry statute, while insurance costs run high because of hail, wind and hurricane exposure.