In Texas, apartments can check criminal history as far back as the conviction itself goes. Federal law caps most non-conviction records, such as arrests that never led to a conviction, at seven years, but convictions have no expiration date on a tenant screening report. A felony from twenty years ago can still show up, and neither Texas nor federal law prevents it.
The Seven-Year Rule and What It Actually Covers
The Fair Credit Reporting Act draws a sharp line between convictions and everything else. A consumer reporting agency cannot include arrest records, dismissed charges, or other adverse non-conviction information older than seven years on a tenant screening report.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c The clock starts on the date of the arrest or the date of entry, not the date the landlord runs the check.
Convictions are carved out of that limit. Federal law explicitly excludes them, so a screening company can report a conviction from any point in your past.2Federal Trade Commission. Tenant Background Checks and Your Rights Most screening companies pull about seven years of history for non-conviction records and treat convictions as reportable no matter how old.
Why Texas’s Own Seven-Year Cap Doesn’t Help
Texas has a statute on the books that would limit reporting of criminal convictions to seven years. It never took effect in any meaningful way. The FCRA preempts state reporting limits that were not already in place when the Consumer Credit Reporting Reform Act of 1996 was enacted, and Texas passed its provision after that date, so federal law overrides it.3Texas State Law Library. Restrictions After a Criminal Conviction – Background Checks The result: screening companies in Texas follow federal rules, and old convictions stay visible.
Some landlords voluntarily narrow their own window. A property manager might only weigh the last five or seven years of criminal history, especially for misdemeanors or non-violent offenses. Others use everything the report shows. Because no law forces a landlord to stop at a particular year for convictions, how far back the check really reaches depends on the landlord’s criteria and the databases the screening company searches.
How Landlords Weigh What They See
An old conviction on your report is not the same as an automatic denial. Landlords who screen carefully look at the type of crime, how long ago it happened, and how severe it was. Property crimes and violent offenses draw more scrutiny than an old drug possession charge, because they map more directly onto the safety of a residential building and the treatment of the unit.
Time matters too. A conviction from two years ago signals more current risk than one from a decade back, and most landlords who do individualized reviews give older offenses less weight. Evidence of rehabilitation, such as steady employment, completion of education or training, and clean supervision records, can shift the balance further. Felonies get more scrutiny than misdemeanors, and violent offenses more than non-violent ones.
Limits on What a Landlord Can Do With Your Record
The Fair Housing Act does not list criminal history as a protected class, but the way a landlord uses that history can still violate the law. The Act prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability.4Department of Justice. The Fair Housing Act Because criminal records correlate with race and national origin, HUD issued 2016 guidance explaining how the Act applies to criminal-history screening.5U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Office of General Counsel Guidance on Application of Fair Housing Act Standards to the Use of Criminal Records by Providers of Housing and Real Estate-Related Transactions
The core rule: blanket bans don’t survive scrutiny. A landlord who automatically rejects every applicant with any criminal record will have a hard time showing that policy serves a substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory purpose. The policy has to account for the nature, severity, and recency of the conduct.
Arrests get stronger protection. HUD’s position is that denying housing based solely on an arrest, with no conviction, violates the Fair Housing Act. An arrest is an allegation, not proof of a crime, and HUD considers arrest-only denial policies unjustifiable on their face.5U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Office of General Counsel Guidance on Application of Fair Housing Act Standards to the Use of Criminal Records by Providers of Housing and Real Estate-Related Transactions If a landlord denies you based only on an arrest that never led to a conviction, that decision is legally vulnerable.
Texas law adds one more layer at the front end. Under the Texas Property Code, a landlord must give you printed notice of its tenant selection criteria when you receive the rental application, and the notice must spell out grounds for denial including criminal history. A landlord who skips this step and then rejects you must return your application fee and any deposit.6State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.3515 – Notice of Eligibility Requirements
What to Do If You’re Denied
When a landlord rejects your application based on a background check report, the FCRA requires an adverse action notice. It has to include the name, address, and phone number of the screening company that provided the report, plus notice of your right to a free copy of the report within 60 days and your right to dispute anything inaccurate.7Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Should I Do If My Rental Application Is Denied Because of a Tenant Screening Report? The notice can be written, oral, or electronic, but it must happen.
Request the free copy. You have 60 days from the date of the adverse action notice.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681j Errors are common. Reports sometimes pull records belonging to someone with a similar name, list charges that were dismissed, or show convictions that have been expunged. If you dispute something, the screening company has to investigate within 30 days and must delete or correct information it cannot verify.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i
Clearing or Sealing a Texas Record
Texas offers two tools for keeping a record off future screening reports: expunction and orders of nondisclosure.
Expunction
Expunction erases arrest records from public view. You qualify if you were acquitted at trial, pardoned, or if charges were dismissed and are no longer pending. The waiting period before you can file depends on the level of the original charge: 180 days from the arrest for Class C misdemeanors, one year for Class A or B misdemeanors, and three years for felonies, assuming no charges were ever filed.10Justia Law. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 55 – Expunction of Criminal Records An expunged record should not appear on any background check, and you can legally deny the arrest happened.
Orders of Nondisclosure
Nondisclosure orders seal a record rather than erase it. Law enforcement can still see the information, but courts, clerks, and public agencies cannot share it with landlords or screening companies. The most common path runs through deferred adjudication community supervision.
For certain nonviolent misdemeanors, if you completed deferred adjudication and received a discharge and dismissal, the court must issue the nondisclosure order automatically once 180 days have passed from the start of supervision. The filing fee is $28, and you must have no prior convictions or deferred adjudication other than for a traffic fine-only offense.11State of Texas. Texas Government Code 411.072 – Procedure for Deferred Adjudication Community Supervision; Certain Nonviolent Misdemeanors
Felonies and misdemeanors that don’t qualify for the automatic track require a petition. The waiting periods are longer: immediately upon discharge for most qualifying misdemeanors, two years for misdemeanors involving offenses against people or families, and five years for felonies.12State of Texas. Texas Government Code 411.0725 – Procedure for Deferred Adjudication Community Supervision; Felonies and Certain Misdemeanors Certain violent crimes, sex offenses, and offenses involving family violence are excluded from nondisclosure entirely.
Sex Offender Registry Rules Work Differently
If you are required to register as a sex offender, the seven-year framing above understates what a landlord will see and what they can do with it. Texas law bars registered sex offenders from living on the campus of any public or private college or university unless specific requirements are met, and registered individuals may also be barred from residing near schools. Some cities and counties add their own proximity restrictions.13Texas State Law Library. Sex Offenders – Restrictions After a Criminal Conviction Landlords also have broad discretion to deny applicants on the registry. Federal regulations for certain HUD-funded housing programs explicitly allow excluding registered sex offenders from properties where families with children under 18 reside.14eCFR. 24 CFR 578.93 – Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Private landlords who take no federal money often screen the registry separately from the general background check.
Before You Apply
Check your own background before any landlord does. Several screening companies sell self-check reports, and you are entitled to a free annual report from each of the major consumer reporting agencies. Spotting an error before it costs you an application fee is much easier than cleaning it up after a denial.
When you find a property, read the selection criteria the landlord is required to give you. If the criteria list a blanket ban on all criminal records with no consideration of timing or offense type, that policy may violate fair housing law. Where you have a record that will show up, a brief, factual explanation with supporting documents about what you’ve done since usually lands better than silence. Screening reports are thorough, and a landlord who finds an undisclosed conviction on their own tends to treat the omission as its own problem.