Texas Landlord Duties Under Property Code Chapter 92: Repairs and Deposits

Texas landlord duties are set out in Chapter 92 of the Property Code, and they apply to almost every residential lease in the state, written or oral. A landlord has to keep the unit safe and livable, install working smoke alarms and basic security hardware before move-in, return the security deposit (or an itemized list of deductions) within 30 days of move-out, leave the utilities on, and avoid retaliating against a tenant who asserts a legal right. When a landlord ignores any of these, the tenant can go to justice court for repair orders, damages, civil penalties, and attorney’s fees, and in some cases can terminate the lease outright.¹

Keeping the Unit Habitable

Section 92.052 requires a landlord to make a diligent effort to repair any condition that materially affects the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant. The statute also sets a specific floor for hot water: at least 120 degrees Fahrenheit.²

The kinds of problems that typically meet the health-or-safety standard include raw sewage backing up into the unit, no running or potable water, structural failures like a collapsing ceiling or an unstable floor, and pest infestations severe enough to cause illness. The test is what would affect an ordinary tenant in reasonable health, not someone with unusual sensitivities the landlord does not know about.³

The duty has limits. A landlord does not have to fix damage the tenant, the tenant’s family, or the tenant’s guests caused through negligence or intentional misuse. Normal wear and tear, though, stays on the landlord during the lease term. And one threshold matters more than any other: if the tenant owes any rent at the time of notice, the landlord has no statutory duty to act.²

Smoke Alarms and Security Hardware

Before a tenant moves in, the landlord must install and test at least one working smoke alarm in every separate bedroom. If multiple bedrooms open onto a shared hallway, at least one alarm must sit in that hallway. Multi-story units need an alarm on each level. A studio where one room covers living, dining, and sleeping gets its alarm inside that room.⁴

Subchapter D adds a list of required security devices: deadbolts on exterior doors, peepholes on entry doors, and latches or security bars on sliding glass doors. All of this hardware must be installed before move-in, and the landlord must repair or replace devices that break or that the tenant reports in writing.⁵

Once a tenant is in possession, the smoke-alarm repair duty is triggered by written notice that states the tenant may use the Subchapter F remedies if the landlord does not fix the alarm within seven days. A tenant who disconnects an alarm or removes a battery without replacing it becomes liable to the landlord for any resulting damages.⁶

How a Tenant Must Ask for Repairs

Many summaries say a repair request has to be in writing. That is not quite right. Written notice is required only when the lease is written and the lease itself specifically requires written notice. If the lease is oral, or if the written lease is silent on how to request repairs, verbal notice given to the person or place where rent is normally paid is enough to trigger the landlord’s duty to make a diligent effort.²

Triggering the duty and preserving legal remedies are two different things, though. To hold a landlord liable under Section 92.056, the tenant must either send the first notice by certified mail, registered mail, or another trackable method, or send a second written notice after a reasonable time passes without repairs. Certified mail with return receipt is the cleanest route because it proves delivery in one step. Keep every letter and every mailing receipt. In court, that paper trail is what proves the statute was followed.⁷

What Happens If the Landlord Does Nothing

After proper notice, the law presumes seven days is a reasonable time to make repairs. That presumption can be rebutted, but in practice it starts the clock.⁸ Once the window closes, the tenant has three paths.

The first is to terminate the lease, move out, and recover a pro-rata refund of any prepaid rent. The second is to sue in justice court for an order forcing the repair, actual damages, a civil penalty of one month’s rent plus $500, and attorney’s fees (though attorney’s fees are not available for personal-injury claims).⁹

The third is repair-and-deduct under Section 92.0561. The tenant hires someone to do the work and subtracts the cost from a future rent payment, capped at one month’s rent or $500, whichever is greater. The tenant has to give the landlord a copy of the receipt and a written statement of the deduction with the next rent payment. More than one deduction is allowed, but total deductions in any single month cannot exceed the cap.¹⁰

Smoke-alarm and security-device violations carry their own penalty structure. For an ignored seven-day notice, the tenant can get a court-ordered repair, actual damages, a civil penalty of one month’s rent plus $100, and attorney’s fees, or can terminate the lease without going to court at all.¹¹

The 30-Day Security Deposit Rule

After the tenant moves out and surrenders the unit, the landlord has 30 days to return the full deposit or send a written itemization of any deductions. Deductions can cover damages and charges the tenant is legally liable for under the lease, but not normal wear and tear.¹²

If the lease requires the tenant to give advance notice of move-out as a condition of getting the deposit back, that clause is enforceable only when it is underlined or printed in conspicuous bold type. Buried in regular font, it will not stick.¹²

The penalties for a landlord who gets this wrong are steep. Wrongfully withholding part or all of a deposit in bad faith costs the landlord $100 plus three times the amount wrongfully withheld, plus the tenant’s reasonable attorney’s fees. A landlord who simply fails to send the required written itemization forfeits any right to withhold any portion of the deposit and still owes the tenant’s attorney’s fees.¹³

No Utility Shutoffs, No Lockouts

A landlord cannot shut off water, wastewater, gas, or electric service to pressure a tenant. Section 92.008 allows interruptions only for legitimate repairs, construction, or an emergency, and this applies whether the tenant pays the utility company directly or the landlord provides the service as part of the rent.¹⁴

A landlord who provides electricity may cut it off for nonpayment of the electric bill in narrow circumstances, but not on a day when the previous day’s temperature hit freezing and freezing weather is expected to continue, and not when the National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for the county. The landlord also cannot cut electric service over non-electric debts, over bills more than six months old, or over amounts the tenant is actively disputing.

Violate these rules and the tenant can recover possession or terminate the lease, plus actual damages, one month’s rent plus $1,000, reasonable attorney’s fees, and court costs, minus any rent the tenant actually owes. Any lease clause attempting to waive these protections is void.¹⁴

No Retaliation for Six Months

A landlord cannot punish a tenant for exercising a right under the lease, a local ordinance, or state or federal law. Section 92.331 protects tenants who request repairs, file complaints with housing or building-code authorities, or participate in a tenant association.¹⁵

For six months after the tenant takes a protected action, these landlord moves are presumed retaliatory:

Filing an eviction, with narrow exceptions
Raising the rent or terminating the lease
Reducing services to the tenant
Depriving the tenant of use of the premises
Interfering in bad faith with the tenant’s rights under the lease

The presumption is rebuttable. A landlord can try to show a legitimate, non-retaliatory reason. But a landlord who evicts a long-term tenant two weeks after a repair complaint has a hard road in front of them.

Federal Duties That Sit on Top

If a rental unit was built before 1978, federal law requires the landlord to hand the tenant the EPA pamphlet “Protect Your Family From Lead In Your Home” before the lease is signed, disclose any known lead-based paint or lead hazards, and share all available inspection records. The lease itself must contain a lead warning statement. This rule does not apply to post-1977 housing, to short-term rentals of 100 days or less, or to senior and disability housing where no child under six is expected to live.¹⁶

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability, and covers almost all residential housing in Texas.¹⁷ One practical consequence shows up with assistance animals. An assistance animal is not a pet; it performs tasks for, or provides emotional support to, a person with a disability. Even under a no-pets policy, the landlord must grant a reasonable accommodation when the tenant has a disability-related need (and provides reliable supporting information if the need is not obvious), and cannot charge a pet deposit or pet fee. Denial is allowed only if the specific animal poses a direct threat that no other accommodation resolves, would cause significant physical damage, or would create an undue financial or administrative burden. Blanket refusals based on breed, size, or species violate the law.¹⁸

1
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Chapter 92 – Residential Tenancies
2
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.052
3
Office of the Attorney General of Texas. Renters Rights
4
Texas Property Code. Texas Property Code Chapter 92 – Smoke Alarms and Fire Extinguishers
5
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.157 – Security Devices Required Without Necessity of Tenant Request
6
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.259 – Landlords Failure to Install, Inspect, or Repair
7
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.056
8
Texas Property Code. Texas Property Code – Subchapter B – Repair or Closing of Leasehold
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Texas Property Code. Texas Property Code – Subchapter B – Repair or Closing of Leasehold – Section 92.0563
10
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.0561
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State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.260 – Tenant Remedies
12
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.103 – Obligation to Refund
13
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.109 – Liability of Landlord
14
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.008 – Interruption of Utilities
15
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.331 – Retaliation by Landlord
16
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Real Estate Disclosures about Potential Lead Hazards
17
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Housing Discrimination Under the Fair Housing Act
18
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Assistance Animals