Texas Property Code Chapter 92: Repairs, Deposits, Lockouts

Texas Property Code Chapter 92 is the state law that governs every residential lease in Texas, setting the baseline rights and duties that landlords and tenants generally cannot sign away in a lease. It covers repairs, security deposits, late fees, lock and smoke-alarm requirements, utility shutoffs, lockouts, retaliation, and required disclosures about who owns and manages the property. Several federal laws — fair housing, lead paint disclosure, and military lease termination — sit on top of Chapter 92 and apply to Texas rentals as well.

Landlord Repair Duties

A landlord must make a diligent effort to fix any condition that materially affects the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant. Broken plumbing, sewage backups, electrical hazards, and structural problems that create real risk are the kind of things covered. Cosmetic issues and minor inconveniences are not. The duty also includes keeping hot water available at a minimum of 120 degrees Fahrenheit.¹

Three conditions have to line up before the duty kicks in. The tenant must give notice of the specific problem. The tenant must not be behind on rent when the notice is given. And the condition must not have been caused by the tenant, a family member, or a guest.² Damage caused by the tenant’s household is the tenant’s problem unless it grew out of normal wear and tear.

How to Send a Repair Notice

Send the notice to the person or place where you normally pay rent. You can deliver it in person, but the strongest approach is certified mail with return receipt requested, registered mail, or another trackable method. That choice controls what happens next.

If the first notice goes by certified or registered mail, one notice is enough. If you use any other method, you have to send a second written notice after giving the landlord a reasonable time to act. Seven days is presumed reasonable, though the window can shift with the severity of the problem and whether parts and labor are available. The landlord is considered to have received the notice when it actually arrives or when the post office attempts delivery.¹

Remedies If the Landlord Won’t Repair

Once proper notice has gone out and a reasonable time has passed with no diligent effort to repair, the tenant can go to court. A judge may order any combination of these remedies:

An order directing the landlord to take reasonable action to fix the condition.
A retroactive rent reduction back to the date of the first notice, proportional to how much the condition reduced the home’s rental value.
A civil penalty of one month’s rent plus $500.
The tenant’s actual damages.
Court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees (attorney’s fees for personal injury claims are excluded).

If the landlord tried to get the tenant to waive the repair duty in the lease while knowing that waiver is illegal, the civil penalty jumps to one month’s rent plus $2,000 on top of actual damages and attorney’s fees. Justice courts can award up to $20,000 under these provisions, not counting interest and court costs.¹

Security Deposits

A landlord has 30 days after the tenant surrenders the property to return the security deposit. The landlord can deduct amounts the tenant owes under the lease or for breaching it, but not normal wear and tear. If any deductions are taken, the landlord has to send a written description and itemized list along with whatever balance is left.³

Two practical points shape whether that 30-day clock ever runs. The landlord isn’t required to send the refund until the tenant provides a written forwarding address, so leave your new address in writing before you go. And if the tenant owes rent at move-out and the amount isn’t in dispute, the landlord can skip the itemized list.⁴

Bad-Faith Penalties

A landlord who fails to return the deposit or provide the required itemization within 30 days is presumed to have acted in bad faith. Bad-faith retention costs the landlord $100 plus three times the amount wrongfully kept, plus the tenant’s reasonable attorney’s fees. In any deposit lawsuit, the landlord bears the burden of proving the retention was reasonable.⁵

Skipping the itemized list in bad faith carries a separate consequence. The landlord forfeits the right to withhold any portion of the deposit and loses the ability to sue the tenant for property damage.⁵

Late Fees

Texas caps what landlords can charge as a late fee. Three conditions must all be true before a late fee is collectible: the fee must be spelled out in a written lease, it must be reasonable, and the rent must have been unpaid for at least two full days after the due date. The two-day grace period is statutory and cannot be shortened by the lease.

What counts as reasonable turns on building size. For a property with four or fewer units, the fee is capped at 12 percent of the rental period’s rent. For a property with more than four units, the cap is 10 percent. A higher fee can survive only if the landlord shows it reflects actual costs of collecting late rent. The fee may include both an initial charge and a per-day charge for each day the rent stays unpaid. A landlord who violates these rules owes the tenant $100 plus three times the illegal late fee collected, plus the tenant’s attorney’s fees, and any lease provision that tries to waive these protections is void.⁴

Required Security and Safety Devices

Before a tenant moves in, the landlord has to install certain security devices at the landlord’s expense. Every exterior window needs a window latch. Every exterior door needs a doorknob lock or a keyed deadbolt. Sliding glass doors need a pin lock or security bar. These rules apply to every residential rental in Texas, and the tenant doesn’t have to ask.

The landlord must also install at least one smoke alarm in each bedroom. If multiple bedrooms share a corridor, at least one alarm goes in that corridor. Multi-level dwellings need at least one alarm on each level. In a studio, the alarm goes in the main room. The landlord is responsible for testing the alarms at the start of the tenancy and cannot charge the tenant for the initial installations.⁴

Remedies for Missing Security Devices

If the landlord fails to install or repair a required security device, the tenant has several options. You can install or rekey the device yourself and deduct the reasonable cost from the next rent payment. You can send a written compliance request, and if the landlord ignores it for three days, terminate the lease without going to court. Or you can sue: if the landlord received a written request and did nothing for three days, the court can award one month’s rent plus $500, actual damages, punitive damages for actual harm, court costs, and attorney’s fees. A court can also order the landlord to bring every unit they own into compliance, not just yours.⁶

Lockouts and Utility Shutoffs

A landlord cannot shut off water, gas, or electricity to pressure a tenant into paying rent or moving out. Disconnection is allowed only for legitimate repairs, construction, or emergencies. A landlord who violates this rule owes the tenant possession or a right to terminate the lease, plus one month’s rent plus $1,000, actual damages, attorney’s fees, and court costs, minus any delinquent rent. There is a narrow exception where a landlord who directly furnishes electric service may disconnect for nonpayment after specific written notice, with any reconnection fee capped at $10.⁴

Locking a tenant out is illegal in most situations. The penalty tracks the utility rule: possession or lease termination, one month’s rent plus $1,000, actual damages, court costs, and attorney’s fees, minus any delinquent rent.⁷

There is one situation where a landlord may change the locks: when the tenant is delinquent on rent. The rules are strict. The right must be in the lease. The landlord must give advance written notice — mailed at least five days before or hand-delivered or posted on the tenant’s door at least three days before. That notice must state the earliest date locks will be changed, the amount owed, where the tenant can discuss or pay the rent, and, in bold or underlined text, the tenant’s right to get a new key at any hour whether or not they pay.

After changing the locks, the landlord must post a notice on the door telling the tenant where to get the new key 24 hours a day, or a phone number answered around the clock that will get a key delivered within two hours. The key must be handed over on request, paid or not. A landlord cannot change the locks while the tenant is inside, cannot do it more than once per rental period, and cannot do it on a day when no one is available on-site to accept the overdue rent.⁷

Retaliation Protections

Requesting repairs, complaining to a government agency about code violations, and participating in a tenant organization are all protected activities. Within six months after a protected act, the landlord cannot file an eviction (except on certain narrow grounds), cut services, raise rent, terminate the lease, or engage in a pattern of conduct that interferes with the tenant’s rights under the lease.⁸

If the landlord retaliates, the tenant can recover one month’s rent plus $500, actual damages, moving costs, court costs, and reasonable attorney’s fees, less any delinquent rent. For tenants receiving government-subsidized rent, the civil penalty is calculated on the fair market rent, not the subsidized amount.⁹

Owner and Manager Disclosures

The landlord must give the tenant, in writing, the name and street address of the property’s record title holder. If a management company handles the property, the tenant must also get that company’s name and address. This information usually appears in the lease or is posted on-site, and it has to be updated if ownership or management changes during the tenancy.¹⁰ The point is practical: if you need to send a legal notice or file suit, you have to know who actually owns and manages the place.

Federal Rules That Also Apply

Three federal laws sit alongside Chapter 92 and are worth knowing because they cover situations tenants often assume state law handles.

Fair Housing

The federal Fair Housing Act applies to every residential lease in Texas and prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability.¹¹ Landlords also must grant reasonable accommodations when a tenant with a disability needs a change to a rule, policy, or service for equal use of the housing, as long as the change is connected to the disability and does not impose an undue financial burden or fundamentally alter the housing. Assistance animals, including emotional support animals, fall under this framework.¹² Administrative civil penalties can reach $26,262 for a first offense, $65,653 with a prior violation within five years, and $131,308 with two or more prior violations within seven years, and federal court lawsuits can produce larger damage awards with no statutory cap.¹³

Lead-Based Paint

Federal law applies to any Texas rental built before 1978. Before the tenant signs, the landlord must disclose any known lead-based paint or lead hazards, provide available records or reports, and give the tenant an EPA-approved pamphlet on lead poisoning prevention. The lease itself must contain a lead warning statement with signatures from both parties, and the landlord must keep the records for at least three years.¹⁴

Military Lease Termination

The federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act lets active-duty military members end a residential lease early with no penalty when they receive orders for a permanent change of station, deploy for 90 days or more, or enter active-duty service. A servicemember’s termination also ends the lease obligations of any dependents listed on the lease. To use it, the servicemember delivers written notice with a copy of the orders by hand, private carrier, certified mail with return receipt requested, or electronic means. For a month-to-month rental, the lease ends 30 days after the next rent payment is due following delivery of the notice. The landlord cannot charge an early termination fee, but the tenant remains responsible for unpaid rent through the termination date and for any damage beyond normal wear and tear.¹⁵¹⁶

1
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.056 – Landlord Liability and Tenant Remedies
2
Office of the Attorney General of Texas. Renter’s Rights
3
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.104 – Retention of Security Deposit; Accounting
4
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Chapter 92 – Residential Tenancies
5
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.109 – Liability of Landlord
6
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.164 – Tenant Remedies for Landlord’s Failure to Install or Rekey
7
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.0081 – Removal of Property and Exclusion of Residential Tenant
8
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.331 – Retaliation by Landlord
9
Texas Property Code. Subchapter H – Retaliation
10
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 92.201
11
U.S. Department of Justice. The Fair Housing Act
12
HUD Exchange. Reasonable Accommodations
13
eCFR. 24 CFR 180.671 – Assessing Civil Penalties for Fair Housing Act Cases
14
eCFR. 24 CFR 35.88 – Disclosure Requirements for Sellers and Lessors
15
U.S. Department of Justice. Financial and Housing Rights
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3955 – Termination of Residential or Motor Vehicle Leases