Texas Renters Law: Repairs, Deposits, Evictions, and Lease Breaks

Texas renters’ rights are set out in the Texas Property Code and in a handful of federal statutes, and they cover repairs, security deposits, late fees, eviction procedure, retaliation, lockouts, utility shutoffs, early termination, and fair housing. These protections are statutory, so a lease generally cannot force you to give them up. Texas also preempts most local housing ordinances, which means the rules work the same whether you rent in Houston, Austin, Dallas, or a small rural county.

Repairs That Affect Health or Safety

Your landlord must make a diligent effort to fix any condition that materially affects the health or safety of an ordinary tenant. Broken plumbing, sewage backups, lack of hot water (at least 120 degrees), and failed heating or cooling all qualify. Two conditions attach to the duty: you have to be current on rent when you give notice, and the problem cannot be something you, your family, or a guest caused.¹

Notice is where tenants often slip up. You either send your first notice by certified mail, registered mail, or another trackable method, or you give a regular notice and then follow up with a second written notice after a reasonable wait. Either route satisfies the statute. Certified mail on the first notice is simpler because it eliminates the follow-up and gives you a delivery record.²

Repair and Deduct

If a reasonable time passes and the problem is still there, you may be able to hire someone to make the repair and subtract the cost from your next rent. At least one of your notices has to state your intent to repair and deduct and give a reasonable description of the work. The cap on any single month’s deduction is one month’s rent or $500, whichever is greater, and you can use the remedy more than once as long as the monthly total stays within that cap.³

Timing depends on the problem. Sewage backups and flooding from broken pipes inside your unit let you act immediately. So does a total loss of water that the landlord agreed to provide. For other health-and-safety problems, the landlord gets seven days after receiving your notice of intent, and a local housing or health official has to confirm the condition in writing first.³

Getting Your Security Deposit Back

Texas sets no cap on the size of a security deposit. A landlord could legally ask for two or three months’ rent upfront. What the law does control is the return.

After you move out, the landlord has 30 days to refund the deposit.⁴ The clock on the obligation to send the money is paused until you provide a written forwarding address. You do not forfeit your deposit by forgetting, but the landlord can legally hold it until you supply one. Hand over a written forwarding address the same day you turn in the keys.⁵

Landlords may deduct for damages and lease-based charges you are legally responsible for, but not for normal wear and tear. Faded paint, light scuffing, and carpet worn down by ordinary use fall on the wear-and-tear side. Holes in drywall, broken fixtures, and large stains do not. Any amount withheld has to come with a written description and an itemized list, with one exception: undisputed back rent owed at move-out.⁶

A landlord who misses the 30-day deadline or skips the itemization is presumed to be acting in bad faith. The consequences are real. Bad-faith retention makes the landlord liable for $100 plus three times the amount wrongfully withheld, plus your reasonable attorney’s fees. Bad-faith failure to provide the itemization costs the landlord the right to keep any part of the deposit and the right to sue you for property damage. The landlord carries the burden of proving any deduction was reasonable.⁷

Timestamped photos and video at move-in and move-out are the single best way to protect yourself. A written move-in inventory signed by both parties makes it much harder for a landlord to invent damage later.

Limits on Late Fees

A late fee is only valid if three things are true: the fee is spelled out in your written lease, it is reasonable, and your rent has been unpaid for at least two full days past the due date. Rent due on the first means the earliest a fee can hit is the fourth.⁸

Reasonableness has a statutory safe harbor. For buildings with four or fewer units, the fee cannot exceed 12 percent of monthly rent. For buildings with more than four units, the cap is 10 percent. A landlord can charge more than that only by proving the fee reflects actual costs of collecting late rent, which is a hard argument to win. The fee can combine a flat charge with a daily accrual, but the combined total still has to stay within the cap.⁸

A violation lets you recover $100 plus three times the improper fee, plus attorney’s fees. Any lease clause that tries to waive these protections is void.

Eviction Notice and the Court Process

Before filing an eviction suit, a landlord has to deliver a written Notice to Vacate. The default notice period is three days, but your lease can shorten or lengthen it.⁹ A landlord who skips the notice or files before the period expires risks having the case dismissed.

A Notice to Vacate is not an eviction. It is a demand that you leave. If you stay, the next step is a court filing, and only a judge can order an actual eviction in Texas. You have the right to appear, present a defense, and appeal.

Lockouts and Utility Shutoffs

Self-help evictions are illegal. Your landlord cannot shut off your water, gas, or electricity to pressure you out, even if you owe months of back rent. The only permitted reasons for interrupting a utility are genuine repair, construction, or emergency.¹⁰

If a landlord illegally cuts utilities, you can either reenter the unit or terminate the lease, and you can recover actual damages plus one month’s rent plus $1,000, plus attorney’s fees and court costs, minus any rent you legitimately owe. Any lease clause trying to waive these protections is void.¹⁰

The Narrow Lock-Change Exception

Changing the locks for unpaid rent is the one carve-out. The lease has to specifically allow it. The landlord has to give advance written notice at least five days before the lock change if sent by local mail, or three days before if hand-delivered or posted on the inside of your door. The notice has to state the earliest date the locks will be changed, the amount you need to pay to prevent it, and where to go during business hours to discuss the bill.¹¹

After the change, the landlord has to post a notice on your front door telling you how to get a new key, either through 24-hour access or a phone number answered around the clock that gets a key to you within two hours. You are entitled to the new key whether or not you have paid the overdue rent. The landlord cannot use access to your home as a collection tactic.¹¹

Protection Against Retaliation

Your landlord cannot punish you for exercising your rights. Filing a repair request, reporting a code violation to a government agency, or joining a tenant organization are protected acts. The landlord cannot respond by filing an eviction, raising your rent, cutting services, or terminating your lease. The protection runs for six months from the date of the protected act.¹²

The protection is not absolute. The landlord can still evict you during the six-month window for unpaid rent, lease violations involving serious misconduct, or threats to the safety of other tenants. Rent increases tied to a lease escalation clause for taxes, insurance, or utilities do not count as retaliation, and neither do across-the-board rent increases or service reductions applied to a whole property.¹³

Landlord Entry

Texas has no statute requiring 24-hour or 48-hour notice before a landlord enters. The rules come from your lease. Most standard Texas lease forms specify the circumstances allowing entry (repairs, showings, emergencies) and many include a 24-hour notice provision, but that notice period is contractual rather than guaranteed by law. If your lease says nothing about entry, you still have the common-law right of quiet enjoyment, which bars unreasonable disruption. Read the entry clause before you sign and negotiate written notice in if it is missing.

Breaking a Lease Early

Walking away from a lease without legal justification can leave you on the hook for rent until the lease expires or the unit is re-rented, plus any early termination fee the lease includes. The landlord has a statutory duty to mitigate those damages by making a reasonable effort to find a new tenant.¹⁴ A waiver of that duty in the lease is void. If a landlord sues you for unpaid rent after you leave, ask whether the unit was advertised and shown. A landlord who did nothing to re-rent has a weak claim.

Victims of Sexual Assault, Child Indecency, or Stalking

If you or a dependent are a victim of sexual assault, indecency with a child, or stalking that occurred within the past six months, you can terminate the lease and avoid liability for future rent. You have to give the landlord documentation of the offense, which can come from a licensed healthcare or mental health provider, a sexual assault program, or a protective order. For stalking, you also need a law enforcement report along with provider documentation or a protective order.¹⁵

Active-Duty Military

The federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act lets active-duty service members end a lease after entering military service, receiving permanent change of station orders, or receiving deployment orders for 90 days or more. You deliver written notice with a copy of your orders by hand, private carrier, U.S. mail with return receipt requested, or electronic delivery. The lease ends 30 days after the next rent payment is due following your notice. No early termination fee can be charged. You still owe prorated rent through the termination date, and any rent paid beyond that date has to be refunded within 30 days. Termination by the service member also ends any obligations a dependent has under the same lease.¹⁶

Fair Housing

Federal law bars landlords from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability. A landlord cannot refuse to rent to you, set different lease terms, or provide inferior services because you belong to a protected class.¹⁷

Disability protection goes further than most renters know. Landlords have to make reasonable accommodations to rules and policies when a tenant with a disability needs one. The most common example is assistance animals: in a no-pets building, a landlord still has to allow a service animal or emotional support animal if the tenant has a disability-related need, and no pet deposit or pet fee can be charged for one.¹⁸

If you believe you have been discriminated against, you can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development within one year of the discriminatory act, or bring a private lawsuit in federal court within two years.

Lead Paint Disclosure in Older Buildings

If your rental was built before 1978, federal law requires the landlord to disclose known lead-based paint hazards before you sign the lease. The landlord has to give you a copy of the EPA pamphlet “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home,” share any available inspection reports or records about lead in the unit and common areas, and include a Lead Warning Statement in or attached to the lease. Signed copies have to be kept for at least three years.¹⁹

1
State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.052 – Landlord’s Duty to Repair or Remedy
2
State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.056 – Landlord Liability and Tenant Remedies
3
State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.0561 – Tenant’s Repair and Deduct Remedies
4
State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.103 – Obligation to Refund
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State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.107 – Tenant’s Forwarding Address
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State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.104 – Retention of Security Deposit and Accounting
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State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.109 – Liability of Landlord
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State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.019 – Late Payment of Rent and Fees
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State of Texas. Texas Property Code 24.005 – Notice Required Before Filing Certain Eviction Suits
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State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.008 – Interruption of Utilities
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State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.0081 – Removal of Property and Exclusion of Residential Tenant
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State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.331 – Retaliation by Landlord
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State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.332 – Retaliation by Landlord – Exceptions
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State of Texas. Texas Property Code 91.006 – Landlord’s Duty to Mitigate Damages
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State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.0161 – Right to Vacate and Avoid Liability Following Certain Sex Offenses or Stalking
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3955 – Termination of Residential or Motor Vehicle Leases
17
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3604 – Discrimination in the Sale or Rental of Housing
18
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Assistance Animals
19
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 4852d – Disclosure of Information Concerning Lead Upon Transfer of Residential Property