Where Can I File a Complaint Against My Landlord in Texas?

To file a complaint against a landlord in Texas, the agency you contact depends on what went wrong. Unsafe or unrepaired conditions go to your city’s code enforcement office, and often to your landlord first under a specific statutory notice process. Housing discrimination goes to the Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Deceptive practices like false advertising or hidden defects go to the Texas Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division. Money disputes, including security deposits, go to justice court for amounts up to $20,000.¹ Picking the right track matters, because each one has its own deadlines and its own paperwork, and skipping a step at the start can sink an otherwise strong complaint.

Repairs and Unsafe Conditions

If your complaint is about something broken or unsafe, Texas Property Code Chapter 92 requires you to go through your landlord before anyone else. The landlord has a duty to fix conditions that materially affect your physical health or safety, provided you’re current on rent and didn’t cause the problem. Broken plumbing, no hot water, electrical hazards, and pest infestations all qualify.²

Start with notice. Describe the problem and send it to the person or address where you normally pay rent. If your lease is written and requires written notice, yours must be written too. The cleanest approach is certified mail with return receipt requested on your first notice, because that satisfies the statute in one step. Any other method requires a second written notice after a reasonable time passes before the landlord becomes legally liable.²

Texas law presumes seven days is reasonable, though severity and the availability of materials and labor can shift that. If the landlord ignores you or doesn’t make a diligent effort, your options include repairing the problem yourself and deducting the cost from rent, terminating the lease, or suing for a rent reduction, actual damages, court costs, and attorney’s fees. A court can also impose a civil penalty of one month’s rent plus $500.² Keep copies of every letter and every certified mail receipt. Without proof, a court has nothing to work with.

At the same time, you can report the problem to your city’s code enforcement division. This is a separate track from Chapter 92, and you can run both at once. Inspectors have authority to visit the property, issue violations, and fine landlords who don’t correct problems. Common triggers include:

Plumbing failures: no hot or cold water, sewage backups, or leaking fixtures
Structural problems: damaged walls, floors, ceilings, or roofs
Pest infestations: roaches, rodents, or bedbugs
Electrical and heating hazards: faulty wiring, no heat, or inadequate ventilation
Unsanitary conditions: mold, trash accumulation, or animal waste

How you file depends on your city. Most Texas municipalities take complaints online, by phone, or in person. Larger cities like Fort Worth run dedicated rental inspection programs for multi-family housing. Smaller cities may route everything through a general code enforcement office. Search your city’s website for “code enforcement” or “housing complaint.” If you live in Section 8 or other government-assisted housing, your local housing authority is an additional venue and can enforce program-specific standards beyond city code.

Security Deposit Problems

Your landlord has 30 days after you move out and surrender the premises to return your security deposit. If any amount is withheld, you’re owed a written, itemized list of deductions, and the deductions are limited to damages and charges you’re legally responsible for under the lease. Normal wear and tear doesn’t count.²

One detail trips tenants up constantly: you have to give your landlord a forwarding address in writing before the 30-day clock fully engages. Leave it with them before or at move-out and keep proof. If the landlord keeps your deposit in bad faith, the penalty is $100 plus three times the amount wrongfully withheld, plus reasonable attorney’s fees. Before filing in justice court, send a written demand to the landlord’s last known address asking for the money back. It builds a paper trail and sometimes resolves the dispute without a hearing.²

Housing Discrimination

The Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division handles housing discrimination complaints under the Texas Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability.³ You have one year from the discriminatory act to file, using the Housing Discrimination Inquiry Form on the TWC website. The division investigates through interviews, documents, and sometimes site visits. If it finds reasonable cause, the case may be referred to the Texas Attorney General or resolved through a conciliation agreement.⁴

You can file the same complaint federally with HUD, which enforces the Fair Housing Act and covers the same protected classes. HUD’s deadline is also one year.⁵ Filing with both is allowed, and the two agencies coordinate so investigations don’t duplicate.⁶

Deceptive Practices

If your complaint is about false advertising, a misrepresented unit, or hidden defects your landlord knew about, the Texas Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division takes complaints under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. You file online through the AG’s website.⁷

The AG’s office does not represent individual tenants in court. What it does is investigate patterns and take action against landlords engaged in systemic deceptive practices. For your own damages, you’d need a private attorney; under the DTPA, proof that a landlord knowingly deceived you can recover up to three times your actual damages.⁷

Suing Your Landlord in Justice Court

When complaints and agency filings don’t resolve the problem, justice court is where most tenant lawsuits go. These courts handle civil disputes up to $20,000, which covers most tenant claims: unreturned security deposits, repair costs, moving expenses from uninhabitable conditions, and statutory penalties.¹

The filing fee is $54 as of January 2026.⁸ You’ll also pay a constable or private process server to serve your landlord. No lawyer is required. You file a petition explaining your claim, the court schedules a hearing, and both sides present their case to the judge. Claims above $20,000 belong in a county court at law, where formal procedures and an attorney become much more practical.

Justice courts also have exclusive jurisdiction over eviction cases. If your landlord is trying to evict you and you believe the eviction is improper or retaliatory, that’s where you contest it.¹

If You’re Worried About Retaliation

Texas law prohibits landlords from punishing tenants for filing complaints. Under Property Code Section 92.331, a landlord cannot retaliate for exercising a right under the law, giving notice of needed repairs, filing a complaint with a government agency about code violations, or participating in a tenant organization.²

Within six months of any protected action, your landlord cannot:

File an eviction, with limited exceptions
Cut off access to the property or restrict your use of it
Reduce services you’re entitled to under the lease
Raise your rent or terminate your lease
Interfere with your lease rights through a bad-faith pattern of conduct

Proven retaliation carries a civil penalty of one month’s rent plus $500, plus actual damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney’s fees. For tenants with government rent subsidies, the civil penalty uses fair market rent rather than the subsidized amount. Any delinquent rent you owe is subtracted from the award.² Federal law adds a second layer: retaliating against someone who filed a fair housing complaint, testified in a fair housing proceeding, or reported discrimination is independently illegal under the Fair Housing Act.⁹

Free Legal Help

If you can’t afford an attorney, Lone Star Legal Aid serves low-income residents across a large portion of the state, handling eviction defense and fair housing cases. Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas cover other regions. Eligibility is income-based and demand is high, so reach out early.

The Texas Tenant Advisor at texastenant.org publishes plain-language guides on leases, security deposits, and the repair process. A legal aid attorney can help with the parts that trip tenants up most: drafting the correct repair notice, calculating whether a bad-faith security deposit claim is worth pursuing, or preparing for a justice court hearing. Even a short consultation can tell you which complaint avenue fits your situation and whether your documentation is strong enough to go forward.

1
State of Texas. Texas Government Code Section 27.031 – Jurisdiction
2
State of Texas. Property Code Chapter 92 – Residential Tenancies
3
State of Texas. Property Code Chapter 301 – Texas Fair Housing Act
4
Texas Workforce Commission. Housing Discrimination – Fair Housing
5
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Learn About FHEO’s Process to Report and Investigate Housing Discrimination
6
eCFR. 24 CFR Part 103 – Fair Housing – Complaint Processing
7
Office of the Attorney General. Consumer Rights
8
Texas Office of Court Administration. Fees for Justice Courts (Effective 01/01/2026)
9
eCFR. 24 CFR Part 100 – Discriminatory Conduct Under the Fair Housing Act