Texas Landlord-Tenant Law: The Owner's Guide

Texas landlord-tenant law is not one statute but four chapters plus an eviction code. The center of gravity is Title 8 of the Texas Property Code, titled "Landlord and Tenant," which contains Chapter 91, Chapter 92, Chapter 93 and Chapter 94. The eviction lawsuit sits outside Title 8 in Chapter 24. If you own a rental house in Plano, Frisco, Arlington, Irving, McKinney or anywhere else in Dallas-Fort Worth, almost everything you will ever need is in Chapter 92, with Chapter 91 handling the end of a month-to-month tenancy and Chapter 24 taking over the day you file.

This guide is the map. It tells you which chapter and which section governs each situation you will actually face, quotes the statutory language that matters, and links to the deep-dive posts where a single section deserves 3,000 words of its own. Every number below comes from the statute text, not from a summary of it.

Last reviewed: September 2026. This is general information for property owners, not legal advice. Texas statutes change every legislative session and courts keep interpreting them. Confirm the current text with a Texas-licensed attorney before you rely on any figure here for a live dispute.

What is Texas landlord-tenant law?

Texas landlord-tenant law is the body of state statutes that sets the floor for every residential lease in Texas, and it is codified mainly in Title 8 of the Texas Property Code. Title 8 is titled "Landlord and Tenant" and it contains four chapters: Chapter 91, "Provisions Generally Applicable to Landlords and Tenants"; Chapter 92, "Residential Tenancies"; Chapter 93, "Commercial Tenancies"; and Chapter 94, "Manufactured Home Tenancies."

Two things follow from that structure, and both matter more than they sound.

First, it is state law. There is no Dallas landlord code and no Collin County lease ordinance layered on top. A house in Frisco and a house in Mansfield are governed by the same chapters, even though they sit in different counties and different cities. That is unusual. Owners coming from Maryland, Virginia or DC are used to a county-level overlay that changes the rules street by street; Texas does not work that way.

Second, Title 8 is not the whole story. The eviction lawsuit, the forcible entry and detainer suit, lives in Chapter 24 of the Property Code, not in Title 8. Municipal rent control is addressed in the Local Government Code, not the Property Code. And fair housing obligations come from federal law, which sits outside all of this and is not covered in this guide.

The four chapters that govern your rental

For a single-family rental house, Chapter 92 does most of the work and Chapter 91 supplies one clock. Here is the whole landscape in one table.

Chapter	Official title	What it covers	Your single-family rental?
Ch. 91 (Title 8)	Provisions Generally Applicable to Landlords and Tenants	Cross-cutting rules, including the notice clock for ending a month-to-month tenancy (§91.001)	Yes
Ch. 92 (Title 8)	Residential Tenancies	Security deposits, the repair duty, repair-and-deduct, retaliation, required disclosures	Yes — this is the main one
Ch. 93 (Title 8)	Commercial Tenancies	Leases of commercial space	No
Ch. 94 (Title 8)	Manufactured Home Tenancies	Lot tenancies in a manufactured home community	Only if you rent a lot in a manufactured home community
Ch. 24	Forcible entry and detainer (outside Title 8)	The eviction lawsuit itself, including the notice to vacate under §24.005	Yes — when you have to file

Notice what is not on that list: rent caps, a statutory limit on how much you can charge, a licensing regime for small landlords, or a state-mandated entry-notice period. Texas is a comparatively deregulated rental market, and the rules that do exist are concentrated in a handful of Chapter 92 sections with real penalties attached.

Which rule governs your problem?

Most owner questions resolve to one section and one number. Use this as a triage table, then read the section that applies.

Your situation	Where the rule lives	The number that matters
Refunding a deposit after move-out	§92.103	On or before the 30th day after the tenant surrenders the premises
Tenant sues over a withheld deposit	§92.109	$100 plus three times the portion wrongfully withheld plus attorney fees, on bad faith
Tenant reports a condition affecting health or safety	§92.052, §92.056	Seven days is presumed a reasonable time to repair
Tenant repairs it and deducts from rent	§92.0561	Greater of one month’s rent or $500
Raising rent or non-renewing after a tenant complaint	§92.331, §92.333	Six-month window; civil penalty of one month’s rent plus $500
Ending a month-to-month tenancy	§91.001	Later of the date in the notice or one month after notice
Holdover or default, before you can file	§24.005	At least three days’ written notice unless the lease says otherwise
A city wants to cap your rent	Local Gov’t Code §214.902	Disaster finding plus the governor’s approval
Commercial space or a manufactured home lot	Ch. 93, Ch. 94	Chapter 92 is residential only

Security deposits: the 30-day clock and the bad-faith presumption

You have until the 30th day after surrender, and missing it creates a presumption against you. Section 92.103(a) states that "except as provided by Section 92.107 (Tenant’s Forwarding Address), the landlord shall refund a security deposit to the tenant on or before the 30th day after the date the tenant surrenders the premises."

Thirty calendar days. The clock starts at surrender, not at lease end, not at the date you finish the turn, and not at the date the carpet invoice arrives.

Section 92.109 supplies the consequences, and it has two independent penalties that owners routinely collapse into one.

• §92.109(a) — wrongful retention. "A landlord who in bad faith retains a security deposit in violation of this subchapter is liable for an amount equal to the sum of $100, three times the portion of the deposit wrongfully withheld, and the tenant’s reasonable attorney’s fees in a suit to recover the deposit."
• §92.109(b) — no itemized list. A landlord who in bad faith does not provide a written description and itemized list of damages and charges "forfeits the right to withhold any portion of the security deposit or to bring suit against the tenant for damages to the premises" and "is liable for the tenant’s reasonable attorney’s fees in a suit to recover the deposit." The itemization failure is its own violation, separate from the money.
• §92.109(c) — who has to prove what. "In an action brought by a tenant under this subchapter, the landlord has the burden of proving that the retention of any portion of the security deposit was reasonable." You are not defending a claim; you are proving your case.
• §92.109(d) — the presumption. "A landlord who fails either to return a security deposit or to provide a written description and itemization of deductions on or before the 30th day after the date the tenant surrenders possession is presumed to have acted in bad faith."

Read (c) and (d) together and the practical picture is stark. Miss day 30 and bad faith is presumed; then, in the lawsuit, you carry the burden of proving every deduction was reasonable. Undated photos and a handwritten total will not carry it.

One drafting trap sits in §92.103(b): "a requirement that a tenant give advance notice of surrender as a condition for refunding the security deposit is effective only if the requirement is underlined or is printed in conspicuous bold print in the lease." Plenty of leases contain a 30-day notice-to-vacate condition set in the same nine-point type as everything else. That clause does not work.

Our dedicated guide to Texas security deposit law for landlords walks through the itemization format, what you can and cannot deduct, and how the forwarding-address rule in §92.107 actually operates.

Repairs and the seven-day presumption

Texas does not give you a repair deadline; it gives you a rebuttable presumption that seven days is reasonable. Section 92.052 is titled "Landlord’s Duty to Repair or Remedy," and Section 92.056 is titled "Landlord Liability and Tenant Remedies; Notice and Time for Repair." Together they set the gate a tenant has to walk through before any remedy exists.

Section 92.056(b) makes landlord liability conditional on six things, all of which must be true:

1. The tenant gave notice to repair or remedy "by giving that notice to the person to whom or to the place where the tenant’s rent is normally paid."
2. The condition "materially affects the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant."
3. The tenant gave a subsequent written notice after a reasonable time, or sent the original notice by certified or registered mail with tracking.
4. The landlord "has had a reasonable time to repair or remedy the condition after the landlord received the tenant’s notice."
5. The landlord "has not made a diligent effort to repair or remedy the condition."
6. The tenant "was not delinquent in the payment of rent at the time any notice required by this subsection was given."

Then Section 92.056(d) supplies the clock: seven days is presumed to be a reasonable time to repair or remedy, and that presumption is rebuttable in light of the severity and nature of the condition and the availability of materials, labor and utilities. A failed compressor in a Dallas August is not the same fact pattern as a slow bathroom faucet, and the statute knows it.

If the gate is cleared, Section 92.056(e) gives the tenant a menu: terminate the lease, use the repair-and-deduct remedy, deduct from rent, or seek judicial remedies. The repair-and-deduct ceiling is in Section 92.0561(b) — "the tenant’s deduction for the cost of the repair or remedy may not exceed the amount of one month’s rent under the lease or $500, whichever is greater" — and Section 92.0561(c) applies the same ceiling to the total of all repairs and deductions in any one month.

There is also a lease-drafting requirement. Section 92.056(g) provides that a lease must contain language in underlined or bold print informing the tenant of the remedies available under that section. That single typographic rule has generated its own litigation, which is why we gave it a standalone post: the §92.056 bold-or-underlined lease trap. For the operational side — response-time standards, vendor dispatch, documentation — see our guide to Texas landlord repair laws.

The six-month retaliation window

For six months after a protected tenant action, ordinary landlord decisions become legally risky. This is the section that catches good operators, because nothing about a rent increase or a non-renewal feels retaliatory when you are simply working through a renewal list.

Section 92.331(a) lists the protected actions. A tenant is protected when the tenant:

• "in good faith exercises or attempts to exercise against a landlord a right or remedy granted to the tenant by lease, municipal ordinance, or federal or state statute";
• "gives a landlord a notice to repair or exercise a remedy under this chapter";
• "complains to a governmental entity responsible for enforcing building or housing codes, a public utility, or a civic or nonprofit agency" about a code violation the tenant believes in good faith is valid; or
• "establishes, attempts to establish, or participates in a tenant organization."

Section 92.331(b) then provides that a landlord "may not, within six months after the date of the tenant’s action under Subsection (a), retaliate against the tenant" by filing an eviction proceeding (subject to the exceptions in Section 92.332), depriving the tenant of the use of the premises except for reasons authorized by law, decreasing services, increasing the rent or terminating the lease, or engaging in bad-faith conduct that materially interferes with the tenant’s lease rights.

Section 92.333 sets the exposure: a civil penalty of one month’s rent plus $500, plus actual damages, court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees, in an action for recovery of property damages, moving costs, actual expenses, civil penalties or declaratory or injunctive relief, less any delinquent rents or other sums the tenant owes the landlord. For subsidized housing the civil penalty reflects the fair market rent of the dwelling plus $500.

Section 92.332 carries the defenses that survive the window — our Texas Property Code Chapter 92 guide goes through them in detail. The operational takeaway is simpler than the statute: date-stamp every tenant complaint and every repair notice, and before any renewal decision inside six months of one, write down the non-retaliatory business reason in the file. A documented reason is cheap. A civil penalty plus attorney’s fees is not.

How do you legally end a tenancy in Texas?

Ending a tenancy and evicting a tenant are two different procedures under two different statutes, and mixing them up is the most common procedural error we see.

Ending a month-to-month tenancy is Chapter 91. Section 91.001(a) provides that a monthly tenancy "may be terminated by the tenant or the landlord giving notice of termination to the other." Under Section 91.001(b), where the rent-paying period is at least one month, termination happens on whichever is later: "the day given in the notice for termination" or "one month after the day on which the notice is given." Section 91.001(c) handles shorter rent-paying periods by keying the notice to the length of that period.

Two details matter. Section 91.001(d) provides that where a tenancy ends on a day that does not line up with the rent-paying period, the tenant is liable for rent only up to the termination date. And Section 91.001(e) means the whole default yields to your lease: the rules do not apply where the parties "agreed in an instrument signed by both parties on a different period of notice," or where there is a breach of contract recognized by law. If your lease sets 60 days, 60 days is your number.

Evicting is Chapter 24. Section 24.005(a) requires a landlord to give a tenant under a written lease or oral rental agreement who defaults or holds over "at least three days’ written notice" to vacate before filing a forcible detainer suit, and Section 24.005(b) applies the same three-day floor to a tenant at will or by sufferance. Both yield to a written agreement setting a shorter or longer period. Section 24.005(b) also carries a separate rule for foreclosure: a purchaser who declines to continue the lease must give a qualifying residential tenant at least 30 days’ written notice.

How that notice must be delivered, and how the days are counted, are Chapter 24 questions that were revised for eviction suits with petitions filed on or after January 1, 2026. Third-party statute mirrors are still slow to reflect the change, so do not work from an undated checklist. Our Texas notice to vacate guide quotes the current provisions and the enrolled bill they came from; the Texas eviction process walkthrough covers the filing and hearing stages.

Can a Texas city cap your rent?

Effectively no — a Texas municipality can only impose rent control after a disaster finding that the governor signs off on. Texas Local Government Code Section 214.902(a) provides that the governing body of a municipality "may, by ordinance, establish rent control if: (1) the governing body finds that a housing emergency exists due to a disaster as defined by Section 418.004, Government Code; and (2) the governor approves the ordinance."

Section 214.902(b) ties the ordinance to the emergency that produced it: the governing body "shall continue or discontinue rent control in the same manner that the governor continues or discontinues a state of disaster under Section 418.014, Government Code."

That is a disaster-response valve, not a housing-policy tool. In practical terms, no city in Dallas, Tarrant, Collin or Denton County sets your rent, and none can without a declared disaster and the governor’s signature. What Texas law does not do is tell you what the market will bear, which is a separate and more useful question — see average rent in Dallas and Fort Worth for 2026 and our post on Texas rent increase laws for what notice a rent change actually requires.

When Chapter 92 does not apply

Chapter 92 is titled "Residential Tenancies," and that title is a boundary, not a label. If you lease commercial space, Chapter 93 ("Commercial Tenancies") governs. If you rent a lot in a manufactured home community, Chapter 94 ("Manufactured Home Tenancies") governs.

This matters most for owners with mixed portfolios — a house in Arlington and a small retail suite in Irving are not governed by the same deposit rules, and the 30-day refund clock and treble-damage exposure you have memorized for the house are residential provisions. Applying a residential playbook to a commercial lease is a good way to give away protections that your commercial lease could have negotiated for you.

Chapter 92 also does not reach every question people file under "landlord-tenant law." Fair housing sits in federal law. Entry notice is a lease term in Texas rather than a statutory one — we cover that in can a landlord enter without permission in Texas. And unlawful occupants who never had a lease are their own problem set, covered in squatters rights in Texas.

What this means in Dallas-Fort Worth

One body of law, four counties, and no local overlay to track. A Dallas-Fort Worth portfolio typically spreads across Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties and a dozen city limits — Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Arlington, Irving, Grapevine, Mansfield, Allen, Carrollton. The statutes above apply identically at every one of those addresses. That is a genuine operational advantage over a DMV portfolio, where a Montgomery County property and a Fairfax County property live under different rulebooks.

What does change across county lines is procedural rather than substantive. Eviction suits are heard in justice of the peace courts, so the precinct, the local filing practices and the published fee schedule depend on which county and precinct the property sits in — and a Frisco address can fall in either Collin or Denton County, which is a real trap for owners who assume the city and county line up. Confirm the precinct against the county’s own published court locator before you file anything.

The other DFW-specific reality is scale. North Texas single-family rental portfolios are often assembled across three or four counties precisely because the law is uniform, and that is exactly the situation where compliance stops being a knowledge problem and becomes a calendar problem. Thirty properties means thirty deposit clocks, thirty repair-response windows and thirty retaliation windows running at once.

The five mistakes that cost owners the most

1. Treating day 30 as a soft deadline. Section 92.109(d) turns a late itemization into a presumption of bad faith, and Section 92.109(c) then makes you prove every deduction was reasonable. The cheapest compliance step in Texas landlord-tenant law is a calendar reminder set on the surrender date.
2. Sending money without an itemized list. Section 92.109(b) is a separate violation from wrongful retention. Refunding a partial deposit with no written description of damages and charges puts the forfeiture provision in play even where the deduction itself was fair.
3. Counting seven days as a rule rather than a presumption. Section 92.056(d) is rebuttable both directions. A serious health-and-safety condition may demand faster than seven days; a genuine parts backorder may justify longer. What is never defensible is silence.
4. Making a renewal decision inside the retaliation window without writing down why. Section 92.331(b) does not require bad intent. It requires proximity in time. A documented, non-retaliatory business reason in the file is the whole defense.
5. Serving the wrong notice. A Section 91.001 month-to-month termination and a Section 24.005 notice to vacate are different instruments for different purposes. Serving a three-day notice to end a month-to-month tenancy, or a one-month notice on a nonpaying tenant, restarts your clock at the worst possible moment.

Where a manager fits in

None of this is beyond a careful owner. What it is, is relentless. Every tenancy runs several statutory clocks at once, and the penalties in Chapter 92 attach to missed dates rather than to bad intentions.

Flat Fee Landlord manages single-family rentals across Dallas-Fort Worth, from Dallas and Tarrant into the Collin and Denton County suburbs. The compliance work is built into the workflow rather than left to the owner: the lease we use carries the §92.056(g) language in compliant typographic form, deposit itemizations run off a clock that starts at surrender, health-and-safety maintenance tickets are triaged against the seven-day presumption, and renewal decisions inside a six-month retaliation window carry a written non-retaliatory reason in the file.

We charge a flat monthly management fee rather than a percentage of rent. Our plans are $139 (Basic) / $179 (Preferred) / $349 (Concierge) on annual billing — the same dollar amount whether your house in McKinney rents for $1,900 or $3,400. Your management cost should not rise just because your rent did. Eviction coordination is an included benefit on the Preferred and Concierge plans, on annual billing, for tenants we placed, with filing fees, court costs, attorney fees and constable invoices billed at cost.

Get your free rental analysis and we will send you a current market rent range for your specific North Texas address with the leased comps behind it. If you want the full service picture first, our Dallas-Fort Worth property management page covers what is included.

Frequently asked questions

What is Texas landlord-tenant law?

It is not a single statute. The core is Title 8 of the Texas Property Code, titled "Landlord and Tenant," which holds Chapter 91 (Provisions Generally Applicable to Landlords and Tenants), Chapter 92 (Residential Tenancies), Chapter 93 (Commercial Tenancies) and Chapter 94 (Manufactured Home Tenancies). The eviction lawsuit itself lives outside Title 8, in Chapter 24. For a single-family rental house, Chapter 92 does most of the work, Chapter 91 supplies the month-to-month termination clock, and Chapter 24 takes over once you have to file.

How long does a Texas landlord have to return a security deposit?

Section 92.103(a) requires the landlord to refund the deposit "on or before the 30th day after the date the tenant surrenders the premises," except as provided by §92.107. That is 30 calendar days. Section 92.109(d) adds that a landlord who fails either to return the deposit or to provide a written description and itemization of deductions by that 30th day "is presumed to have acted in bad faith."

What is the penalty for wrongfully withholding a Texas security deposit?

Section 92.109(a) makes a landlord who in bad faith retains a deposit liable for "the sum of $100, three times the portion of the deposit wrongfully withheld, and the tenant’s reasonable attorney’s fees." Section 92.109(b) is a separate violation: bad-faith failure to provide the written description and itemized list forfeits the right to withhold any portion of the deposit or to sue the tenant for damage to the premises, plus attorney’s fees. Under §92.109(c), the landlord carries the burden of proving the retention was reasonable.

How fast does a Texas landlord have to make a repair?

There is no flat deadline. Section 92.056(d) presumes seven days is a reasonable time to repair or remedy, rebuttable in light of the severity and nature of the condition and the availability of materials, labor and utilities. The seven days is only part of the test — §92.056(b) also requires proper notice to where rent is paid, a condition that materially affects the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant, a subsequent written notice or certified mail, a lack of diligent effort by the landlord, and a tenant who was not delinquent in rent when notice was given.

How much can a Texas tenant deduct under repair-and-deduct?

Section 92.0561(b) caps the deduction at "one month’s rent under the lease or $500, whichever is greater," and §92.0561(c) applies the same ceiling to the total of all repairs and deductions in any one month. The tenant has to clear the §92.056 notice gate before the remedy exists at all.

What counts as landlord retaliation in Texas?

Section 92.331(a) protects four tenant actions: good-faith exercise of a right or remedy granted by lease, municipal ordinance or statute; giving a notice to repair or to exercise a Chapter 92 remedy; complaining in good faith to a code-enforcement entity, a public utility or a civic or nonprofit agency; and establishing or participating in a tenant organization. Section 92.331(b) then bars the landlord, for six months after that action, from filing an eviction proceeding (subject to §92.332), depriving the tenant of the use of the premises except as authorized by law, decreasing services, increasing rent or terminating the lease, or engaging in bad-faith conduct that materially interferes with the tenant’s lease rights.

How much notice do you have to give to end a month-to-month tenancy in Texas?

Section 91.001(b) provides that where the rent-paying period is at least one month, the tenancy ends on the later of the day given in the notice or one month after the day notice is given. One month from notice, not a flat 30 days, and it is not an eviction. Section 91.001(e) lets your lease override the default entirely where both parties signed an instrument setting a different notice period or none.

Does any Texas city have rent control?

Not on ordinary terms. Texas Local Government Code §214.902(a) allows a municipality to establish rent control by ordinance only if the governing body finds a housing emergency exists "due to a disaster as defined by Section 418.004, Government Code" and "the governor approves the ordinance." Section 214.902(b) requires the city to continue or discontinue rent control in the same manner the governor continues or discontinues the state of disaster. That is a disaster-relief valve, not a housing-policy lever.

Does Chapter 92 apply to a commercial lease or a manufactured home lot?

No. Title 8 separates them. Chapter 92 is "Residential Tenancies." Commercial space is Chapter 93, "Commercial Tenancies," and lot tenancies in a manufactured home community are Chapter 94, "Manufactured Home Tenancies." Owners who carry a residential playbook onto a commercial or manufactured-home lease are applying the wrong chapter.

Do I need a property manager to stay compliant with Texas landlord-tenant law?

No, but the failure mode is worth understanding. Almost every expensive Texas landlord mistake is a calendar failure rather than a knowledge failure: the itemization that went out on day 34, the repair ticket that sat past a reasonable time, the renewal notice sent five months after a code complaint. Flat Fee Landlord runs those clocks as part of a flat monthly fee across Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties, so compliance becomes a workflow instead of something you have to remember.

Sources and last reviewed

• Texas Property Code Title 8, Landlord and Tenant (chapter list) — texas.public.law/statutes/tex._prop._code_title_8
• Texas Property Code §91.001, Notice for Terminating Certain Tenancies — texas.public.law/statutes/tex._prop._code_section_91.001
• Texas Property Code §92.056, Landlord Liability and Tenant Remedies; Notice and Time for Repair — texas.public.law/statutes/tex._prop._code_section_92.056
• Texas Property Code §92.0561, Tenant’s Repair and Deduct Remedies — texas.public.law/statutes/tex._prop._code_section_92.0561
• Texas Property Code §92.103, Obligation to Refund — texas.public.law/statutes/tex._prop._code_section_92.103
• Texas Property Code §92.109, Liability of Landlord — texas.public.law/statutes/tex._prop._code_section_92.109
• Texas Property Code §92.331, Retaliation by Landlord — texas.public.law/statutes/tex._prop._code_section_92.331
• Texas Property Code §92.333, Tenant Remedies — texas.public.law/statutes/tex._prop._code_section_92.333
• Texas Property Code §24.005, Notice to Vacate Prior to Filing Eviction Suit — texas.public.law/statutes/tex._prop._code_section_24.005
• Texas Local Government Code §214.902, Rent Control — texas.public.law/statutes/tex._local_gov’t_code_section_214.902

All statutory text above was fetched and verified on September 19, 2026. One caution on Chapter 24: public statute mirrors do not always carry the most recent amendments to the eviction-procedure provisions, so the delivery and day-counting rules for notices to vacate are deferred to our dedicated notice to vacate guide, which quotes the enrolled bill text directly. Laws change; confirm the current text before relying on any figure here.