Texas Landlord-Tenant Law 101 for Owners

Texas landlord-tenant law is mostly the Property Code plus the lease you signed. The lease can be stricter on the owner than the statute. It cannot waive duties the statute says you cannot waive. If you have not read your own lease this year, that is the first assignment.

This is general information from a Round Rock property manager, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Texas rules change. Use a Texas attorney or CPA for your property, and call our office if we manage the house.

• Habitability and repair: there is a process for requests and a process when an owner does not respond. Do not ignore written repair requests.
• Access: the lease's notice rules are there so you are not surprising a resident.
• Deposits: itemize and return on the statutory clock. See our deposit article.
• Notices to vacate and to pay: the form and the timing changed for cases filed on or after January 1, 2026.
• Retaliation and lockouts: do not invent a self-help remedy. It is how owners lose the case they thought they were winning.

We manage inside those rules on Round Rock houses. We still send you to a lawyer when the question is a legal opinion.

The lease and the Property Code, together

Texas landlord-tenant law is mostly the Property Code plus the lease you signed. The lease can be stricter on the owner than the statute. It cannot waive duties the statute says you cannot waive. If you have not read your own lease this year, that is the first assignment, ahead of any article. This page is a map, not advice. A Texas attorney is the right call when you need an opinion on your facts.

Habitability and repair have a process for requests and a process when an owner does not respond. Do not ignore a written repair request. Access to the house follows the notice rules in the lease so you are not surprising a resident. Security deposits are itemized and returned on the statutory clock. Our deposit article walks through the file we keep. Notices to vacate and notices to pay changed in important ways for cases filed on or after January 1, 2026. Use the current form. Retaliation and lockouts are not creative remedies. Shutting a resident out or cutting utilities to force a move is how owners lose.

We manage inside those rules on Round Rock houses and across the cities listed on the site. We still send you to a lawyer when the question is a legal opinion, including whether your notice is ready to support a filing. If we manage the house, call the office before you post your own notice so the file does not contain two conflicting documents. Office hours are Monday through Thursday, 8:30 to 5:00, and Friday, 8:30 to noon.