Texas Lease Agreement: What a 2026 Residential Rental Agreement Must Include

Updated August 5, 2026 · Statute text checked against the Texas Constitution and Statutes site (Property Code chapters 24, 91, and 92).

A Texas lease agreement, or rental agreement when the term runs month to month, is shaped in 2026 less by caps and more by required language. Texas sets no statutory limit on security deposits, but Property Code Chapter 92 tells landlords exactly what the lease must say, in bold or underlined print, about repair remedies, deposit conditions, and parking rules, and SB 38 rewrote eviction procedure effective January 1, 2026. Miss the required early-termination language and a departing tenant can walk away from delinquent rent. This page lists what a state-specific Texas residential lease agreement needs, with the statute behind each item, and what a downloadable template leaves you to work out for yourself.

This page covers Texas state law (plus the federal lead-paint rule) only. City rules, such as local registration or inspection programs, may add requirements not listed here.

What changed for 2026: SB 38 and eviction procedure

SB 38 (Acts 2025, 89th Leg., ch. 960) amended Property Code chapter 24 effective January 1, 2026, and most Texas lease templates and how-to guides predate it:

• The three-day notice to vacate before filing an eviction suit remains the default under § 24.005(a), and a written lease may still shorten or lengthen it. The old delivery subsections were repealed; under new § 24.005(f-3) the notice must go by mail, by delivery to a conspicuous place inside the premises, by hand delivery to a tenant 16 or older, or by e-mail or other electronic means if the parties agreed in writing.
• Eviction suits now start with a sworn petition (§ 24.00505), and a landlord may file a motion for summary disposition without trial under § 24.005106 when no facts are genuinely disputed.
• The justice court holds trial no earlier than the 10th day and no later than the 21st day after the petition is filed (§ 24.0051(g)), and the citation must warn tenants about default judgment and servicemember rights under Property Code § 92.017.

For lease drafting, the practical takeaway is the notice-period clause: whatever notice to vacate your lease specifies is what a court will hold you to, so it should be stated deliberately, not inherited from a template written under the pre-2026 rules.

Security deposit rules in a 2026 Texas rental agreement

Property Code chapter 92, Subchapter C applies to all residential leases and contains no cap on the deposit amount. What it does regulate is the return:

• 30-day refund: the landlord must refund the deposit on or before the 30th day after the tenant surrenders the premises (§ 92.103). The clock is paused only until the tenant gives a written forwarding address, and the tenant never forfeits the deposit just for not providing one (§ 92.107).
• Itemized deductions: the landlord may deduct only damages and charges for which the tenant is legally liable under the lease or from breaching it, must give a written, itemized list of deductions with any balance, and may not keep anything for normal wear and tear (§ 92.104).
• Bad faith penalties: a landlord who retains a deposit in bad faith owes $100 plus three times the amount wrongfully withheld plus attorney's fees, and failing to refund or itemize within 30 days creates a presumption of bad faith (§ 92.109).
• Conditions must stand out: a clause requiring advance notice of surrender before a refund is effective only if it is underlined or in conspicuous bold print in the lease (§ 92.103(b)).

The landlord's duty to repair, and the lease language it requires

Under § 92.052, a landlord must make a diligent effort to repair a condition that materially affects the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant, or a failure of hot water at a minimum of 120 degrees Fahrenheit, once the tenant gives notice to the person or place where rent is normally paid and is current on rent. Seven days is presumed a reasonable time to repair (§ 92.056(d)). If the landlord does not act, the tenant may terminate the lease, use the repair-and-deduct remedy of § 92.0561, or seek judicial remedies. Two drafting points follow directly from the statute:

• The lease must contain language in underlined or bold print informing the tenant of these remedies (§ 92.056(g)).
• The duties around security deposits, security devices, ownership disclosure, and utility cutoffs cannot be waived in a lease at all, and the smoke alarm installation duty cannot be waived either (§ 92.006).

Required items and disclosures for a Texas lease or rental agreement

These are the statewide requirements that most commonly apply to a standard residential tenancy. Several are conditional: they apply only when the underlying condition (a multiunit complex with parking rules, pre-1978 construction, an on-site office) exists.

Late fees, utilities, and other tenant protections

• Late fees (§ 92.019): collectible only if the fee is in the written lease, is reasonable, and any portion of rent has remained unpaid two full days after the due date. A fee is deemed reasonable at up to 12% of the rent for a structure with four or fewer units, or 10% for a larger one; more is allowed only up to the landlord's actual uncertain damages. A violating landlord owes $100 plus three times the improper fee plus attorney's fees, and the right cannot be waived.
• Utility interruption (§ 92.008): a landlord may not cut off utilities the tenant pays directly to the utility, or landlord-furnished water, wastewater, gas, or electricity, except for bona fide repairs, construction, or an emergency. A violation lets the tenant terminate or recover possession and claim actual damages plus one month's rent plus $1,000 and fees; waivers are void. Submetered electricity has a narrow, notice-heavy disconnection procedure for nonpayment.
• Family violence early termination (§ 92.016): a tenant who provides a qualifying protective order or specified documentation and 30 days' written notice may vacate and avoid liability for future rent. The right cannot be waived.
• Military early termination (§ 92.017): a servicemember (or dependent) who enters military service or receives permanent-change-of-station or 90-day-plus deployment orders may terminate with written notice and a copy of the orders.
• Occupancy limit (§ 92.010): a landlord may allow at most three adults per bedroom.

Notice periods every Texas landlord should know

• Notice to vacate before eviction: at least 3 days' written notice before filing suit, unless the written lease sets a shorter or longer period (Prop. Code § 24.005, as amended by SB 38 effective January 1, 2026).
• Ending a month-to-month tenancy: either party may terminate with notice; with a monthly rent period the tenancy ends on the later of the date in the notice or one month after notice is given, unless the parties agreed in writing on a different period (Prop. Code § 91.001).
• Security deposit return: within 30 days of surrender (§ 92.103).
• Repairs: 7 days is the presumptively reasonable time to repair a health-or-safety condition after notice (§ 92.056(d)), and the deadline for rekeying security devices after tenant turnover (§ 92.156(a)).
• Copy of the lease: within 3 business days of signing (§ 92.024).
• Rent increases: Texas has no statewide rent control and no statute setting a minimum notice period for increases on renewal; mid-lease increases require lease authority, so the lease term controls.

Why a free Texas lease agreement PDF may be out of date

Most free “Texas lease agreement PDF” downloads are static documents, and the statutes behind them keep moving: SB 38 rewrote eviction notice delivery and court procedure effective January 1, 2026, the floodplain notice in § 92.0135 was amended effective September 1, 2025, and the late fee rules of § 92.019 date from a 2019 amendment that older forms still contradict. Texas also polices formatting, not just content: repair remedies, surrender conditions, parking rules, and rekeying deductions must appear in bold or underlined print to be enforceable. A quick check: if a Texas template does not contain the early-termination sentence required by §§ 92.016(f) and 92.017(g), collecting delinquent rent from a tenant who leaves under those sections becomes much harder. LeaseSmith builds state-specific leases from the current statute list above, so the document you sign matches the law as it stands, not as it stood when a PDF was last edited.

Texas lease agreement template versus a state-specific lease

People searching for a Texas lease agreement template and people searching for a Texas rental agreement PDF usually want the same thing: a document they can fill in and sign this week. The difference between the two products on offer is where the decisions get made. A template supplies the clauses and leaves the judgment calls to you, including which notice-to-vacate period to state under the new SB 38 rules, whether the repair-remedies sentence is actually underlined or bold rather than merely present, whether the early-termination language of §§ 92.016(f) and 92.017(g) appears at all, and which of the floodplain, parking, and emergency-number items in the table above your property triggers. A state-specific lease works the other way round. You answer questions about the property and the tenancy first, and the document is assembled with the clauses and the formatting those answers require.

PDF or Word: what you actually receive

LeaseSmith returns both formats after checkout: a print-ready PDF and an editable Word (.docx) file of the same lease. The PDF is what you sign, and the copy you hand to the tenant under the § 92.024 duty to provide a complete copy of the signed lease within three business days. The Word file is for what comes later, such as a renewal, a corrected name, or an added occupant, and it lets you make those edits without losing the underlining and bold print that §§ 92.056(g) and 92.103(b) require. That is the practical gap in a free Texas rental agreement PDF: it covers the signing and nothing after it.

When a blank template is enough

A template is a reasonable choice when the answers are not conditional: a single-family rental with no parking rules, no on-site office, post-1978 construction, and no floodplain history, let by a landlord who has read chapter 92 and will check the bold-print formatting line by line. The case for a generated lease is narrower than sellers of either option tend to admit. It earns its price on the formatting rules, because in Texas a clause that says the right thing in the wrong typeface can simply stop working.

Texas lease agreement FAQ