Understanding Your Lease Rights in Texas

Texas leaves most lease terms to you and your landlord, but chapter 92 of the Texas Property Code voids clauses that waive your core protections, such as the landlord's duty to repair conditions that affect your health or safety, and some landlord rights exist only if a written lease includes them. Under section 92.019, a late fee is allowed only if a written lease states it, the fee is reasonable, and rent is still unpaid two full days after the due date. Every lease must describe your repair remedies in underlined or bold print and should state that tenants may have special rights to end a lease early for family violence or military service. An oral lease of one year or less is enforceable, and chapter 92 applies to it, but it cannot support a late fee.

What must come with a Texas lease?

Ask for anything missing before you move in. Our guide to understanding your lease terms walks through the other sections of a typical lease.

If one of these is missing:

• No copy of the lease. The lease is still valid, but if you show a court the landlord never provided one, the court pauses the landlord's suit to enforce the lease, other than a suit for unpaid rent, until it does.
• No repair remedies notice. The remedies come from the statute, not the lease, so they still apply.
• No early termination statement. If you end the lease under the family violence, sexual offense or stalking, or military rules, you are also released from rent you owed on the termination date.
• No floodplain notice. If a flood then damages your belongings so that repair or replacement costs at least half their market value, you can end the lease by written notice within 30 days of the loss, and the landlord must refund prepaid rent within 30 days.

Which terms count only if your lease spells them out?

Some landlord rights exist only if a written lease includes them, often in underlined or bold print:

• Late fees. The fee must appear in a written lease, be reasonable, and start only after rent has been unpaid two full days past the due date. It is presumed reasonable up to 12 percent of the month's rent in a building with four or fewer units, or 10 percent in a larger building. On $1,400 rent, that is $168 in a duplex (12% x $1,400) and $140 in a 50-unit complex (10% x $1,400). A landlord that collects an improper fee owes you $100, three times the fee, and your attorney's fees. Texas rent payment rights covers daily fees and payment methods.
• Lockouts for unpaid rent. A landlord can change the locks for unpaid rent only if the lease gives it that right, and only after advance written notice. The landlord must provide you with a new key at any hour, even if you have not paid the overdue rent.
• A lien on your belongings. A lease clause giving the landlord a legal claim on your property for unpaid rent is enforceable only if it is underlined or in conspicuous bold print.
• Paying for the landlord's required repairs. Transferring those costs to you is allowed only in narrow cases under section 92.006, with a written lease and a specific underlined or bold agreement in the lease or an addendum. You can still be responsible for damage you cause beyond normal wear without that specially formatted clause. Texas repair rights lists the limits.
• Move-out notice tied to your deposit. A clause requiring advance notice of move-out as a condition of getting your deposit back works only if it is underlined or in conspicuous bold print.
• Notice periods. Before filing an eviction, a landlord must give at least 3 days' written notice to vacate unless a written lease sets a shorter or longer period. Since January 1, 2026, if eviction is solely for unpaid rent and you were not late or delinquent in paying rent to that landlord before the month of the notice, the notice must let you pay the rent or move out. A month-to-month tenancy needs one month's notice from either side unless you both sign an agreement setting a different period.
• Cosigners on renewals. A guarantor (a cosigner who promises to pay if you do not) is liable only for the original term unless the original lease states the last date a renewal can extend the guarantee and limits it to renewals with the same parties and no higher rent.

Which lease clauses are void in Texas?

A lease cannot take away these rights, and a clause that tries has no effect:

• The landlord's duty to repair conditions that materially affect the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant, outside the narrow exceptions above. A landlord that knowingly writes in a waiver of that duty owes your actual damages, one month's rent plus $2,000, and attorney's fees.
• Your rights on security deposits, security devices such as door locks, the owner and manager disclosure, utility cutoffs, and smoke alarm installation.
• Your right to end the lease early for family violence, military service, or certain sexual offenses or stalking.
• A jury trial in a lawsuit under chapter 92.
• Calling police or emergency help when you reasonably believe someone needs it, without a fine or penalty. A landlord that violates this owes one month's rent, actual damages, court costs, and attorney's fees.
• The landlord's duty to try to re-rent the unit if you move out early.
• The late fee limits.
• Lawfully keeping a firearm or ammunition in your unit or your car in tenant parking, and carrying it between them.

As the Texas State Law Library notes, a lease also cannot be changed during its term, by a rent increase or a new fee, unless both of you agree.

What if your Texas lease is oral?

A spoken rental agreement counts as a lease under chapter 92, so the repair, deposit, lockout, and retaliation protections still apply. Only a lease for a term longer than one year must be in writing and signed to be enforceable. With an oral lease:

• The landlord cannot charge a late fee.
• Your first repair request can be spoken, because written notice is required only when a written lease calls for it. To use the repair remedies, though, you need a follow-up written notice or a first notice sent by certified or other tracked mail, so put it in writing from the start.
• If you rent month to month, either of you can end the tenancy with notice, and it ends on the later of the date in the notice or one month after the notice is given.
• The landlord must still give at least 3 days' written notice before filing an eviction, with the pay-or-vacate option above when required; only a written lease can change that period.
• The deposit rules apply: the landlord has 30 days after you move out to refund it, but does not have to until you give a forwarding address in writing.

Record the rent, due date, deposit, and repair duties in a text or email the landlord answers. Verbal vs. written leases explains how to prove the terms of an oral agreement.

When can you end a Texas lease early?

State law lets you end a lease before its term ends in these situations:

Under the family violence, sexual offense, and military rules, you stop owing future rent and any fee for ending early. A landlord that violates those rules owes your actual damages, one month's rent plus $500, and attorney's fees.

Example: you deliver notice and a copy of your military orders on June 10, and rent is due on the 1st. The next due date is July 1, so the lease ends July 31, and July is the last month of rent you owe. The landlord must refund any rent you prepaid for later months within 30 days.

If you leave early for any other reason, you owe rent until the lease ends or a new tenant takes over. Section 91.006 requires the landlord to make reasonable efforts to re-rent, and a lease clause excusing that duty is void. Texas statutes do not cap reletting fees (charges for re-renting the unit), but the Texas State Law Library notes that courts generally allow a reasonable fee that covers the landlord's actual costs. Breaking a lease early covers how to limit what you owe, and Texas eviction protections explains what happens if a dispute goes to court.