⭐ Free Texas Landlord Forms

Only a few are statutory. Texas Property Code § 92.201 requires disclosure of ownership and management, § 92.0135 requires the floodplain notices, and § 92.3515 requires printed notice of tenant selection criteria and the grounds for denial when an applicant is given a rental application. A notice to vacate under § 24.005 is required before a forcible detainer suit. Everything else on this page — pet agreements, parking agreements, maintenance requests, move-in checklists, roommate agreements — is a lease term or a record-keeping habit, not a statutory duty. Using them is sound practice; skipping them is not a statutory violation.

The floodplain notices are the ones tied to signing. Under § 92.0135(e) the notices required by subsections (b) and (d) must appear in a paragraph of the lease, as an addendum, or in a separate written document given to the tenant at or before execution of the lease, and both landlord and tenant must sign the document containing a required notice. The ownership and management disclosure under § 92.201 works differently — it is normally triggered by the tenant’s request, though § 92.201(b)(3) lets a landlord satisfy it in advance by including the information in the lease or in written rules.

If the dwelling was built before 1978, yes — but the duty is federal, not Texan. 42 U.S.C. § 4852d and the implementing regulations at 24 C.F.R. Part 35 and 40 C.F.R. Part 745 require the lessor to disclose known lead-based paint and hazards, give the tenant the EPA-approved pamphlet, and attach the prescribed warning statement to the lease. Nothing in Texas Property Code Chapter 92 adds a state lead disclosure. Treat the lead form as a federal compliance item that applies in every state, and keep the signed attachment for three years as the federal rule directs.

They do different jobs and are usually two separate documents. A lease violation notice is a creature of the lease: it identifies the breach, the lease provision violated, and any cure period the lease itself grants. Texas Property Code Chapter 24 creates no cure period at all. The notice to vacate under § 24.005 is the statutory prerequisite to filing a forcible detainer suit. If the lease grants a cure right, give that period first; if the tenant does not cure, then serve the notice to vacate. Serving the wrong document first is a common reason evictions are dismissed.

No. Section 24.005(a) sets a default of at least three days’ written notice “unless the parties have contracted for a shorter or longer notice period in a written lease or agreement.” Read in both directions — a written lease may lawfully shorten the period as well as lengthen it. Subsection (b) applies the same default and the same lease override to a tenant at will or by sufferance, and adds a separate 30-day rule for a residential tenant after a tax or trustee’s foreclosure sale where the purchaser chooses not to continue the lease. Always check the lease before assuming three days.

In practice, no. Texas Local Government Code § 214.902 permits a municipality to establish rent control by ordinance only if its governing body finds a housing emergency exists due to a disaster as defined by Government Code § 418.004 and the governor approves the ordinance, and § 214.902(b) ties its continuation to the governor’s continuation of the disaster declaration. That is a disaster mechanism, not an ordinary policy lever, so there is no standing city rent-control regime to draft around. Local ordinances can still reach registration, inspection, and source-of-income issues, so check the city code for the property.

Section 92.3515(a) requires the landlord, at the time an applicant is provided with a rental application, to make available printed notice of the landlord’s tenant selection criteria and the grounds on which the application may be denied, including criminal history, previous rental history, current income, credit history, or failure to give accurate or complete information. Under § 92.3515(b) the applicant signs an acknowledgment, and if it is unsigned there is a rebuttable presumption the notice was not made available. Section 92.3515(e) requires return of the application fee and any application deposit if the landlord rejects an applicant without having made the notice available.

Section 92.006(a) provides that a landlord’s duty or a tenant’s remedy concerning security deposits, security devices, the landlord’s disclosure of ownership and management, or utility cutoffs — Subchapters C, D, E, and G respectively — may not be waived, and that the smoke alarm installation duty under Subchapter F may not be waived either. Section 92.008(g) separately makes void any lease provision purporting to waive a right or exempt a party from a liability under the utility-interruption section. Section 92.006(b) allows the security device, ownership and management, and smoke alarm duties to be enlarged, but only by specific written agreement.