Free Texas Security Deposit Disposition Statement

No. A security deposit notice is a move-in document recording what you took and on what terms; nothing in Subchapter C requires one. The disposition statement is the move-out document that Tex. Prop. Code § 92.104(c) does require whenever you retain all or part of a deposit: you must give the tenant the balance of the deposit, if any, together with a written description and itemized list of all deductions. One is optional record-keeping at the front end, the other is a statutory duty at the back end carrying the § 92.109 penalties. Sending your move-in notice again at move-out satisfies nothing.

From surrender. Section 92.103(a) requires the landlord, except as provided by § 92.107, to refund a security deposit on or before the 30th day after the date the tenant surrenders the premises. The lease end date, the date you re-let, and the date you finish repairs are all irrelevant to the count. Section 92.109(d) locks it in from the other side: a landlord who fails either to return the 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. Diary the surrender date the day it happens.

There is no dollar threshold. Section 92.104(c) requires the balance plus a written description and itemized list of all deductions whenever you retain all or part of the deposit, so a single small charge triggers the same duty as a gutted apartment. The statute recognises exactly one exception, in § 92.104(c)(1) and (2): no description and itemized list is required if the tenant owes rent when he surrenders possession and there is no controversy concerning the amount of rent owed. A dispute about the rent figure removes that exception. Line-by-line descriptions naming the item, the location, and the amount are practice, but vague entries are what courts pick apart.

Your duty is suspended, not discharged. Section 92.107(a) says the landlord is not obligated to return the deposit or give a written description of damages and charges until the tenant gives a written statement of a forwarding address for the purpose of refunding the deposit. Section 92.107(b) says the tenant does not forfeit the right to a refund or to the description merely for failing to give one. So the obligation revives whenever the address arrives, and § 92.109(d) still keys the bad-faith presumption to the 30th day after surrender. Preparing the statement inside the thirty days and holding it ready, or sending it to the last known address, is practice that costs little.

Only for what the tenant is legally liable for, and never for wear and tear. Section 92.104(a) permits deduction of damages and charges for which the tenant is legally liable under the lease or as a result of breaching it. Section 92.104(b) forbids retaining any portion of a deposit to cover normal wear and tear. Faded paint, worn traffic lanes in carpet, and small nail holes usually fall on the wrong side of that line; a burn, a pet stain through to the pad, or a unit left in a condition your lease made the tenant responsible for does not. Depreciating an item to its remaining useful life is practice, not statute, but it is the argument that survives.

The deposit is a fund to draw against, not a cap on the tenant’s liability, and § 92.104(a) frames deduction as a step before returning the balance. Section 92.109(b)(1) confirms that a right to sue the tenant for damages to the premises exists, because it provides that a landlord who in bad faith does not provide a written description and itemized list forfeits both the right to withhold any portion of the deposit and the right to bring that suit. That forfeiture is the point to note: skipping or botching the itemisation can cost you the shortfall claim as well as the deposit. Itemise fully, then pursue the balance separately.

Section 92.109(a) makes a landlord who in bad faith retains a deposit in violation of the subchapter liable for 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. Section 92.109(b) separately makes a bad-faith failure to provide the written description and itemized list forfeit the right to withhold any portion and the right to sue for damage to the premises, plus the tenant’s fees. Section 92.109(c) puts the burden of proving that any retention was reasonable on the landlord, and § 92.109(d) presumes bad faith once the 30th day after surrender passes.

Subchapter C prescribes no delivery method for the refund or the itemisation. Sections 92.103 and 92.104 fix the deadline and the content but say nothing about how the statement travels, so choosing certified mail with return receipt requested is practice rather than a statutory command. The reason to choose it is the burden allocation: § 92.109(c) makes you prove the reasonableness of a retention and § 92.109(d) presumes bad faith if nothing arrived by the 30th day after surrender, so proof of what you sent and when it went is the evidence that defeats the presumption. Keep the receipt, a dated copy of the statement, and the supporting invoices together.