# Landlord-Tenant & Ownership

> Security deposits, repair obligations, and eviction procedure under the Texas Property Code.

**Source:** https://www.texasreprep.com/learn/texas-real-estate/texas-landlord-tenant  
**Published:** 2026-08-24  
**Updated:** 2026-09-02

Texas RE PREP™ — independent practice for the Texas real estate license exam, National (Uniform) and Texas State portions. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or operated by the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) or Pearson VUE, who administer the actual exam.

---

Landlord-tenant law is one of the more heavily codified areas of Texas real estate practice — the Texas Property Code sets specific rules, timelines, and dollar-figure obligations that the exam expects you to know precisely.

## Security deposits

Under Property Code §92.103, a landlord generally must refund a tenant's security deposit — or provide a written, itemized list of deductions — on or before the **30th day** after the tenant surrenders the unit. Missing that deadline without providing the itemized accounting isn't just late; Texas law generally presumes the landlord acted in **bad faith** once the 30-day window passes with nothing sent, meaning the tenant doesn't have to separately prove bad intent.

The cost of bad faith

Under §92.109, a landlord found to have retained a deposit in bad faith is generally liable for **$100, plus three times the portion of the deposit wrongfully withheld, plus the tenant's reasonable attorney's fees** — a real, statutory penalty well beyond simply returning the money late.

## The landlord's repair duty

Texas law places specific procedural requirements on both sides of a repair dispute: the tenant generally must give proper written notice of the needed repair, and the landlord then has a specific window to act. A tenant who skips the required notice procedure can lose some of their available remedies, even for a genuine repair problem.

Common trap

A tenant generally can't simply withhold rent as a self-help remedy for an unrepaired condition without first following the Property Code's specific notice procedure — skipping that step can undermine an otherwise legitimate complaint.

## Eviction is a court process

A landlord generally cannot physically remove a tenant or the tenant's belongings from the unit without going through the formal eviction process — that always requires proper notice to vacate, followed by a court suit if the tenant doesn't leave.

The lockout exception

Changing the locks is a distinct, genuinely Texas-specific exception. Under Property Code §92.0081, a landlord may generally lock out a tenant who is delinquent on rent *without going to court first* — but only if the lease itself allows it, and only by following the statute's strict requirements: advance written notice, and giving the tenant a new key any time of day or night on request, whether or not the rent has been paid yet.

## Property left behind after eviction

Texas law specifically governs how a landlord must handle a tenant's personal property left behind after an eviction — there's a defined statutory procedure for this, separate from the general eviction rules themselves, and getting the citation right (not just the general concept) is worth knowing precisely for the exam.

Worth remembering

Across almost every landlord-tenant question, the theme repeats: Texas law cares as much about the *procedure* — proper notice, specific timeframes — as it does about who's ultimately right on the underlying dispute.

Quick Check

A tenant is delinquent on rent, and the lease allows lockouts. If the landlord follows the required notice and 24-hour key-access rules, can the landlord generally change the locks without going to court first?

Generally yes — Texas law generally allows this specific lockout procedure without a prior court order, if the lease permits it and the statutory notice/key-access rules are followed

Generally no — changing the locks always generally requires a court order first, with no exception

Generally yes, but only removing the tenant's belongings requires no court order either

Generally no, because Texas law generally does not allow a landlord to ever lock out a tenant

Property Code §92.0081 generally allows this specific lockout procedure without a prior court order, but only when the lease permits it and the landlord follows the statute's required advance notice and 24-hour key-access rules. This is narrower than it might sound: physically removing the tenant's belongings still generally requires the formal eviction process — the lockout exception doesn't extend that far.