Texas landlord notices: the § 24.005 notice, the first-time-nonpayment rule, and the 30-day deposit clock

A guide from Forms for Landlords. Texas figures below are taken from the Texas Property Code — Chapters 24, 91, and 92 — as published in the Texas Statutes in October 2026, including § 24.005 as amended by S.B. 38, effective January 1, 2026.

Texas runs a short-clock system built around a single pre-suit notice — and on January 1, 2026, S.B. 38 rewrote that notice: its delivery methods, and, for a tenant who has never been late before, its very form. The lease matters more here than in most states, because the written lease can contract for a different notice period and controls several of the money rules. This guide walks through the notice before filing, the new first-time-nonpayment rule, how a month-to-month tenancy ends, the late-fee safe harbor, and the deposit clock in Subchapter C.

Before you file: the § 24.005 notice to vacate

Under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005(a), before filing a forcible detainer suit against a tenant under a written lease or oral agreement who defaults or holds over, the landlord must give at least 3 days' written notice to vacate — unless a written lease or agreement contracts for a shorter or longer period. That lease override is the first thing to check: the period on the form is the statute's default, and the lease the parties signed may have replaced it. A holdover suit carries a second condition — it must also comply with § 91.001, the termination statute below.

Tenants at will or by sufferance take the same 3 days under § 24.005(b), with one exception worth knowing: a purchaser at foreclosure must give a residential tenant who timely pays and is not otherwise in default 30 days' notice. And a structural point that confuses landlords coming from other states: Texas has no separate demand-for-possession instrument. The § 24.005 notice to vacate performs that function; there is no second demand document to serve before it.

First-time nonpayment changes the form of the notice

S.B. 38 (Acts 2025, 89th Leg., ch. 960), effective January 1, 2026, added a rule aimed at the tenant who has never been late. Where the suit is based solely on nonpayment of rent and the tenant was not late or delinquent before the month the notice is given, the § 24.005 notice shall be given in the form of a notice to pay rent or vacate — the tenant gets the chance to pay, stated on the face of the only notice the law requires. If the tenant was late in an earlier month, either form of notice may be used. The landlord's own ledger therefore decides which document is lawful, before anyone drafts anything.

Delivery was rewritten at the same time. Under the new § 24.005(f-3), the notice may be delivered by: mail — including first-class, registered, or certified mail, or a delivery service; delivery to the inside of the premises in a conspicuous place; hand delivery to any tenant 16 years of age or older; or electronic communication, if agreed in writing. Under § 24.005(f-4), those delivery rules do not apply if the tenant actually receives the notice. The former subsections (f), (f-1), (g), (h), and (i) were repealed by S.B. 38: the pre-2026 door-posting rules are gone, and a form or habit built on them is out of date. One caution parallel to Ohio's: § 24.005 as amended states no counting rule for the notice period. The cautious practice — do not count the delivery day, give more time when in doubt, and write the computed deadline date on the face of the notice — is practice guidance, not a rule this guide can cite as law.

Ending a month-to-month tenancy: § 91.001

Under § 91.001(a), a month-to-month tenancy terminates on notice given by either party. Where the rent-paying period is one month or more, termination takes effect on the later of the day stated in the notice or one month after the day the notice is given — § 91.001(b). A notice that names an earlier day does not accelerate the ending; the statute's month controls. For shorter rent-paying periods, termination is the later of the stated day or the day after a period equal to the rent-paying period — § 91.001(c). Rent is owed only through the termination date when a tenancy ends mid-period — § 91.001(d). And the lease can displace the whole scheme: under § 91.001(e), subsections (a) through (d) do not apply if a signed written instrument sets a different notice period or no notice, or on a breach of contract recognized by law.

The deposit: Subchapter C's 30-day clock

Texas security deposits are governed by Chapter 92, Subchapter C (§§ 92.101–92.113), and its rules are mostly about the refund, not the holding:

No cap, no holding rules. Subchapter C sets no maximum deposit amount, and no segregated-account or interest requirement. Do not import another state's rules in either direction.
Refund deadline. The deposit is refunded on or before the 30th day after the tenant surrenders the premises — § 92.103(a). A lease condition requiring advance notice of surrender before the refund is due is effective only if it is underlined or in conspicuous bold print in the lease — § 92.103(b).
Deductions. Retention is limited to damages and charges the tenant is legally liable for under the lease or from breaching it — § 92.104(a) — and no portion may be retained for normal wear and tear — § 92.104(b).
Itemization. If any portion is retained, the landlord delivers the balance, if any, plus a written description and itemized list of all deductions — § 92.104(c). There is exactly one exception: the tenant owes rent at surrender and there is no controversy over the amount owed. Placing the refund or accounting in the U.S. mail, postmarked on or before the required date, is presumed timely — § 92.1041. Accurate records of all deposits must be kept — § 92.106.
Forwarding address. The landlord's duty to refund or describe deductions does not arise until the tenant gives a written forwarding address — but the tenant does not forfeit refund or description rights by failing to give one — § 92.107. Ask for the address in writing at move-out; do not treat its absence as a windfall.
Bad faith. Under § 92.109, bad-faith retention exposes the landlord to $100, three times the portion wrongfully withheld, and the tenant's reasonable attorney's fees; bad-faith failure to provide the written description forfeits the right to withhold any portion or to sue for damages to the premises; the landlord bears the burden of proving a retention was reasonable; and failure to return the deposit or provide the description on or before the 30th day after surrender is presumed bad faith. The deadline is therefore not administrative — it is where the presumption starts.
Ownership transfer. A new owner is liable for return of the deposit from the date title is acquired and must deliver a signed statement acknowledging the acquisition and the responsibility and specifying the exact dollar amount; the former owner remains liable until the new owner has received the deposit or assumed the liability, unless a written contract specifies otherwise — § 92.105.
The tenant's side. A tenant may not withhold the last month's rent against the deposit, and a tenant who does so in bad faith is liable for three times the rent wrongfully withheld plus the landlord's reasonable attorney's fees — § 92.108.

Late fees: a statutory safe harbor

Texas is one of the few states that prices the late fee in the statute. Under § 92.019, a late fee is collectible only if notice of the fee is in a written lease, the fee is reasonable, and some rent remained unpaid two full days after the due date. A fee is considered reasonable — the safe harbor — if the combined initial and daily fees do not exceed 12% of the rental-period rent for a dwelling in a structure with four or fewer units, or 10% for more than four units (or a higher amount not exceeding the landlord's uncertain damages). Initial and daily fees combined count as a single late fee. A violation runs the other way at the same multiplier: $100 plus three times the fee collected plus the tenant's reasonable attorney's fees — § 92.019(c) — and a lease provision waiving the section is void.

Two standing rules

Retaliation. Under § 92.331, a landlord may not retaliate against a tenant for protected good-faith conduct — exercising a right or remedy under the lease, an ordinance, or a statute; giving a repair notice or exercising a Chapter 92 remedy; complaining in good faith to a governmental entity, public utility, or civic or nonprofit agency about a code violation or utility problem; or participating in a tenant organization. Within six months after the tenant's action, the landlord may not file an eviction proceeding (subject to the exceptions in § 92.332), deprive the tenant of use, decrease services, increase rent, terminate the lease, or engage in bad faith in a course of conduct materially interfering with lease rights. Remedies under § 92.333 include a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $500, actual damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney's fees, and § 92.335 makes retaliation a defense in an eviction suit.

No self-help. Section 92.008 prohibits interrupting utility service the tenant pays for directly, and landlord-furnished water, wastewater, gas, or electric service, except for bona fide repairs, construction, or an emergency; a violation supports recovery of possession or termination plus actual damages, one month's rent plus $1,000, attorney's fees, and costs, less amounts owed. Section 92.0081 prohibits lockouts and the removal of doors, locks, and landlord-furnished property outside narrow exceptions. A lock change on a rent-delinquent tenant is possible only under strict conditions — the right stated in the lease, statutory advance written notice, and a key available to the tenant at any hour, regardless of whether rent is paid — and a tenant locked out unlawfully has the writ of reentry under § 92.0091. Possession itself is recovered through the Chapter 24 process; the notice is a step toward a court filing, not a substitute for one.

A note on currency: § 24.005 was rewritten by S.B. 38, effective January 1, 2026, and S.B. 1333 (effective September 1, 2025) created a sheriff-and-constable sworn-complaint procedure for removing unauthorized occupants — a non-tenant procedure this guide does not build on. Statutes change, and local ordinances and justice-court practice under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, Part V, sit on top of state law and were not surveyed here. Verify the current text before acting, and have a Texas landlord-tenant attorney review any completed notice before you rely on it. This guide is general information about Texas's published rules — it is not legal advice, and Forms for Landlords is not a law firm.

The forms, with Texas's numbers built in

The Texas Landlord Forms Pack is our Texas state edition: the notice to pay rent or vacate and the notice to vacate built on § 24.005 as amended by S.B. 38 — including the first-time-nonpayment rule and the new (f-3) delivery methods — the termination/nonrenewal notice with § 91.001's one-month rule built in, the deposit transmittal and itemized statement built around Subchapter C's 30th-day clock, and a one-page Texas quick-reference with the statute cited for every figure. Built from Texas statutes as of October 2026; templates, not legal advice, and not reviewed by a Texas attorney.

$89 See the Texas Pack