Do I have to rekey my rental between tenants in Texas?

The Seven-Day Rekey

Every security device that works by key, card, or combination has to be rekeyed by the landlord no later than the seventh day after each tenant turnover date, at the landlord's expense (Sec. 92.156(a)). Closet and interior doors are excluded (Sec. 92.156(d)). The tenant can also ask for additional rekeying at any time, as many times as they like, at the tenant's expense (Sec. 92.156(b)). One deduction is allowed: if the tenant leaves in breach of a written lease, the landlord may take the reasonable rekey cost out of the deposit, but only if the lease authorizes that deduction in underlined or bold print (Sec. 92.156(e)). A lease that says it in normal type does not qualify. The turnover date is the trigger, not the move-in date, so a house that sits vacant for three weeks is rekeyed in the first week, not the last.

What Every Exterior Door and Window Has to Have

Subchapter D lists the devices a dwelling must have when a tenant is in possession, without the tenant asking (Sec. 92.153(a), (d)): a window latch on each exterior window; a doorknob lock or keyed deadbolt on each exterior door; a sliding door pin lock and a sliding door handle latch or security bar on each exterior sliding glass door; and a keyless bolting device and a door viewer on each exterior door. An exterior door includes the door between the living area and the garage, and excludes sliding glass and screen doors (Sec. 92.151(3)). The definitions are specific: a door viewer is a permanently installed peephole with at least a 160-degree lens or a clear pane or one-way mirror; a keyless bolting device is a deadbolt operable only from the inside, and the statute says in so many words that a chain latch, flip latch, or surface slide bolt does not count (Sec. 92.151(2), (6)). French doors have their own rule: one door meets the full list and the other gets top and bottom bolts with at least a one-inch throw (Sec. 92.153(b)). The landlord chooses type, brand, and placement (Sec. 92.160), so this is a hardware-store trip, not a specialty order.

The Exceptions Are Narrow

There are exceptions, and they are narrower than most owners assume. A keyless bolting device is not required at the landlord's expense where the tenant or an occupant is over 55 or has a disability and asks in a separate written document that it be left off (Sec. 92.153(f)), or in certain complexes where the landlord is required to check on residents (Sec. 92.153(e)). A keyed deadbolt or doorknob lock can be skipped on some doors if, at the time the tenant agrees to lease, at least one normal-entry door already has both a keyed deadbolt and a keyless bolting device and the other doors meet the conditions in Sec. 92.153(g). None of these exceptions is triggered by the age of the house, the price of the rent, or the fact that the previous tenant never complained.

Repairs During the Lease, and the Seven-Day Clock Again

During the lease and any renewal, the landlord must repair or replace a security device when the tenant reports it inoperable (Sec. 92.158). A tenant may also request, at the tenant's expense, a keyed deadbolt on a door that has only a knob lock, or a handle latch or security bar on a sliding door that lacks one (Sec. 92.157(a)). Compliance is due within a reasonable time, presumed to be no later than the seventh day after the request is received (Sec. 92.161(a)). A tenant's request may be oral unless the lease requires writing and says so in underlined or bold print (Sec. 92.159). If the required device was never installed, the tenant may ask for it and the landlord must install it immediately at the landlord's expense (Sec. 92.157(c)).

What It Costs to Skip It

If the landlord does not install the required devices or does not rekey on turnover, the tenant may install or rekey themselves and deduct the reasonable cost from the next rent payment (Sec. 92.164(a)(1)); serve a written request and, if the landlord does not comply within three days of receipt, terminate the lease without going to court (Sec. 92.164(a)(2)); or sue for a court order, actual damages, costs, and attorney fees, and after an ignored written request also for punitive damages and a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $500 (Sec. 92.164(a)(3), (4)). The three-day window stretches to seven only if the lease carries the specific underlined or bold notice language described in Sec. 92.164(b). The same remedies, including the one-month-plus-$500 penalty, apply when a landlord ignores a tenant's repair or rekey request (Sec. 92.165). Set against a $40 rekey and $15 peephole, the penalty is the argument.

How It Shows Up at a Make-Ready

Rekey is the first line on our turnover list, ordered the day the keys come back, because the seven days run from turnover, not from the next lease. The walk covers every exterior door for a keyed lock, a keyless deadbolt, and a viewer, the garage-to-house door included, and every window for a working latch. Sliding doors get a pin and a bar. It is the cheapest compliance item on the whole make-ready and the one that removes a tenant's cleanest statutory claim before it exists. A lease we use carries the Sec. 92.164(b) notice in bold and the Sec. 92.156(e) rekey-deduction clause in bold, because those two lines are what make the seven-day window and the deposit deduction available at all.