Can I charge for pets in a Texas rental, and what about assistance animals?
By Andrew ChavisUpdated November 8, 20268 min readYes, you can charge for pets, and the lease decides how: a refundable pet deposit, a nonrefundable pet fee, monthly pet rent, or some mix. Texas sets no statutory cap on residential security deposits, so the amount is set by the market and the lease, within the Fair Housing rules, and every deposit still runs on the same 30-day refund-or-itemize clock. The line Texas law does draw is the assistance animal. Under Human Resources Code section 121.003(h), a person with a disability who has a service animal "may not be required to pay extra compensation or make a deposit for the animal," though they remain liable for damage beyond reasonable wear and tear. Misrepresenting an animal as an assistance animal is a misdemeanor under section 121.006. This page is general information, not legal advice.
Pets: The Lease Sets the Terms, the Deposit Statute Sets the Clock
Texas has no statute that caps a residential security deposit, and none that caps or forbids a pet deposit, pet fee, or pet rent. The lease is where the terms live: which animals, how many, any size or breed limit your insurer requires, what the owner may charge, and what happens if an undisclosed animal turns up. What the law does govern is what happens to any deposit at move-out. Under Property Code section 92.103 the landlord refunds the deposit, less lawful deductions, within 30 days after the tenant surrenders the premises, with a written itemization of any deductions under 92.104, once the tenant has given a written forwarding address (92.107); itemization is not required only when the tenant owes rent at surrender and the amount is undisputed (92.104(c)). Under section 92.109(d), letting the 30 days pass is presumed bad faith, which section 92.109(a) prices at $100 plus three times any amount wrongfully withheld plus the tenant's attorney's fees. A pet deposit is a security deposit for all of that. A pet fee is different only if it is truly a fee: section 92.102 defines a security deposit by its purpose, securing performance of the lease, so a sum that secures performance is a refundable deposit whatever the lease calls it. Pet rent is rent, collected monthly, and ends when the tenancy ends.
Allowing Pets, With Terms: How We Handle It
A pet-friendly listing is open to the households that have an animal and a no-pet listing is not; how much that widens the pool for a given house is something we check against the active listings when we price it. That is the case for yes. The case for terms is that pet damage is real and specific: flooring, doors, yards, odor, and the neighbor's patience. Our practice is to screen the animal the way we screen the applicant, through a third-party pet profile that records the animal, its vaccinations and its history once per household, and to write the pet terms into the lease and an animal addendum so the deposit, fee or rent attaches to the household and the lease rather than to whichever person filled out the profile. The terms are set per property, not per tenant, and applied the same way to everyone who applies to that property. An owner who wants a no-pet house can have one; the reasons that hold up are about the house (finishes, flooring, shared walls, an insurer's breed exclusion), and a qualifying disability accommodation still means an exception to the policy, as the next section explains.
Assistance Animals Are Not Pets, in Texas Law and Federal Law
Texas Human Resources Code section 121.003(g) gives persons with disabilities "full and equal access, as other members of the general public, to all housing accommodations offered for rent, lease, or compensation in this state," and subsection (h) is the money rule: a person with a disability who has or obtains a service animal "is entitled to full and equal access to all housing accommodations" and "may not be required to pay extra compensation or make a deposit for the animal but is liable for damages done to the premises by the animal except for reasonable wear and tear." Two protections sit side by side here and they are not the same width. Texas's chapter 121 defines the animal it protects as a canine that is specially trained or equipped to help a person with a disability (section 121.002(1)), so the no-deposit, no-extra-charge rule in (h) attaches to a service animal in that sense. The federal Fair Housing Act is broader: for a person with a disability, an animal that does work, performs tasks, or provides disability-related support can be a reasonable accommodation, and a qualifying accommodation means an exception to the pet policy, including its deposits, fees and rent (42 U.S.C. 3604(f)(3)(B)). Whether a particular request qualifies turns on the disability-related need, and the federal act keeps narrow exceptions for an animal whose tenancy would be a direct threat to others or cause substantial physical damage to property (3604(f)(9)). Under either protection, damage beyond wear and tear is still chargeable against the ordinary security deposit, which is why the move-in condition record matters as much on a house with an assistance animal as on any other. The Texas Fair Housing Act in Property Code chapter 301 tracks the federal act, including the duty to make reasonable accommodations (301.025(c)).
What Changed in 2026, and What Did Not
On May 22, 2026, HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity rescinded its 2020 assistance-animal guidance (FHEO-2020-01) by memorandum. Under the new posture, FHEO finds reasonable cause on a pet-policy waiver only where the animal has been individually trained to perform work or tasks directly related to the complainant's disability, and it no longer treats a waiver for an untrained emotional support animal as presumptively reasonable. Read that for what it is: an enforcement-posture change at one federal agency. The statute did not change. A tenant can still sue under 42 U.S.C. 3613 for a violation of 3604(f), Texas Human Resources Code 121.003(h) still bars extra charges for a service animal, and the Texas Fair Housing Act still runs. An owner who reads the memo as permission to apply pet fees to every animal with a letter is reading an internal enforcement document as if it had changed the statutes; it did not. Our posture did not change on May 22: a request for an animal as a disability accommodation is handled as a request, documented the day it arrives, with the inquiries the law allows and no others.
Misrepresentation Has a Penalty, and the Landlord Does Not Impose It
Section 121.006(a) makes it an offense to "intentionally or knowingly" represent "that an animal is an assistance animal or a service animal when the animal is not specially trained or equipped to help a person with a disability," punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and 30 hours of community service. That is a criminal provision the state enforces; it is no lever for a landlord to pull, and it tracks Texas's own definition of a specially trained or equipped animal. For an owner the practical meaning is narrower. The accommodation process allows certain inquiries when the disability or the need is not obvious, allows a requirement that the animal be under control and that damage be paid for, and runs on documentation. Demanding medical records, charging a deposit for a qualifying animal, or refusing an animal because of where its documentation came from are the actions that have produced complaints; whether a specific request qualifies is a question for a fair housing attorney, not for the leasing desk.
The Terms We Put in Writing
Which animals and how many, in the lease. The deposit, fee or rent, named correctly. The animal addendum with the household's pet profile attached. The assistance-animal paragraph, so nobody on either side applies pet terms to an accommodation. The insurer's exclusions, if any, stated as the carrier wrote them. And the move-in condition record, with photos, because every charge at move-out is argued against it. This page is general information about Texas and federal law as of November 2026. It is not legal advice; a Texas attorney should read your pet and animal paragraphs before a lease goes out.
Common Questions
- Is there a limit on pet deposits in Texas?
- No. Texas sets no statutory cap on residential security deposits, pet deposits included; the lease sets the amount within the Fair Housing rules. Every deposit still has to be refunded, with any deductions itemized, within 30 days after move-out and a written forwarding address under Property Code 92.103, 92.104 and 92.107.
- Can a Texas landlord charge pet rent and a pet deposit?
- Yes, if the lease says so. A deposit is refundable and runs on the 30-day clock; a true fee is nonrefundable, but a sum that secures lease performance is a deposit whatever it is called (92.102); pet rent is monthly rent.
- Can a landlord charge a pet deposit for a service animal in Texas?
- No. Human Resources Code 121.003(h) bars extra compensation or a deposit for a service animal. The tenant remains liable for damage beyond reasonable wear and tear, chargeable against the ordinary security deposit.
- Did HUD change the emotional support animal rules in 2026?
- HUD rescinded its 2020 assistance-animal guidance on May 22, 2026 and narrowed the cases where its enforcement office finds cause for a pet-policy waiver. The statutes did not change: private Fair Housing suits and the Texas charge bar for service animals still apply.
- Can a landlord refuse all pets in Texas?
- A landlord can set a no-pet policy for reasons about the house and apply it to every applicant the same way. A qualifying reasonable accommodation for a person with a disability requires an exception to that policy; the federal act keeps narrow exceptions for an animal that would be a direct threat or cause substantial property damage.
- What is the penalty for faking a service animal in Texas?
- Under Human Resources Code 121.006, intentionally or knowingly misrepresenting an animal as an assistance or service animal when it is not specially trained or equipped is a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $1,000 and 30 hours of community service. It is enforced by the state, not by the landlord.
Sources
- Texas Human Resources Code 121.003 and 121.006, rights of persons with disabilities, assistance animals, misrepresentation offense
- Texas Property Code 92.103, 92.104, 92.109, security deposits
- HUD FHEO memorandum rescinding FHEO-2020-01 (Assistance Animals Notice), May 22, 2026
- 42 U.S.C. 3604(f), Fair Housing Act, discrimination because of disability
- Texas Property Code chapter 301, Texas Fair Housing Act
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