What can a landlord deduct from a security deposit in Texas?
A Texas landlord can deduct actual damages beyond normal wear and tear, unpaid rent, and other charges the lease specifically allows. Normal wear and tear is never deductible under Texas Property Code §92.104(b). The deposit, or the balance with a written itemized list of deductions, must go back to the tenant within 30 days of surrender (§92.103), and bad-faith withholding costs the landlord $100 plus three times the amount wrongfully withheld plus the tenant's attorney fees (§92.109). We manage move-outs on this exact framework every month, and the landlords who get burned are almost never the dishonest ones. They are the ones who missed a deadline or charged for aging.
Deductible vs. Not: The Line Texas Law Draws
Deductible: damage beyond normal use, unpaid rent, and charges the lease specifically authorizes. Think broken blinds, pet stains, holes in doors, a unit left needing trash-out. Not deductible: normal wear and tear, meaning deterioration from ordinary use. Faded paint, worn carpet in traffic paths, small nail holes from hanging pictures. The test is simple to say and hard to apply honestly: did the tenant damage it, or did it just age while they lived there? Charging to repaint a unit that aged is the classic way landlords lose a deposit dispute they thought they would win.
The 30-Day Clock Is Strict
Texas Property Code §92.103 requires the landlord to refund the deposit, or return the balance with a written description and itemized list of deductions, on or before the 30th day after the tenant surrenders the property. Miss that window and §92.109 presumes bad faith, with the burden on the landlord to prove any retention was reasonable. This deadline, not dishonesty, is the single most common way self-managing landlords hand money back to a tenant they had legitimate deductions against.
The Forwarding Address Wrinkle
Under §92.107, the landlord is not obligated to refund the deposit or send the itemized list until the tenant gives a written forwarding address. But the statute is explicit that the tenant does not forfeit the refund by failing to provide one. No address means delay, never a windfall. An owner who treats tenant silence as permission to keep the deposit walks straight into the bad-faith penalty. Our practice: request the forwarding address in writing at move-out and log the request, so the clock's start is documented either way.
What Bad Faith Actually Costs
Under §92.109, a landlord who withholds a deposit in bad faith owes the tenant $100 plus three times the amount wrongfully withheld, plus reasonable attorney fees. Bad-faith failure to send the itemized list forfeits the right to withhold anything at all. On a $2,000 deposit, a bad-faith finding can turn a $2,000 disagreement into a $6,100-plus judgment before the attorney fees land.
How We Make Deductions Stick
The move-in file decides the move-out. We photograph every unit before a tenant gets keys, walk the move-out against that record rather than memory, and itemize like someone will read it in court: what it was, what it cost, invoice attached. "Cleaning: $400" is an argument. "Carpet cleaning and repair, two rooms, invoice attached: $385" is a record. If you would rather hand the whole framework to a team that runs it weekly, that is the job.