What has to be in bold in a Texas residential lease?

By Chapter 92: the repair-remedies notice (Sec. 92.056(g)); any surrender-notice condition on the deposit refund (Sec. 92.103(b)); a rekey deduction after a lease breach (Sec. 92.156(e)); the security-device notice that extends the tenant's window to seven days (Sec. 92.164(b)); a written-request requirement for security devices (Sec. 92.159); the key-rights line in a lock-change notice (Sec. 92.0081(d)(3)(D)); the selection-criteria acknowledgment if it sits inside the application (Sec. 92.3515(d)); a single-dwelling landlord's tenant-paid repair agreement (Sec. 92.006(e)(4)(B)); and a smoke-alarm tampering notice (Sec. 92.2611(d)(1)); and a lease provision charging for security-device damage (Sec. 92.162(b)).

What happens if a required lease clause is not in bold in Texas?

The clause is treated as if it were not there. The deposit condition does not apply, the rekey deduction is unlawful, the tenant's window to terminate or sue for the security-device penalty stays at three days, oral requests count, the lockout notice is defective, the criteria acknowledgment is presumed not given, the tenant-paid repair agreement does not shift the repair cost, and the smoke-alarm tampering remedies are unavailable.

Does a Texas lease have to tell the tenant about repair remedies?

Yes. The lease must contain language in underlined or bold print informing the tenant of the remedies under Secs. 92.056 and 92.0561 (Sec. 92.056(g)).

Can a landlord charge a rekey fee to a tenant who breaks the lease in Texas?

Only as a deposit deduction authorized by a lease provision that is underlined or in boldface type (Sec. 92.156(e)). The routine turnover rekey is always the landlord's cost (Sec. 92.156(a)).

Can a landlord require security-device requests in writing?

Yes, if the written lease says so in underlined or bold print (Sec. 92.159). Otherwise an oral request starts the seven-day compliance clock (Sec. 92.161).

Does the Texas REALTORS lease include these bold clauses?

The current Texas REALTORS residential lease and application are drafted to carry them in the required form. Any lease should be read for the ten before it is signed, and a homemade lease read for them before it is relied on.

Tarrant County · Owner Guide

Which clauses in a Texas lease have to be in bold or underlined?

By Andrew ChavisUpdated September 23, 20268 min read

The Short Answer

Ten, by our count of Chapter 92 of the Property Code, and each one is a right or remedy the landlord keeps only if the print is conspicuous. The repair-remedies notice must be in underlined or bold print (Sec. 92.056(g)). A clause conditioning the deposit refund on advance notice of surrender counts only if underlined or in conspicuous bold (Sec. 92.103(b)). A deduction from the deposit for rekeying after a tenant breaks the lease is allowed only if the lease authorizes it in underlined or bold type (Sec. 92.156(e)). The security-device notice that stretches the tenant's window to terminate the lease or sue for the statutory penalty from three days to seven must be underlined or in bold (Sec. 92.164(b)). A requirement that security-device requests be in writing is enforceable only if underlined or in bold (Sec. 92.159). A rent-lockout notice must state the tenant's right to a key regardless of payment in underlined or bold print (Sec. 92.0081(d)(3)(D)). The selection-criteria acknowledgment may live inside the application only if the notice is underlined or in bold (Sec. 92.3515(d)). A single-dwelling landlord's agreement letting the tenant repair a health-or-safety condition at the tenant's own expense is valid only if underlined or boldface (Sec. 92.006(e)(4)(B)). And a landlord's remedies against a tenant who disables a smoke alarm require a lease notice in underlined or boldfaced print (Sec. 92.2611(d)(1)). A lease that says all ten in ordinary type has said none of them. This is general information, not legal advice.

Why the Typeface Is the Law

The Legislature's pattern in Chapter 92 is consistent: where a lease can shift a burden onto the tenant or preserve a remedy for the landlord, the statute makes the shift depend on the tenant having been able to see it. The mechanism is typography. Underlined or bold print is the test in every one of the ten places below, and the consequence of missing it is never a fine; it is that the clause is treated as absent. The standard Texas REALTORS residential lease carries these in the required form, which is a large part of why we use it. A lease downloaded from a general template site is where the ten go missing, one paragraph at a time.

1. The Repair Remedies Notice

A lease must contain language in underlined or bold print that informs the tenant of the remedies available under Sec. 92.056 and Sec. 92.0561: terminating the lease, repairing and deducting, and judicial remedies after a landlord fails to make a diligent effort on a health-or-safety condition (Sec. 92.056(g)). This one is a duty on the landlord rather than a right preserved, and it is the one most often missing from homemade leases because it reads as if it is against the landlord's interest. It is a required disclosure, and its absence is its own violation.

2. Advance Notice of Surrender as a Deposit Condition

A lease may require the tenant to give advance notice of surrender as a condition of refunding the security deposit, but only if the requirement is underlined or printed in conspicuous bold print in the lease (Sec. 92.103(b)). Buried in normal type, the condition does not exist, and the 30-day refund clock runs from surrender once the tenant has given the landlord a written forwarding address (Sec. 92.103(a); Sec. 92.107(a)).

3. The Rekey Deduction After a Broken Lease

The seven-day turnover rekey is the landlord's cost (Sec. 92.156(a)). If a tenant vacates in breach of a written lease, the landlord may deduct the reasonable rekey cost from the deposit, but only if the lease includes a provision, underlined or printed in boldface type, authorizing the deduction (Sec. 92.156(e)). Without the bold clause, a rekey charged against the deposit of a tenant who broke the lease is an unlawful deduction, with the bad-faith exposure under Sec. 92.109 that follows.

4. The Security-Device Notice That Buys Four Days

If a required lock, latch, viewer, or rekey is missing, the tenant may serve a written request and, if the landlord does not comply within three days, terminate the lease or sue for a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $500 (Sec. 92.164(a)(2), (4)). That window becomes seven days only if the lease includes language, underlined or in boldface print, that in substance tells the tenant the landlord must equip the dwelling with the Sec. 92.153 devices at the landlord's expense, describes the doorknob-lock and keyless-bolt exceptions, and explains the tenant's remedies (Sec. 92.164(b)). Four days is the difference between a vendor appointment and a penalty.

5. Written Requests for Security Devices

A tenant's request or notice under the security-device subchapter may be given orally unless the tenant has a written lease that requires it in writing and that requirement is underlined or in boldfaced print (Sec. 92.159). A landlord who wants the protection of a paper trail on lock and rekey requests has to put the requirement in bold, or the phone call counts.

6. The Key-Rights Line in a Lockout Notice

A landlord who changes locks for delinquent rent must first give a written notice stating the earliest lock-change date, the amount to pay to prevent it, where rent can be paid, and, in underlined or bold print, the tenant's right to receive a key to the new lock at any hour regardless of whether the tenant pays the delinquent rent (Sec. 92.0081(d)(3)). The lease itself must also grant the lock-change right (Sec. 92.0081(d)(1)). A notice with the key line in plain type is a defective notice, and a lock change on a defective notice is the lockout that costs one month's rent plus $1,000 (Sec. 92.0081(h)).

7. The Selection-Criteria Acknowledgment Inside the Application

A landlord must make printed tenant selection criteria available at application and obtain the applicant's signed acknowledgment (Sec. 92.3515(a), (b)). The acknowledgment may be part of the rental application itself only if the notice is underlined or in bold print (Sec. 92.3515(d)). Fold it into the application in ordinary type and the presumption in Sec. 92.3515(b) runs against the landlord: no signed acknowledgment, no criteria, and the application fee goes back on rejection (Sec. 92.3515(e)).

8. The Tenant-Paid Repair Agreement

A landlord who owns only one rental dwelling may agree with the tenant that the tenant will repair a health-or-safety condition at the tenant's own expense, but only if the lease is in writing, the dwelling was free of such a condition at the start of the lease term, the landlord had no reason then to believe one was likely to occur or recur during the term, the agreement is specific and clear, it is made knowingly, voluntarily, and for consideration, and the repair agreement itself is underlined or printed in boldface in the lease or in a separate written addendum (Sec. 92.006(e)). The narrower agreement any landlord can make, that the tenant pays for wastewater stoppages caused by improper objects, damage to doors, windows, or screens, and damage from windows or doors left open, carries the same written, underlined-or-bold requirement (Sec. 92.006(f)). Miss the bold and the agreement does not shift the repair cost to the tenant.

9. The Smoke-Alarm Tampering Notice

A tenant who removes a smoke-alarm battery without immediately replacing it, or who knowingly disconnects or damages a smoke alarm, is liable for the landlord's resulting damages without any special lease language (Sec. 92.2611(b)). The added remedies, a court order, a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $100, and attorney's fees, are available only if the lease contains a notice, in underlined or boldfaced print, that states in substance that the tenant must not do this and may be liable under Sec. 92.2611 for not complying (Sec. 92.2611(d)(1)), and the landlord separately notifies the tenant and gives seven days to reconnect, repair, or replace (Sec. 92.2611(d)(2)).

10. The Security-Device Damage Charge

A landlord may not charge a tenant for repairing or replacing a security device (a lock, keyless bolt, door viewer, pin lock, or similar) due to normal wear and tear. To charge for misuse or damage by the tenant, a family member, an occupant, or a guest, the written lease must carry an underlined provision authorizing it (Sec. 92.162(a), (b)). Without the underline, the landlord absorbs the repair.

How We Run It

We use the current Texas REALTORS residential lease and application, which carry each of the ten in the required form, and we do not edit the conspicuous-print paragraphs when an owner asks for a custom addendum. When an owner brings us a house with a tenant already in place on a homemade lease, the first read is for these ten, because they decide which of the landlord's protections actually exist. The fix at renewal is a new lease, not a bolded amendment.

Common Questions

What has to be in bold in a Texas residential lease?: By Chapter 92: the repair-remedies notice (Sec. 92.056(g)); any surrender-notice condition on the deposit refund (Sec. 92.103(b)); a rekey deduction after a lease breach (Sec. 92.156(e)); the security-device notice that extends the tenant's window to seven days (Sec. 92.164(b)); a written-request requirement for security devices (Sec. 92.159); the key-rights line in a lock-change notice (Sec. 92.0081(d)(3)(D)); the selection-criteria acknowledgment if it sits inside the application (Sec. 92.3515(d)); a single-dwelling landlord's tenant-paid repair agreement (Sec. 92.006(e)(4)(B)); and a smoke-alarm tampering notice (Sec. 92.2611(d)(1)); and a lease provision charging for security-device damage (Sec. 92.162(b)).
What happens if a required lease clause is not in bold in Texas?: The clause is treated as if it were not there. The deposit condition does not apply, the rekey deduction is unlawful, the tenant's window to terminate or sue for the security-device penalty stays at three days, oral requests count, the lockout notice is defective, the criteria acknowledgment is presumed not given, the tenant-paid repair agreement does not shift the repair cost, and the smoke-alarm tampering remedies are unavailable.
Does a Texas lease have to tell the tenant about repair remedies?: Yes. The lease must contain language in underlined or bold print informing the tenant of the remedies under Secs. 92.056 and 92.0561 (Sec. 92.056(g)).
Can a landlord charge a rekey fee to a tenant who breaks the lease in Texas?: Only as a deposit deduction authorized by a lease provision that is underlined or in boldface type (Sec. 92.156(e)). The routine turnover rekey is always the landlord's cost (Sec. 92.156(a)).
Can a landlord require security-device requests in writing?: Yes, if the written lease says so in underlined or bold print (Sec. 92.159). Otherwise an oral request starts the seven-day compliance clock (Sec. 92.161).
Does the Texas REALTORS lease include these bold clauses?: The current Texas REALTORS residential lease and application are drafted to carry them in the required form. Any lease should be read for the ten before it is signed, and a homemade lease read for them before it is relied on.