Who puts the water in their name between tenants in Fort Worth, Saginaw, and Haslet?

The Gap Is the Owner's, in Every City

Between an outgoing tenant's stop date and an incoming tenant's start date, someone has to hold the account, because a house with no water cannot be cleaned, shown, or repaired, and a house with a tenant in it cannot lawfully have its water cut. Texas Property Code Sec. 92.008 bars a landlord or the landlord's agent from interrupting, or causing the interruption of, utility service to a tenant except for bona fide repairs, construction, or an emergency, with a penalty of one month's rent plus $1,000 and actual damages (Sec. 92.008(a), (b), (f)). Calling the city to close the account on an occupied house is causing an interruption. The sequence that works is the same in all three cities: the tenant closes their account effective the surrender date, the owner or manager opens one the same day, and the new tenant opens theirs effective the lease start with the owner's account closing the same day. Two calls per turnover, each with a date.

Fort Worth

Fort Worth Water opens a new account by phone or in person, with at least one day's notice, and needs the name, phone, Social Security number and driver's license number of the person responsible, the name of the present property owner, and if available the previous owner or tenant. A $20 activation charge rides the first bill, and same-day service costs an additional $25. The minimum residential deposit is $50, applied to the first bill; it is waived for a customer with twelve consecutive months of Fort Worth utility service with no late payments, or a letter of credit reference from another utility showing the same, and may be refunded after a year of good payment history or raised after poor history. Closing an account is a call with the address or account number, the stop date, and a forwarding address for the final bill, with any deposit credited against it (City of Fort Worth Water, Opening, closing and transferring accounts, read September 6, 2026). For an owner who turns several houses a year in the city, the twelve-month clean-history waiver is worth keeping intact: one late payment on a between-tenants account puts the deposit back on every future turnover.

Saginaw

Saginaw's Utility Billing Office will not start an account without a valid government photo ID and the right document for who you are: renters and tenants provide a copy of a valid lease, homeowners provide the final settlement statement or closing disclosure, and property management companies provide a current management agreement, five years old or newer. Payment of $115 is due on or before the start date; $100 of it stays on the account for its life and is applied to the final bill or refunded, and $15 is a service charge. Online applications are processed within 48 business hours, and new service does not start after business hours, on weekends, or on holidays. Termination requests must be in writing, with the address or account number, the termination date, and a forwarding address; a deposit on file is credited to the final bill. Transfers within the city carry a $15 charge and need the lease or settlement statement again (City of Saginaw, Start, Stop, Transfer Service, read September 6, 2026). The management-agreement requirement is the one owners miss: a manager cannot open the between-tenants account on a house without the signed agreement in hand, and a tenant cannot open theirs before the lease is signed, so both documents need to exist before the dates on the calendar. Four voluntary $2 contributions are added to new accounts by default and can be removed by emailing the office.

Haslet

Haslet's first instruction is to confirm the address is actually served by the City of Haslet: the city publishes a street list, and its own test is the Tarrant Appraisal District record, where CITY OF HASLET must appear as a taxing entity or the city does not provide water or trash there. The city says plainly that it does not serve areas outside its limits and lists a number of subdivisions with Haslet mailing addresses that are not inside them. Service is requested through the online residential utility application or a paper form faxed or delivered to City Hall; once the account is established, a $100 deposit is paid electronically, by phone, or in person, with a 2 percent fee on card payments made in person or by phone (City of Haslet, Utility Accounts and Billing, read September 6, 2026). For a 76052 rental, the TAD taxing-entity check is the first thing to do before a tenant is told to call the city; a house outside the limits is on a water supply corporation or another city, and the tenant's first week should not be spent finding out which.

What Goes in the Lease and the Move-Out Letter

The lease names the utilities the tenant carries and the date they start. The move-out instructions name the stop date, which is the surrender date, and tell the tenant to give the city a forwarding address so the final bill and any deposit refund reach them rather than the house. The move-in letter names the start date and, for Saginaw, reminds the tenant that the city needs the signed lease before it will open the account. The owner's between-tenants account opens on surrender and closes on the new lease date. It is a calendar, and the calendar is what keeps a house from sitting dry during the make-ready or, worse, keeps an occupied house from going dark.

How We Run It

We hold the between-tenants account in the management company's name in every city we work, which is why Saginaw's management-agreement rule matters to us and why the agreement is on file with the city before a turnover starts. The stop and start dates go on the turnover checklist next to the rekey. We never close an account on an occupied house, for the reason in Sec. 92.008, and we never let a house go into a make-ready without water on.