Does Texas have an implied warranty of habitability?

Statute — no independent court-created warranty operates alongside it. The duty comes from Texas Property Code chapter 92, subchapter B (sections 92.051 through 92.062). Section 92.061 makes the subchapter's duties and remedies stand in place of the earlier common-law and statutory warranties for maintenance, repair, habitability, and nonretaliation, so the implied warranty the Texas Supreme Court recognized in Kamarath v. Bennett (1978) does not operate alongside the statute for the leases the subchapter covers — those executed, entered into, renewed, or extended on or after September 1, 1979.

How long does a landlord have to make repairs in Texas?

7 days. Seven days is a rebuttable presumption of a reasonable time, not a fixed deadline: liability turns on whether the landlord made a diligent effort within a reasonable time, weighing the date the notice arrived, the severity and nature of the condition, and the availability of materials, labor, and utilities. The tenant starts the clock by giving notice to the person to whom, or the place where, rent is normally paid, and must not be delinquent in rent when any required notice is given.

Can a tenant repair and deduct in Texas?

Yes — authorized by statute — Limit: The deduction may not exceed the greater of one month's rent or $500 in any one month, and repairs and deductions may be made as often as necessary within that monthly ceiling. For a tenancy subsidized by a government agency, the one-month measure means the fair market rent for the dwelling rather than the rent the tenant actually pays. — The remedy is available only when the landlord is already liable under the notice-and-cure rules and at least one of the tenant's notices states an intent to repair and reasonably describes the intended work.

Can a tenant withhold rent for repair problems in Texas?

No — no statute or decision provides a path — No Texas statute authorizes a tenant to withhold rent over the condition of the premises, and no court or agency escrow program exists. The statute runs the other way: a tenant who withholds rent or deducts repair costs in violation of the subchapter is liable for the landlord's actual damages, and, once the landlord has given written notice of the illegality, a bad-faith violation adds a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $500.

Can a landlord retaliate against a tenant who complains about repairs in Texas?

Protected by a general retaliation statute — The statute protects the tenant for six months after the protected act; the window counts in months from the tenant's action, and eviction or other retaliatory conduct inside it is presumptively suspect unless a listed ground applies. — A landlord who retaliates within the window is liable to the tenant, and retaliation is also a defense in an eviction suit. The statute lists conduct that is not retaliation even inside the window: rent increases under an escalation clause tied to utilities, taxes, or insurance; increases or service reductions applied across the whole project; and six eviction grounds including rent delinquency when notice to vacate is given, intentional property damage or threats to safety, other serious lease breaches, and holdovers.

Can a lease make the tenant responsible for repairs in Texas?

Repairs may be delegated only within uniform-act-style limits. Subchapter B duties and remedies may not be waived, with three narrow exceptions written into section 92.006: the parties may agree that the tenant will repair covered conditions at the landlord's expense; they may agree that the tenant will repair covered conditions at the tenant's own expense only if the landlord owns just one rental dwelling, the unit starts the lease free of health-or-safety conditions with none expected to recur, and the agreement is specific, clear, knowing, voluntary, made for consideration, and underlined or in boldface in a written lease or a separate addendum; and, under the same formalities, the tenant may take on the cost of repairing damage from wastewater stoppages caused by foreign or improper objects in lines serving only the tenant's dwelling, damage to doors, windows, or screens, and damage from windows or doors left open. A knowing violation of the waiver rules is itself actionable, with actual damages, a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $2,000, and attorney's fees.

What does Texas law require a landlord to repair?

Verified August 30, 2026 All Texas topics →

Texas law requires a landlord to make a diligent effort to repair or remedy any condition that materially affects the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant, once a tenant who is current on rent gives notice at the place where rent is paid.

Cited to Tex. Prop. Code § 92.051 (application of subchapter B) and 15 more cited sources · Verified August 30, 2026

The duty and its remedies live entirely in statute — Property Code chapter 92, subchapter B — which expressly stands in place of the older court-made warranty of habitability. After notice and a reasonable time (seven days is presumed reasonable, and the presumption can be rebutted in either direction), the tenant's lawful options are to terminate the lease, to have the condition repaired by an independent contractor and deduct the cost up to the greater of one month's rent or $500 per month, or to sue for a repair order, a proportionate rent reduction, a civil penalty, and damages. Texas gives tenants no right to withhold rent, and unlawful withholding carries its own penalty. Retaliating against a tenant's good-faith repair complaints is barred for six months, with listed safe harbors for ordinary landlord decisions.

Texas habitability & repairs at a glance

Where the duty comes from	Statute — no independent court-created warranty operates alongside it
Duty source details	The duty comes from Texas Property Code chapter 92, subchapter B (sections 92.051 through 92.062). Section 92.061 makes the subchapter's duties and remedies stand in place of the earlier common-law and statutory warranties for maintenance, repair, habitability, and nonretaliation, so the implied warranty the Texas Supreme Court recognized in Kamarath v. Bennett (1978) does not operate alongside the statute for the leases the subchapter covers — those executed, entered into, renewed, or extended on or after September 1, 1979.
Who is covered	Statewide — no coverage split
Where the repair standards live	A general fit-for-habitation standard with no statutory list
What must be kept in repair	The statute states one general standard rather than a list: the landlord must make a diligent effort to repair or remedy a condition that materially affects the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant. The one enumerated specific is hot water — the duty covers a device supplying hot water of at least 120 degrees Fahrenheit. The duty does not extend to conditions caused by the tenant, a member of the tenant's family, or a guest (other than normal wear and tear), to furnishing utilities from a utility company where the lines are not reasonably available, or to providing security guards. Municipal housing codes add local standards, and a written violation notice from a local housing, building, or health official is the trigger that opens the tenant's repair-and-deduct remedy for most condition classes.
Heat standard type	No heat-specific standard beyond the general duty
Heat standard details	No heat-specific figures or season stated
Headline repair day count	7 days
Notice and repair-window rules	Seven days is a rebuttable presumption of a reasonable time, not a fixed deadline: liability turns on whether the landlord made a diligent effort within a reasonable time, weighing the date the notice arrived, the severity and nature of the condition, and the availability of materials, labor, and utilities. The tenant starts the clock by giving notice to the person to whom, or the place where, rent is normally paid, and must not be delinquent in rent when any required notice is given. A second notice after a reasonable time is required before remedies attach — unless the first notice went by certified mail, registered mail, or another mail service with delivery tracking, which makes one notice enough. Notice must be in writing only if a written lease requires written notice. The landlord can lawfully extend the timeline by delivering a sworn affidavit explaining the delay: up to 15 days when parts are delayed through no fault of the landlord, or up to 30 days during a general shortage of labor or materials after a natural disaster, with all affidavit delays together capped at six months.
Repair and deduct	Yes — authorized by statute — Limit: The deduction may not exceed the greater of one month's rent or $500 in any one month, and repairs and deductions may be made as often as necessary within that monthly ceiling. For a tenancy subsidized by a government agency, the one-month measure means the fair market rent for the dwelling rather than the rent the tenant actually pays. — The remedy is available only when the landlord is already liable under the notice-and-cure rules and at least one of the tenant's notices states an intent to repair and reasonably describes the intended work. It then attaches by condition class: immediately for backup or overflow of raw sewage inside the dwelling or flooding from broken pipes or natural drainage; after 3 days for a total stop of drinking water the landlord agreed to furnish; after 3 days for inadequate heat or cooled air from lease-furnished equipment, but only once a local housing, building, or health official has notified the landlord in writing that the failure materially affects an ordinary tenant's health or safety; and after 7 days for any other qualifying condition flagged in writing by such an official. The work must be done by an independent company, contractor, or repairman — licensed where the municipality requires it — never by the tenant or the tenant's family, employer, or employees unless the parties agree otherwise, and never on the foundation or load-bearing structural elements of a building holding two or more dwelling units. A tenant who terminates the lease gives up this remedy, and deducting outside the statute is penalized: after written warning, a bad-faith violation makes the tenant liable for the landlord's actual damages plus a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $500.
Rent withholding or escrow	No — no statute or decision provides a path — No Texas statute authorizes a tenant to withhold rent over the condition of the premises, and no court or agency escrow program exists. The statute runs the other way: a tenant who withholds rent or deducts repair costs in violation of the subchapter is liable for the landlord's actual damages, and, once the landlord has given written notice of the illegality, a bad-faith violation adds a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $500. A lawful deduction under the repair-and-deduct sections is a defense to a nonpayment eviction; withholding outside them is not.
Termination over habitability failures	Yes — a statute states the right — Once the landlord is liable under the notice-and-cure rules, the tenant may terminate the lease, with a pro rata rent refund from the termination or move-out date (whichever is later) and the right to deduct the security deposit from rent or recover it under the deposit law; a tenant who terminates gives up the repair-and-deduct remedy and the judicial repair-order and rent-reduction remedies. Separate rights apply after casualty and closure: if fire, flood, or another insured casualty leaves the premises totally unusable through no fault of the tenant's side, either party may end the lease by written notice with a pro rata refund; and a landlord who closes the rental premises under the statute owes the tenant's actual, reasonable moving expenses, a pro rata refund, and the deposit, with a penalty of one month's rent plus $100 plus fees for violations.
Essential-service remedies	Yes — distinct statutory remedies for essential-service failures — Essential failures ride faster repair-and-deduct clocks than the general 7-day track: backup of raw sewage or interior flooding can be repaired and deducted immediately after the intent-to-repair notice, and a total stop of drinking water the landlord agreed to furnish after 3 days. Heating and cooling equipment failures get the 3-day track once a local official has given the landlord written notice. Utility interruptions the landlord causes on purpose are a different subject, covered with the eviction rules.
Retaliation protection	Protected by a general retaliation statute — The statute protects the tenant for six months after the protected act; the window counts in months from the tenant's action, and eviction or other retaliatory conduct inside it is presumptively suspect unless a listed ground applies. — A landlord who retaliates within the window is liable to the tenant, and retaliation is also a defense in an eviction suit. The statute lists conduct that is not retaliation even inside the window: rent increases under an escalation clause tied to utilities, taxes, or insurance; increases or service reductions applied across the whole project; and six eviction grounds including rent delinquency when notice to vacate is given, intentional property damage or threats to safety, other serious lease breaches, and holdovers. A landlord who proves the action was not for purposes of retaliation is not liable. If an official determines in writing that a tenant's complaint was invalid, the tenant is rebuttably presumed to have acted in bad faith, and a bad-faith retaliation claim lets the landlord recover possession plus one month's rent plus $500 with costs and fees. — Exercising or attempting in good faith to exercise a right or remedy granted by the lease or by law; giving the landlord a repair notice; complaining to a government entity responsible for enforcing building or housing codes, to a public utility, or to a civic or nonprofit agency; and establishing, attempting to establish, or participating in a tenant organization.
Damages, penalties, and defenses	Judicial remedies for an unrepaired condition are an order directing the repair, rent reduced in proportion to the reduced rental value from the date of the first repair notice until the condition is fixed, a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $500, actual damages, and court costs and attorney's fees (personal-injury fee claims excluded). Retaliation adds a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $500 and actual damages, with delinquent rent offset against the recovery and the penalty measured from fair market rent for subsidized tenancies. Enhanced penalties attach to affidavit-for-delay abuse (one month's rent plus $1,000) and to a foreclosure buyer who ignores surviving repair rights (one month's rent plus $2,000). The landlord's stated defenses: conditions caused by the tenant, the tenant's family, or guests; casualty timing, since the repair period does not start until insurance proceeds arrive; and proof that an action was not retaliatory. The burden of proof generally rests on the tenant, but shifts to the landlord if the landlord fails to give a written explanation for delay within 5 days of the tenant's written demand for one. Suits under the chapter fit justice court up to that court's $20,000 civil ceiling, the landlord may appeal a justice-court repair judgment without an appeal bond, a lease cannot waive the tenant's right to a jury trial, and repair claims may not be joined with an eviction suit.
Can the duty be waived or shifted	Repairs may be delegated only within uniform-act-style limits
Waiver and delegation rules	Subchapter B duties and remedies may not be waived, with three narrow exceptions written into section 92.006: the parties may agree that the tenant will repair covered conditions at the landlord's expense; they may agree that the tenant will repair covered conditions at the tenant's own expense only if the landlord owns just one rental dwelling, the unit starts the lease free of health-or-safety conditions with none expected to recur, and the agreement is specific, clear, knowing, voluntary, made for consideration, and underlined or in boldface in a written lease or a separate addendum; and, under the same formalities, the tenant may take on the cost of repairing damage from wastewater stoppages caused by foreign or improper objects in lines serving only the tenant's dwelling, damage to doors, windows, or screens, and damage from windows or doors left open. A knowing violation of the waiver rules is itself actionable, with actual damages, a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $2,000, and attorney's fees.
Leading court decisions	Kamarath v. Bennett, 568 S.W.2d 658 (Tex. 1978) — Recognized an implied warranty that a rented dwelling is habitable and fit for living — no latent defects in facilities vital to residential use at the start of the lease, with essential facilities remaining livable. For leases executed, entered into, renewed, or extended on or after September 1, 1979, the Legislature replaced that court-made warranty: the statute's duties and remedies now stand in its place.
Local rules	Municipal housing codes do real work in Texas: home-rule cities set minimum property standards, and a written violation notice from the local housing, building, or health official is what opens the repair-and-deduct remedy for most condition classes. The city code where the property sits belongs beside the state rules on this page.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Texas Habitability & Repair Laws (verified August 30, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/habitability/texas/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

A statute in place of the court-made warranty — The Texas Supreme Court adopted an implied warranty of habitability in Kamarath v. Bennett (1978), and the Legislature answered the next year: subchapter B applies to every lease executed, entered into, renewed, or extended on or after September 1, 1979, and its duties and remedies are in lieu of the common-law warranties for maintenance, repair, habitability, and nonretaliation. Claims about a freestanding Texas implied warranty of habitability describe pre-1979 law. A separate court-made warranty of suitability exists for commercial leases; it covers offices and shops, not homes, and is a common source of confusion.
Heat and air conditioning — Subchapter B states no temperature figure and no stand-alone duty to supply heat. Heating and cooling enter through the repair-and-deduct remedy: when the lease expressly or impliedly obligates the landlord to furnish heating or cooling equipment and the equipment produces inadequate heat or cooled air, the tenant can use the 3-day track — but only after a local housing, building, or health official has notified the landlord in writing that the failure materially affects health or safety. The claim that Texas added an air-conditioning repair right in 2025 is wrong: the 2025 amendment (H.B. 2037) changed only who may perform tenant-ordered repairs, and the heating-and-cooling language dates from 1989 and 1997.
The two-notice rule and tracked mail — Remedies attach only after a second notice given a reasonable time after the first — unless the tenant sent the first notice by certified mail, registered mail, or another mail service with delivery tracking, which makes the single notice enough. Tracked mail on the first notice is the practical difference between a one-step and a two-step process, and the landlord counts as having received a notice when the postal service first attempts delivery.
The landlord's affidavit can lawfully pause the clock — A landlord who needs more time can deliver a sworn affidavit before the tenant contracts for repairs, summarizing the reasons for the delay and the diligent efforts made so far, with dates and the names and contact details of the contractors or suppliers involved: up to 15 days where parts are delayed through no fault of the landlord, up to 30 days during a general shortage of labor or materials after a natural disaster, and never more than six months in total from the first affidavit. Grounds outside the statute are unlawful and of no effect, and abusing the affidavit brings the full set of judicial remedies with the civil penalty raised to one month's rent plus $1,000.
A misprint inside the statute — Section 92.0561(e)(2) gives the 3-day clock for a stop of drinking water 'as referred to in Paragraph (A)' of the condition list, but the drinking-water condition actually sits in paragraph (B); paragraph (A) is the sewage-and-flooding class, which already has its own immediate clock. The official text prints the cross-reference this way, and the 3-day water clock is universally applied to the drinking-water class.
Dollar figures worth pinning — Repair suits fit justice court, whose civil ceiling has been $20,000 (excluding interest and costs) since September 1, 2023 — older sources still show $10,000. The repair-and-deduct ceiling is the greater of one month's rent or $500 per calendar month, and for government-subsidized tenancies the one-month measure means the fair market rent set by the subsidizing agency, not the tenant's own payment.

Common questions: Texas habitability & repairs

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

Does Texas have an implied warranty of habitability?: Statute — no independent court-created warranty operates alongside it. The duty comes from Texas Property Code chapter 92, subchapter B (sections 92.051 through 92.062). Section 92.061 makes the subchapter's duties and remedies stand in place of the earlier common-law and statutory warranties for maintenance, repair, habitability, and nonretaliation, so the implied warranty the Texas Supreme Court recognized in Kamarath v. Bennett (1978) does not operate alongside the statute for the leases the subchapter covers — those executed, entered into, renewed, or extended on or after September 1, 1979.
How long does a landlord have to make repairs in Texas?: 7 days. Seven days is a rebuttable presumption of a reasonable time, not a fixed deadline: liability turns on whether the landlord made a diligent effort within a reasonable time, weighing the date the notice arrived, the severity and nature of the condition, and the availability of materials, labor, and utilities. The tenant starts the clock by giving notice to the person to whom, or the place where, rent is normally paid, and must not be delinquent in rent when any required notice is given.
Can a tenant repair and deduct in Texas?: Yes — authorized by statute — Limit: The deduction may not exceed the greater of one month's rent or $500 in any one month, and repairs and deductions may be made as often as necessary within that monthly ceiling. For a tenancy subsidized by a government agency, the one-month measure means the fair market rent for the dwelling rather than the rent the tenant actually pays. — The remedy is available only when the landlord is already liable under the notice-and-cure rules and at least one of the tenant's notices states an intent to repair and reasonably describes the intended work.
Can a tenant withhold rent for repair problems in Texas?: No — no statute or decision provides a path — No Texas statute authorizes a tenant to withhold rent over the condition of the premises, and no court or agency escrow program exists. The statute runs the other way: a tenant who withholds rent or deducts repair costs in violation of the subchapter is liable for the landlord's actual damages, and, once the landlord has given written notice of the illegality, a bad-faith violation adds a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $500.
Can a landlord retaliate against a tenant who complains about repairs in Texas?: Protected by a general retaliation statute — The statute protects the tenant for six months after the protected act; the window counts in months from the tenant's action, and eviction or other retaliatory conduct inside it is presumptively suspect unless a listed ground applies. — A landlord who retaliates within the window is liable to the tenant, and retaliation is also a defense in an eviction suit. The statute lists conduct that is not retaliation even inside the window: rent increases under an escalation clause tied to utilities, taxes, or insurance; increases or service reductions applied across the whole project; and six eviction grounds including rent delinquency when notice to vacate is given, intentional property damage or threats to safety, other serious lease breaches, and holdovers.
Can a lease make the tenant responsible for repairs in Texas?: Repairs may be delegated only within uniform-act-style limits. Subchapter B duties and remedies may not be waived, with three narrow exceptions written into section 92.006: the parties may agree that the tenant will repair covered conditions at the landlord's expense; they may agree that the tenant will repair covered conditions at the tenant's own expense only if the landlord owns just one rental dwelling, the unit starts the lease free of health-or-safety conditions with none expected to recur, and the agreement is specific, clear, knowing, voluntary, made for consideration, and underlined or in boldface in a written lease or a separate addendum; and, under the same formalities, the tenant may take on the cost of repairing damage from wastewater stoppages caused by foreign or improper objects in lines serving only the tenant's dwelling, damage to doors, windows, or screens, and damage from windows or doors left open. A knowing violation of the waiver rules is itself actionable, with actual damages, a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $2,000, and attorney's fees.

Citations

Tex. Prop. Code § 92.051 (application of subchapter B) (verified 2026) Official source
Tex. Prop. Code § 92.052 (landlord's duty to repair or remedy) (verified 2026) Official source
Tex. Prop. Code § 92.053 (burden of proof) (verified 2026) Official source
Tex. Prop. Code § 92.054 (casualty loss) (verified 2026) Official source
Tex. Prop. Code § 92.055 (closing the rental premises) (verified 2026) Official source
Tex. Prop. Code § 92.056 (landlord liability and tenant remedies; notice and time for repair) (verified 2026) Official source
Tex. Prop. Code § 92.0561 (tenant's repair and deduct remedies) (verified 2026) Official source
Tex. Prop. Code § 92.0562 (landlord affidavit for delay) (verified 2026) Official source
Tex. Prop. Code § 92.0563 (tenant's judicial remedies) (verified 2026) Official source
Tex. Prop. Code § 92.006 (waiver or expansion of duties and remedies) (verified 2026) Official source
Tex. Prop. Code § 92.058 (landlord remedy for tenant violation) (verified 2026) Official source
Tex. Prop. Code § 92.061 (effect on other rights) (verified 2026) Official source
Tex. Prop. Code § 92.331 (retaliation by landlord) (verified 2026) Official source
Tex. Prop. Code § 92.332 (nonretaliation) (verified 2026) Official source
Tex. Prop. Code § 92.333 (tenant remedies for retaliation) (verified 2026) Official source
Tex. Prop. Code § 92.335 (eviction suits) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct reading of Texas Property Code chapter 92, subchapter B (sections 92.051 through 92.062, every section read in full) and the retaliation subchapter H (sections 92.331 through 92.335) on the Legislature's official statutes site, current through the 89th Legislature's 2025 called sessions; the enrolled text of H.B. 2037 (89th Legislature, R.S., chapter 732) read on the Legislature's bill archive to confirm the exact scope of the 2025 amendment; and Kamarath v. Bennett, 568 S.W.2d 658 (Tex. 1978), read in full in the official reporter text.