Security deposit return deadline in Texas

In Texas, a landlord has 30 days to return your security deposit.

Work out your Texas deadline

Your move-out day — when the keys went back.

Leave blank if you never gave one — that changes the answer in Texas, and the result will say how.

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The part you have not had back. Texas measures its penalty on this, not on the whole deposit.

Not legal advice. This is general information, not legal advice, and it is calculated only from the dates you entered. Whether a penalty applies is for a court to decide, not this site — and your landlord may dispute the dates or the reason for any deduction. Deadlines and penalties change and vary by jurisdiction. Verify with the cited statute or consult a licensed attorney in your state before you rely on any of this.

What Texas law requires

  • 30 days to return the deposit, counted from whichever is later: the day you handed back the property, or the day you gave a written forwarding address.

    92.103(a) sets a 30-day clock from surrender, and 92.107(a) provides that the landlord is not obliged to refund the deposit or give an itemised statement until the tenant gives a written forwarding address. In practice the deadline cannot run before that address is given. On timing, 92.1041 settles it: a landlord “is presumed to have refunded a security deposit or made an accounting of security deposit deductions if, on or before the date required under this subchapter, the refund or accounting is placed in the United States mail and postmarked on or before the required date.” So posting on the deadline counts, and a cheque that reaches you days later is still on time.

    92.103(a); 92.107; 92.1041

Do you have to give a forwarding address?

In Texas this matters more than in most states. Your landlord is not obliged to refund the deposit or give you an itemised statement until you have given them a forwarding address in writing. You do not lose the money by failing to give one, and the statute says expressly that you do not forfeit the right to a refund. What happens instead is that the clock never starts, so the deadline waits indefinitely and your landlord is never late. Put an address in writing, date it, and keep a copy.

What to do next

  1. Write it down. Put the date you handed back the property and the date you gave a written forwarding address in one place. Every deadline on this page is counted from one of those.
  2. Ask in writing. Email is fine and it timestamps itself. Say what you are asking for, cite the subsection above, and give a date by which you expect a reply.
  3. Keep the receipt. If you post a letter, pay for tracking. It costs a few dollars and it is the difference between "I sent it" and proof that you did. You do not need to buy a service to do this — the post office will.

There is a longer walkthrough, including what an itemised statement should contain and when small claims is worth it, in what to do if your landlord won't return your deposit.