You can search the table of contents for the landlord-tenant statutes. Just click your city below.For properties occupied as a residence before Sept. 1, 2011, a smoke alarm may be battery operated and is not required to be interconnected with other smoke alarms. If a landlord changes the locks without first getting an eviction order from the court, they must give you a new key.
The Texas Property Code specifically eliminates “deterioration that results from negligence, carelessness, accident, or abuse of the premises, equipment, or chattels by the tenant, by a member of the tenant's household, or by a guest or invitee of the tenant” from their definition of “wear and tear”.
Under certain conditions, you and the landlord may have a written agreement that you will make needed repairs. (2) depriving the tenant of the use of the premises, except for reasons authorized by law;(3) decreasing services to the tenant;(4) increasing the tenant's rent or terminating the tenant's lease; or While this information can help ensure property code compliance for your rental property, we are not lawyers.
(a) A landlord may not retaliate against a tenant by taking an action described by Subsection (b) because the tenant: (1) in good faith exercises or attempts to exercise against a landlord a right or remedy granted to the tenant by lease, municipal ordinance, or federal or state statute;
(2) gives a landlord a notice to repair or exercise a remedy under this chapter;(4) establishes, attempts to establish, or participates in a tenant organization.
In addition, if multiple bedrooms are served by the same hallway, there must be a smoke alarm in the hallway in the immediate vicinity of the bedrooms; and if the unit has multiple levels, there must be a smoke alarm on each level. Texas Property Code chapters 92.0081 through 92.009 describe when a landlord may change the locks on a rental unit, and the tenant’s remedies if the law is not followed.
Disclaimer: The above is our interpretation with respect to the basics of the Texas Property Code with regard to landlord responsibilities.
While this information can help ensure property code compliance for your rental property, we are not lawyers. It essentially makes state law consistent with model codes (some local ordinances already require a smoke alarm in each separate bedroom) by requiring at least one smoke alarm to be placed in each bedroom or in the room used for sleeping, in the case of an efficiency unit.
Since this is the case, you may want to review the full detailed text of Chapter 92 - Residential Tenancies - Texas Property Code as it applies to landlord and tenant arrangements.Also, if a landlord has installed a 1A10BC residential fire extinguisher or other non-rechargeable fire extinguisher required by local ordinance, the landlord must inspect the fire extinguisher at the beginning of tenant's possession and within a reasonable time after receiving a written request from the tenant. Owners will have until Jan. 1, 2013 to comply.