Texas Property Code Chapter 92 gives a landlord thirty days to return a security deposit, and that fact is repeated on every landlord forum and property management blog, including a summary version of it in a piece I wrote here in September. What gets skipped is the four places a deposit dispute is actually decided: whether you had a forwarding address on file, whether your itemized list would survive a judge reading it out loud, whether the charge is legally wear and tear, and what a move-out inspection you never did would have shown.
I practice law in Fort Worth and I manage my own family's rental portfolio, so I have written the itemized list and sat across from the tenant disputing one. This is the deeper version, built around the parts that actually create liability.
The 30 day clock, and what starts it
Section 92.103 requires the deposit refunded, or the itemized deductions sent, on or before the 30th day after the date the tenant surrenders the premises. Surrender is not the lease end date. It is the day possession actually passes back to you, meaning keys, garage remotes, and access devices are returned, or you have other clear evidence the tenant is out. Write that date down the day it happens. It is the one fact the entire clock runs from, and I have seen a dispute turn on a landlord who could not say, with a date, when surrender occurred.
The days are calendar days, not business days, and a lease cannot shorten the window. Section 92.006 makes a landlord's duties and a tenant's remedies on security deposits non-waivable by contract. Whatever clause your template has about deposits forfeited for a technicality, if it conflicts with Chapter 92, it does not hold.
The forwarding address trap
Section 92.107 says you are not obligated to return the deposit or send the itemized description until the tenant gives you a written statement of their forwarding address. That part gets quoted constantly as good news for landlords. What gets left out is subsection (b): the tenant does not forfeit the right to a refund or to an itemized description merely by failing to give you an address.
The fix costs nothing. Put a forwarding address line on your move-out form and get it filled in at the same walkthrough where you take keys back. If a tenant vacates without one, send a short letter to whatever address you do have, on file or the property itself, asking for it in writing, and keep a copy. That habit closes the trap both ways: you are not sitting on an open deposit you forgot about, and you have a record if a tenant later claims they gave you an address you never received.
Itemization wording that actually holds up
Section 92.104 lets you deduct damages and charges the tenant is legally liable for under the lease or as a result of breaching it. It also requires, when you retain any part of the deposit, a written description and itemized list of every deduction. There is one exception: you do not have to itemize if the tenant owes rent at surrender and there is no controversy about the amount. Any dispute about the rent figure and the exception is gone.
"Itemized" has a real floor. A line that says "cleaning and damage, $600" is a number with a label, not an itemized list, and it will not survive a demand letter from a tenant's lawyer. Each line should name the specific item, the charge, and enough detail that a stranger reading it could picture the damage:
| Weak line | Line that holds up |
|---|---|
| Carpet, $450 | Living room carpet replacement, $450. Carpet installed March 2023, pet urine stains and burn mark, not repairable by cleaning. Invoice attached. |
| Cleaning, $150 | Deep clean of kitchen and bathrooms beyond move-in condition, $150 at $50/hour, 3 hours. Photos attached showing grease buildup on stovetop and cabinets. |
| Damage, $600 | Bedroom drywall repair, two holes larger than nail size, $200 in materials and labor. Broken mini blinds, master bedroom, replacement $85. Itemized invoices attached for both. |
Keep the receipts and invoices behind every line, even for work you did yourself. A reasonable hourly rate and materials cost is defensible. An unsupported round number is not, and under section 92.109 the burden is on you to prove the retention was reasonable, not on the tenant to prove it was not.
Normal wear and tear is not a judgment call
Section 92.001(4) defines normal wear and tear as deterioration that results from the intended use of the dwelling, including breakage or malfunction due to age or deteriorated condition. It specifically excludes deterioration from negligence, carelessness, accident, or abuse by the tenant, a household member, or a guest. You cannot deduct for normal wear and tear no matter what your lease says, because that right is non-waivable under section 92.006.
The line is narrower than most landlords want it to be. A carpet that is simply old and matted from three years of ordinary foot traffic is wear and tear, even if it looks bad. A carpet with a cigarette burn or a pet stain that soaked through the pad is damage. The test is not how the unit looks at move-out, it is why it looks that way.
| Normal wear and tear (not deductible) | Damage (deductible) |
|---|---|
| Carpet matting and minor traffic wear | Carpet stains, burns, or pet damage |
| Small nail holes from hung pictures | Large holes, unrepaired anchors, or drywall damage from shelving |
| Faded paint from sunlight over time | Crayon, grease stains, or unapproved paint colors |
| Worn spots on hardwood from normal walking | Gouges, water damage, or pet scratches through the finish |
| Faucet or fixture corrosion from age | Missing fixtures or broken hardware |
| Minor scuff marks on baseboards | Broken blinds, missing smoke detectors, unreturned keys |
When you are not sure which column something belongs in, ask what caused it. Age and ordinary use point to wear and tear. A specific event, a stain, a hole, a break, points to damage. Write that reasoning into the itemized line itself, because it is the same reasoning you will need if the tenant disputes it.
The move-out inspection habit that prevents most of this
Texas does not require a move-in or move-out inspection report the way some states do, which is exactly why so few small operators do one, and why the ones who skip it lose the wear and tear argument by default. Without a move-in record, a court has nothing to compare the move-out condition against except your word.
The habit that fixes this is not complicated. Walk the unit with the tenant present if possible, or within 48 hours of getting keys back if not. Take dated, timestamped photos and short video of every room, close enough to read damage clearly, wide enough to show context. Compare them against the move-in photos. If the tenant is present, get their signature or a text message acknowledging the condition, since that beats anything you write down alone three weeks later.
What it costs to get this wrong
Section 92.109 is where the stakes are. A landlord who retains a deposit in bad faith is liable for $100, plus three times the portion wrongfully withheld, plus the tenant's reasonable attorney's fees. A landlord who fails to send either the refund or the itemized description within 30 days of surrender is presumed to have acted in bad faith, and the burden shifts to the landlord to prove the retention was reasonable.
Almost every bad faith case I have seen did not start with a landlord trying to cheat a tenant out of a deposit. It started with a landlord who was late, who used a vague itemized line, who charged for wear and tear, or who never sent anything because the forwarding address never showed up and the file got forgotten. The statute does not care which of those it was. It only asks whether you did the four things on time and in writing.
The checklist
| Step | Deadline | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Record the surrender date | Day keys and access devices are returned | 92.103 |
| Get or request a forwarding address in writing | At the move-out walkthrough | 92.107 |
| Complete the move-out inspection with photos | Within 48 hours of surrender | Best practice, not statutory |
| Compare against move-in condition | Same inspection | Best practice, not statutory |
| Sort each charge: wear and tear or damage | Before writing the itemized list | 92.001(4), 92.006 |
| Send refund or itemized deductions with invoices | On or before day 30 after surrender | 92.103, 92.104 |
How I track this on our own doors
In KeyTurn, the security deposit and any pet deposit are fields on the lease itself, and deposit funds sit in a separate trust bank account from the operating account, not mixed into one balance. When a tenant moves out, the move-in and move-out inspection reports, with their photos, live as documents attached to that tenant's file, so the comparison a dispute would ask for is already sitting there instead of scattered across someone's phone. I built it that way because the pattern above only breaks down when the file is disorganized, not when the law is unclear.
What KeyTurn does not do for you is write the itemized list. That is judgment, and a template line is exactly what does not survive a dispute. What it should do is make sure the surrender date, the forwarding address, and the photos are all in one place when you sit down to write it.
See how a real portfolio runs its trust accounting
Lockwood Property Management moved their deposit tracking and owner statements onto KeyTurn. The case study covers what their records looked like before and what changed.
Read the Lockwood case studyIf you manage in Texas and want a second opinion on a deposit itemization before you send it, the beta request form is on the KeyTurn home page. Tell me the surrender date and what you are planning to deduct. I will tell you which column it falls in.
Related reading
- Texas property management software: what small operators actually need
- What is RUBS utility billing and how to set it up for a small portfolio
- How much does property management software cost under 100 doors?
- Texas SB 38 compliance guide for DFW landlords (2026)
Sources
- Texas Property Code section 92.001, definitions, including "normal wear and tear", retrieved September 28, 2026
- Texas Property Code section 92.006, waiver of tenant rights and remedies, retrieved September 28, 2026
- Texas Property Code section 92.103, security deposit refund deadline, retrieved September 28, 2026
- Texas Property Code section 92.104, deductions from security deposit, retrieved September 28, 2026
- Texas Property Code section 92.107, tenant's forwarding address, retrieved September 28, 2026
- Texas Property Code section 92.109, landlord liability and bad faith presumption, retrieved September 28, 2026
Nothing here is legal advice for your situation and reading it does not create an attorney client relationship. Statutes and their interpretation change, and every figure and section number above should be confirmed against the current text before you rely on it.