Texas Rental Application Form

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   Nothing in Texas law limits the amount of a rental application fee, and the Property Code's own definitions show where the legislature put its attention instead. Section 92.351(1-a) defines an application fee as a nonrefundable sum of money that is given to the landlord to offset the costs of screening an applicant for acceptance as a tenant. Section 92.351(1) separately defines an application deposit as a sum of money that is given to the landlord in connection with a rental application and that is refundable to the applicant if the applicant is rejected. Neither definition carries an amount limit, and no other provision of chapter 92 supplies one. The chapter as published reflects the 87th, 88th and 89th regular sessions, so the absence is current rather than merely unresearched.

2. 2

   The criteria notice is due at a specific moment, and the moment is the handover of the application. Section 92.3515(a) provides that at the time an applicant is provided with a rental application, the landlord shall make available to the applicant printed notice of the landlord's tenant selection criteria and the grounds for which the rental application may be denied, and the subsection names five categories the notice has to cover. The duty is to make the notice available in printed form at that moment. A criteria document produced after a denial, or supplied only to an applicant who asks for it, is not what the subsection describes. In force since January 1, 2008.

3. 3

   An unsigned acknowledgment works against the landlord, not against the applicant. Section 92.3515(b) provides that if the landlord makes the notice available under Subsection (a), the applicant shall sign an acknowledgment indicating the notice was made available, and that if the acknowledgment is not signed, there is a rebuttable presumption that the notice was not made available to the applicant. Section 92.3515(d) then allows the acknowledgment to be part of the rental application itself if the notice is underlined or in bold print, which is a drafting instruction a form can follow directly: one document, with the acknowledgment language set off typographically.

4. 4

   Texas prescribes the acknowledgment's wording rather than leaving it to the landlord. Section 92.3515(c) provides that the acknowledgment must include a statement substantively equivalent to the following: Signing this acknowledgment indicates that you have had the opportunity to review the landlord's tenant selection criteria. The tenant selection criteria may include factors such as criminal history, credit history, current income, and rental history. If you do not meet the selection criteria, or if you provide inaccurate or incomplete information, your application may be rejected and your application fee will not be refunded. Substantively equivalent is the standard, so paraphrase is permitted but the substance is not optional.

5. 5

   The nonrefundable fee stops being nonrefundable when the notice was skipped. Section 92.3515(e) provides that if the landlord rejects an applicant and the landlord has not made the notice required by Subsection (a) available, the landlord shall return the application fee and any application deposit. That is the sanction for the disclosure failure, and it reaches the fee that Section 92.351(1-a) had defined as nonrefundable. Section 92.3515(f) adds the mechanics: if an applicant requests a landlord to mail a refund of the applicant's application fee, the landlord shall mail the refund check to the applicant at the address furnished by the applicant.

6. 6

   Silence is a rejection in Texas, and the clock is seven days. Section 92.352(a) provides that the applicant is deemed rejected by the landlord if the landlord does not give notice of acceptance of the applicant on or before the seventh day after the date the applicant submits a completed rental application to the landlord on an application form furnished by the landlord, or the date the landlord accepts an application deposit if the landlord does not furnish the applicant an application form. Section 92.352(b) provides that a landlord's rejection of one co-applicant shall be deemed as a rejection of all co-applicants. Section 92.353(c) rolls a required date that falls on a Saturday, Sunday or state or federal holiday to the end of the next day following it. Being deemed rejected is what starts the application deposit coming back.

7. 7

   The remedy is a formula, and the application cannot contract out of any of this. Section 92.354 provides that a landlord who in bad faith fails to refund an application fee or deposit in violation of the subchapter is liable for an amount equal to the sum of $100, three times the amount wrongfully retained, and the applicant's reasonable attorney's fees. The qualifier bad faith is in the statute and does real work, so this is not an automatic consequence of a late refund. Section 92.355 then provides that a provision of a rental application that purports to waive a right or exempt a party from a liability or duty under the subchapter is void. Both took effect January 1, 2008. Note what the shape of this subchapter is: Texas regulates disclosure, deadlines and refunds, and the landlord-tenant chapter sets no statewide restriction on what a landlord may take into account, which is where several other states concentrate their rules. Chapter 92 also contains no reusable or portable screening report provision at all.

Texas Requirements for Rental Application Form

• No Cap on the Amount, and the Fee Versus Deposit Split

  No provision of chapter 92 of the Texas Property Code caps or prohibits the amount of a rental application fee. What the chapter does is name two different payments. Section 92.351(1-a) defines an application fee as a nonrefundable sum of money that is given to the landlord to offset the costs of screening an applicant for acceptance as a tenant. Section 92.351(1) defines an application deposit as a sum of money that is given to the landlord in connection with a rental application and that is refundable to the applicant if the applicant is rejected. The labels drive the refund rules that follow, so a Texas application should show which payment is which and in what amount. The chapter as published reflects the 87th, 88th and 89th regular sessions, so the absence of a cap is the position in force for 2026.

• Printed Notice of the Tenant Selection Criteria, at the Time the Application Is Provided

  Section 92.3515(a) provides that at the time an applicant is provided with a rental application, the landlord shall make available to the applicant printed notice of the landlord's tenant selection criteria and the grounds for which the rental application may be denied, and the subsection enumerates five categories the notice has to address. The duty is fixed to the handover of the application rather than to the decision, and the notice has to be printed and made available, not merely held in reserve for an applicant who thinks to ask. Added by the 2007 act, effective January 1, 2008, and unamended since.

• The Acknowledgment, Its Prescribed Wording and the Rebuttable Presumption

  Section 92.3515(b) provides that if the landlord makes the notice available under Subsection (a), the applicant shall sign an acknowledgment indicating the notice was made available, and that if the acknowledgment is not signed, there is a rebuttable presumption that the notice was not made available to the applicant. Section 92.3515(c) requires that acknowledgment to include a statement substantively equivalent to the following: Signing this acknowledgment indicates that you have had the opportunity to review the landlord's tenant selection criteria. The tenant selection criteria may include factors such as criminal history, credit history, current income, and rental history. If you do not meet the selection criteria, or if you provide inaccurate or incomplete information, your application may be rejected and your application fee will not be refunded. Section 92.3515(d) permits the acknowledgment to be part of the rental application if the notice is underlined or in bold print, which is a direct instruction to whoever drafts the form.

• When the Nonrefundable Fee Has to Be Returned

  Section 92.3515(e) provides that if the landlord rejects an applicant and the landlord has not made the notice required by Subsection (a) available, the landlord shall return the application fee and any application deposit. This is the single most consequential sentence in the Texas subchapter, because it reaches the payment that Section 92.351(1-a) had defined as nonrefundable and makes the disclosure duty self-enforcing. Both elements are needed: a rejection, and a notice that was never made available. Section 92.3515(f) supplies the mechanics, providing that if an applicant requests a landlord to mail a refund of the applicant's application fee, the landlord shall mail the refund check to the applicant at the address furnished by the applicant. Effective January 1, 2008.

• The Seven Day Deemed Rejection Clock

  Section 92.352(a) provides that the applicant is deemed rejected by the landlord if the landlord does not give notice of acceptance of the applicant on or before the seventh day after the date the applicant submits a completed rental application to the landlord on an application form furnished by the landlord, or the date the landlord accepts an application deposit if the landlord does not furnish the applicant an application form. Section 92.352(b) provides that a landlord's rejection of one co-applicant shall be deemed as a rejection of all co-applicants. Section 92.353(c) provides that if the date of required notice of acceptance or required refund of an application deposit is a Saturday, Sunday, or state or federal holiday, the required date shall be extended to the end of the next day following. Added in the 1995 act, effective January 1, 1996, and renumbered in 1997.

• How Notice of Acceptance or Rejection May Be Given

  Section 92.353(a) provides that a landlord is presumed to have given notice of an applicant's acceptance or rejection if the notice is by telephone to the applicant, co-applicant, or a person living with the applicant or co-applicant on or before the required date, or by United States mail, addressed to the applicant and postmarked on or before the required date. Mail is measured at the postmark rather than at delivery, and a call to a co-applicant or to a person living with either applicant is within the presumption. Section 92.353(b) adds that where the applicant asks for it, the application deposit refund is mailed to the address the applicant furnished, which is a practical reason for a Texas application to collect a mailing address even from an applicant who is not selected.

• Damages for a Bad Faith Failure to Refund

  Section 92.354 provides that a landlord who in bad faith fails to refund an application fee or deposit in violation of the subchapter is liable for an amount equal to the sum of $100, three times the amount wrongfully retained, and the applicant's reasonable attorney's fees. Read the elements rather than the headline. Bad faith is written into the statute and does real work, so a late refund is not automatically inside the section. The multiplier runs on the amount wrongfully retained rather than on the full payment. And the fees provision, as the section is written, runs in the applicant's favor. The formula took its present shape in the 2007 act, effective January 1, 2008.

• Any Waiver Inside the Application Is Void

  Section 92.355 is a single sentence: a provision of a rental application that purports to waive a right or exempt a party from a liability or duty under this subchapter is void. That makes the criteria notice duty, the seven day clock and the refund duties structural rather than default terms a form can edit away, and it is the reason a Texas application cannot carry a clause disclaiming them. Added by the 2007 act, effective January 1, 2008. Two related points about the shape of this subchapter. Texas concentrates on disclosure, deadlines and refunds, and the landlord-tenant chapter sets no statewide restriction on what a landlord may take into account. Chapter 92 also has no reusable or portable screening report provision, so nothing in it requires a landlord either to accept a report the applicant already paid for or to state in advance whether it would.