Required Disclosures in a San Antonio Lease: What Texas Law Says Must Be in the Document

Texas is a light-touch state on lease format — you can write one on notebook paper and it's enforceable — but the Property Code is not light-touch on what has to be inside the document. Miss a required disclosure and you can lose the right to collect certain fees, hand a tenant a statutory defense in JP court, or void a clause you thought was ironclad. This is the short list of what every San Antonio residential lease actually needs, and where landlords quietly get it wrong.

None of what follows is legal advice. It's the checklist a Bexar County landlord should hand to a Texas attorney before signing a new tenant.

Owner and manager identity — § 92.201

Texas Property Code § 92.201 requires the lease to disclose, in writing, the name and address of either (a) the property's owner or (b) a management company authorized to act for the owner and to receive legal notices. If you self-manage, that's you and your mailing address — not a PO box you check twice a year. If you use a property manager, it's their office address.

This matters because § 92.202 makes an owner who fails to disclose personally liable for accepting service of process, receiving notices and demands, and complying with all obligations under the chapter. A tenant suing over a deposit or repair issue who can't find you can serve the last person who collected rent — and that person is now on the hook.

Update this in writing within a reasonable time whenever ownership or management changes. A signed lease amendment (TREC-style, or your attorney's form) is the clean way.

Special conditions to break the lease — § 92.016 and § 92.0161

Two statutes give tenants a right to terminate early without penalty, and the lease should reference them so tenants aren't surprised and so you aren't accused of concealing rights:

• Family violence (§ 92.016) — a tenant who obtains a protective order or shows specific documentation may vacate with 30 days' notice.
• Sexual offenses and stalking (§ 92.0161) — similar early-termination right for victims with documentation.
• Military (§ 92.017 and SCRA § 3955) — a servicemember with PCS or deployment orders of 90+ days may terminate with 30 days' notice after the next rent date. Given JBSA-Lackland, JBSA-Randolph, and JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, roughly one San Antonio lease in four ends up citing this one.

You cannot waive these rights by contract. What you can and should do is include a clear "Special Statutory Rights to Terminate" section so the tenant knows the procedure — written notice, documentation required, final rent proration.

Parking rules for tenant vehicle towing — § 92.0131

If your property is a multi-unit complex and you or your towing contractor may tow a tenant's vehicle, § 92.0131 requires the lease to include a separate written notice of the towing/parking rules, signed by the tenant, or a parking addendum specifically covering it. Otherwise the tow may be a wrongful tow with statutory damages.

This catches small landlords who bought a duplex or fourplex in Beacon Hill, Mahncke Park, or off Bandera Road and didn't realize "multi-unit" includes their two-unit building. If two or more units share a driveway, put the parking rules in writing and get a signature.

Lead-based paint disclosure — federal, pre-1978 housing

Federal law (42 U.S.C. § 4852d, the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act) requires that any residential lease on a dwelling built before 1978 include:

1. A lead warning statement
2. Disclosure of any known lead-based paint or hazards
3. Delivery of the EPA pamphlet Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home
4. A signed acknowledgment (TREC's OP-L addendum handles this cleanly for sales; use an equivalent lead addendum for leases)

A huge portion of the inventory inside Loop 410 — Alamo Heights (78209), Monte Vista and Olmos Park (78212), Southtown/King William (78204, 78210), Beacon Hill, Mahncke Park, Woodlawn Lake — is pre-1978. Penalty for skipping the disclosure runs into thousands of dollars per violation, plus treble damages in a private suit.

Homes in Stone Oak (78258), most of Alamo Ranch, Cibolo, and newer Schertz subdivisions are almost all post-1978 and don't need it. When in doubt, pull the year built from the Bexar Appraisal District (BCAD) public search.

Notice of tenant remedies for repair — § 92.056

The landlord's repair duty (§ 92.052) is the source of most tenant lawsuits against small landlords. § 92.056 sets out the tenant's remedies — terminate, judicial repair order, one month's rent plus $500 plus attorney's fees — if the landlord fails to make a diligent effort to repair a condition materially affecting health and safety after written notice.

The TAA (Texas Apartment Association) lease bakes this notice in. If you're using a homegrown lease pulled off a template site, verify that the repair procedure and remedies are spelled out and that the tenant's notice requirement (in writing, delivered to the address in § 92.201) is preserved. Waivers of § 92.052 are void under § 92.006 except in narrow circumstances.

Late fees — § 92.019 safe harbor language

Covered in depth elsewhere on the site, but the lease itself has to do two things for a late fee to be enforceable:

• State the fee amount and the grace period (rent must be at least two full days late).
• Fit within the § 92.019 safe harbor — 12% of monthly rent for properties with four or fewer units, 10% for larger properties, is presumed reasonable. Above that, you carry the burden of proving actual damages.

No written late-fee clause equals no late fee. Not "reduced late fee" — none.

Security deposit terms — § 92.103 and § 92.104

The lease doesn't have to state the 30-day return deadline (statute imposes it regardless), but it should:

• Identify the deposit amount and that it is a security deposit, not last month's rent.
• Require the tenant to provide a forwarding address in writing (this is the statutory trigger for the 30-day clock under § 92.107 — no forwarding address, no obligation to return without demand).
• Describe the itemization procedure.

Withholding without written itemization when a forwarding address was provided exposes you to the full deposit plus $100 plus three times the wrongfully withheld amount plus attorney's fees under § 92.109. That's the treble damages provision that eats landlords alive in JP court.

What most people get wrong

• Using an out-of-state lease template. California and Florida forms don't cite Texas Property Code, don't handle § 92.201 correctly, and often include prohibited waivers that Texas courts strike. Start from a TAA lease (via a property manager or attorney) or a Texas-specific form reviewed by a Texas attorney.
• Leaving the § 92.201 address blank or listing a stale PO box. If a tenant serves you at the address in the lease and you never see it, you can lose by default. Use an address you check.
• Assuming the military clause only applies to enlisted personnel on their first PCS. It applies to any servicemember with qualifying orders — officers, reservists activated for 90+ days, and even entry into military service after signing the lease.
• Skipping the lead-based paint addendum on a 1975 Beacon Hill bungalow because "it's been repainted." Repainting doesn't remove the disclosure obligation. Only a certified abatement does, and even then you disclose the abatement.
• Writing a "$100 per day" late fee. Above the § 92.019 safe harbor, unenforceable, and now you're defending the reasonableness of the fee in JP court instead of collecting rent.
• Not requiring the forwarding address in writing. Then you dutifully mail the itemization to the rental unit the tenant just vacated, they never get it, and you're arguing about whether you made a good faith effort.

Practical next step

Pull your current lease and go through it against this list before your next tenant signs. If more than one item is missing or vague, spend an hour with a Texas real estate attorney — cheaper than one § 92.109 judgment. When you're ready to list the unit, post it on HomeFinder at /list-your-home, or browse /agents if you'd rather hand the leasing and lease drafting to a professional who's already done it a hundred times in Bexar County.