Texas Residential Lease Agreement For Rental Properties

Following a rental application, a lease agreement is a legal document that is designed to protect landlords and tenants. It includes the terms and conditions that both parties must abide by when a residential property is leased in exchange for a monthly payment.

This document sets the foundation for the lease and has a major impact on the experience that both parties will have. Therefore, it should be detailed, informative, and include everything you would want your tenant to know before they lease your property.

Additionally, it is important for landlords to the tenant's credit record prior to entering into an agreement with him or her.

If you're new to Texas rental lease agreements, it can be overwhelming to know what to include in the agreement and how and where to find the right documents, especially if you're looking to create a separate lease for each room on your property.

In this article, we'll provide you with all the information you need to draw up a Texas residential lease agreement.

What to Include

There are federal law requirements that all landlords must adhere to when drawing up a Texas lease agreement. Here's what you'll need to include:

1. Information about the owner of the property, including his or her full name and surname, and current residential address
2. The tenant's details, which include his or her name and address
3. Address of the property to be leased
4. Information about pets - Are they allowed on the property? What prohibitions apply?
5. A declaration of any potential health risks or hazards
6. Details about the initial security deposit, monthly payments, and rent due date
7. Cancel agreement terms and conditions - What are the conditions for terminating the lease early or evicting a tenant?
8. Parking rules
9. Warranty of habitability and the landlord's right to enter

Disclosures

Texas law requires certain disclosures in the lease agreement to ensure that both parties are protected.

1. Lead-based Paint Disclosure

Federal law states that if a landlord's property was built before 1978, the owner must inform the tenant that he or she may be exposed to potentially hazardous lead paint.

2. Details About the Property Owner or Agent Must Be Disclosed

The agreement must include the full name and official address of the person or business that is listed on the deed as the property owner.

Any on-site property managers that will be responsible for overseeing the rental property or anyone who will have access to the building or property should also be highlighted.

3. Parking Rules Addendum

A parking addendum or text in upper case letters with the title "PARKING RULES" must be included in all Texas lease agreements, indicating what towing policies apply and a tenant's permission to park their cars on the property.

The regulations must be accepted and acknowledged by the tenant's signature.

4. Conditions to Cancel the Agreement

Your lease must include the following clause:

"Tenants may have special statutory rights to terminate the lease early in certain situations involving family violence or a military deployment or "transfer."

If these events occur, the tenant must provide a 30-day notice before vacating the property and terminating the lease.

Build Your Own

Some lease agreements include several disclosures and details and building your own agreement makes more sense than trying to fit everything onto a free form.

If the standard residential lease agreement does not work for you, you can customize your agreement using DoorLoop, software that is built specifically for landlords and rental business owners.

Alternatively, you can use eForms to create a simple rental agreement by following the prompts.

What Is DoorLoop?

DoorLoop is a platform created for tenants that helps to manage rental businesses. Using the rental contract design feature, you can quickly and easily create your own custom rental agreement and add the relevant details.

Once you're happy with it, DoorLoop lets you send the agreement electronically directly to your tenant, preventing the need to sign physical documents and keep track of paperwork!

To see how it works and if it's the right fit, feel free to request a demo.

eSignature

With DoorLoop, creating, customizing, and signing your leases takes just a handful of clicks.

You can save reusable lease templates and autofill a tenant's details into the right fields on the document. After your lease document is set up, it just takes one click to request eSignatures from your new tenants.

With DoorLoop, you can post your listings on websites like Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, Apartments.com, and others so that you can market your listings and bring in prospects on autopilot.

You can also make sure you're bringing in the highest quality tenants by screening your prospects in seconds through an integration with TransUnion.

To see if DoorLoop is right for you, learn more or schedule a free demo.

Final Thoughts

If you're a new landlord, you'll need to know about the landlord-tenant laws regarding lease agreements. Follow the guide we've given you to include all the relevant details and use DoorLoop to create, send, manage, and track your lease agreements, all on one platform!