Texas Pet Deposit Laws: Fees, Refunds, and Exceptions

Texas law, federal regulations, and federal guidance can change. Every rule on this page was read in its governing source on August 7, 2026, and these sources are re-read every 90 days.

The short answer. For an ordinary pet in a private Texas rental — a dog, a cat, or another companion animal — the written lease and the pet addendum usually decide whether the animal is allowed and what you pay for it. Texas Property Code Chapter 92 does not create a general pet-specific cap on deposits, fees, or monthly pet rent, and Texas has no separate pet-deposit statute. There is no $20 Texas pet-rent cap. A 2025 bill (HB 410, 89th Legislature) proposed one and did not become law, and a good deal of what is written online describes that proposal as though it were current.

What Chapter 92 does control is money that qualifies as a security deposit, which Section 92.102 defines as an advance of money, other than a rental application deposit or advance rent, intended primarily to secure performance under the lease. Whether a charge labeled "pet deposit" falls inside that definition depends on its purpose and the lease wording, not on the label alone.

Two situations change the rule set entirely. If the animal is a trained service animal, or you are asking for a disability-related accommodation, fair-housing rules apply instead of pet rules — and the federal side of that changed on May 22, 2026. If the property is public, subsidized, or part of a named housing program, the program's own written rules can add limits that do not exist anywhere else in Texas.

Your first action: get the complete lease and every pet or animal addendum, and mark each charge as refundable, nonrefundable, or recurring before you pay anything. For non-Texas planning and general lease questions, use the renting with pets guide; this page stays on Texas specifics.

Which of the three situations are you in? Read these in order and stop at the first one that fits.

A disability-related animal. If you have a trained service animal, or you are asking the landlord to make an exception to a pet rule because of a disability, this is a fair-housing accommodation question, not a pet-charge question. Do not pay a pet charge or sign a pet addendum yet — that request belongs in the property's written accommodation process. Texas law and federal law both treat it separately, and both are covered below. If a request has already been denied, write down the date: an administrative fair-housing complaint generally must be filed within one year of the discrimination, and a private court action within two years.
A public, subsidized, or program-based property. Housing operated under a named federal or state program can carry its own written pet rules, limits, and installment terms. Those rules apply only to that program and that property. Never assume a rule you read about assisted housing applies to a private rental.
An ordinary pet in a private rental. Then the lease and the pet addendum control what the landlord may charge, and Chapter 92 controls what happens to any part of that money that qualifies as a security deposit.

When to get help rather than guess: talk to a Texas housing attorney, a legal aid organization, or Disability Rights Texas before you pay or before you move out if the amount is large, the lease contradicts itself, or you believe a disability-related request was denied.

This guide provides general educational information, not legal advice. Lease terms, property type, disability-accommodation facts, and current law can change the answer. Use the linked official sources or a qualified Texas housing attorney for your situation.

Renter carrying a cat in a teal carrier up the steps of a Texas brick apartment on moving day

What kind of charge is this, and which rule follows it?
What exactly is the landlord charging me?
When do the Texas security-deposit rules apply to a pet deposit?
Can a landlord charge a nonrefundable pet fee and monthly pet rent?
Is an assistance animal treated as a pet in Texas?
What should I do before I sign or move in?
How do I get a refundable amount back after I move out?
What if the pet charges are more than I can pay?
Do public, subsidized, or city rules change the answer?
How was this page verified, and what can it not tell you?
How do I compare rentals and pet terms without guessing?
Other questions Texas renters with pets ask

What kind of charge is this, and which rule follows it?

Find the row that matches what your lease actually says. The rule, the exception, and your next step travel together in each row. Every rule below is Texas law or federal law as read in its governing source on August 7, 2026.

Charge or situation	Who it applies to	Refundable?	Governing rule and status	Material exception	Your first action
Refundable pet deposit	Ordinary pet, private Texas rental	Depends on the lease and on legal classification	May be analyzed under the Texas general security-deposit rules if it is an advance intended primarily to secure performance under the lease (§92.102). Verified with limitation: classification turns on purpose and wording	A disability-related accommodation is handled under fair-housing rules instead	Get the addendum's exact refund wording and stated purpose in writing
Nonrefundable pet fee	Ordinary pet, private Texas rental	No, as written	A lease charge. Texas Chapter 92's refund framework runs to security deposits, not to money the lease makes nonrefundable. Verified with limitation	Substance and stated purpose still matter, not only the label	Confirm in writing that it is nonrefundable and what it covers
Monthly pet rent	Ordinary pet, private Texas rental	No	A recurring lease charge. No enacted statewide cap in Texas. HB 410 in the 89th Legislature proposed one and did not become law. Verified	None found in Chapter 92	Multiply by the months in your lease term before you compare properties
General security deposit	All Texas residential tenants	Yes, less lawful deductions	Refund on or before the 30th day after surrender (§92.103); deductions and itemization (§92.104); written forwarding address (§92.107). Verified	Itemization is not required when rent is owed at surrender and the amount is not in controversy	Give a written forwarding address and keep proof you sent it
Fee in lieu of security deposit	Texas tenants offered that option	No — it is a fee, not a deposit	§92.111 requires the landlord to also offer the deposit option, disclose the charges for each option in writing, and let you stop paying the fee and switch to a deposit. Verified	This is not a pet charge and must not be presented as one	Ask in writing whether this replaces the general security deposit
Trained service animal	Housing accommodations in Texas — the state definition covers a canine	Not applicable — no extra charge or deposit	Texas Human Resources Code §121.003(h): no extra compensation or deposit for the animal, but liability for damages except reasonable wear and tear. Verified	Damage liability remains, and a trained animal that is not a dog falls outside the state definition	Use the property's written accommodation process and keep copies
Assistance-animal accommodation request	Any covered housing; any species, if the animal is individually trained	Not applicable — this is not a pet-pricing question	Federal reasonable-accommodation duty under the Fair Housing Act; HUD's regulation requires waiving a no-pets policy for a blind tenant's trained guide dog. HUD's enforcement standard changed on May 22, 2026. Verified	An agency enforcement posture is not the same as a court outcome	Put the request in writing, then read the assistance-animal section below
Untrained emotional support animal	Any species, any covered housing	Not applicable — this is an accommodation question, not a pet-pricing question	Since May 22, 2026, HUD finds reasonable cause and recommends charges only where the animal is individually trained; requests to waive a pet policy for untrained emotional support animals are not presumptively reasonable. Verified	Private court claims, state and local fair-housing law, and the Section 504 and ADA routes are unaffected	Do not buy a certificate or registry listing; get individualized advice before you pay a pet charge
Public, subsidized, or program property	Only the named federal or state program and property	Depends on which program rule applies	HUD's pet rules for these properties are codified at 24 CFR part 5, subpart C and 24 CFR part 960, subpart G. Verified with limitation: which one governs depends on the program and the property type	A program rule never transfers to a private rental, and neither part applies to an assistance animal	Get the exact program name and the written pet rule from management

One field is deliberately absent from every row: a dollar figure. Paw Parent HQ publishes no Texas pet-charge cost data, because these amounts are set property by property rather than by any statute. The worksheet further down prices your own lease instead.

One thing the table does not vary by is species. For an ordinary pet in a private Texas rental the answer is the same for a dog, a cat, a rabbit, or a bird, because Chapter 92 is written about money and leases rather than about animals. Species changes the answer in exactly one place on this page: the Texas assistance-animal statute, which is written for a canine.

The four-authority test: who sets each of these rules?

Four different authorities appear in the table above, and they do not carry equal weight. Paw Parent HQ calls this the four-authority test, and knowing which one you are looking at tells you how much room there is to argue.

Category	Who establishes it	What it changes for you and your pet
Statute	The Texas Legislature, in the Property Code and the Human Resources Code	Sets binding deadlines, definitions, and remedies. A lease cannot quietly rewrite it
Federal law, regulation, and agency guidance	Congress and the Fair Housing Act; HUD's regulations, including the pet rules that govern assisted and public housing; HUD enforcement memoranda	The statute and regulations bind, and a program regulation binds the property it covers. An enforcement memorandum describes what the agency will pursue, and courts decide cases independently
Lease and pet addendum	The landlord, and you when you sign	Sets whether the animal is allowed, the amount, whether it is per animal, and what happens at renewal
Paw Parent HQ decision aid	This page	Helps you classify, budget, and document. It is not a legal determination about your charge

Verification vocabulary on this page: Verified means the rule was read in the governing source on the date shown. Verified with limitation means the rule is accurate but its application depends on facts this page cannot see, such as your lease wording. Partial means the source set was not sufficient to publish a figure, so no figure appears.

What exactly is the landlord charging me?

Most pet-charge confusion in Texas comes from five different things sharing overlapping names. Paw Parent HQ calls this the five-name problem. Sort your paperwork into these five categories before you argue about any of them.

The charge matrix above tells you which rule follows each of these. This table tells you when you pay it and what the lease says it secures.

Name in the lease	When you pay it	What it is described as securing
Refundable pet deposit	Once, at move-in	Pet-related damage or performance under the lease
Nonrefundable pet fee	Once, at move-in	Usually described as the cost of allowing an animal at all
Monthly pet rent	Every month of the term	Usually described as ongoing cost or amenity use
General security deposit	Once, at move-in	Performance under the lease as a whole
Fee in lieu of security deposit	Recurring, by written agreement	An alternative arrangement to a deposit, not a pet charge

The label on the line item is the weakest evidence in the document. What matters is the stated purpose, whether the lease commits to returning the money, and under what condition. A charge described as a "nonrefundable pet deposit" is using two words that point in opposite directions, and that is exactly the language to have clarified in writing before you sign rather than after you move out.

Most cases resolve on three practical tests. Does the lease say the money comes back, and does it say when and on what condition? Does the lease say what the money is for — damage, cleaning, the privilege of having an animal, or something unstated? And is the charge per animal or per household, and does it change if you add an animal or renew the lease?

Watch one specific trap. A fee in lieu of a security deposit is a statutory arrangement that replaces the general security deposit, and Section 92.111 requires the landlord to offer you the deposit option too, to tell you in writing what each option costs, and to let you stop paying the fee later and pay a deposit instead. It has nothing to do with pets. If a leasing agent uses that phrase to describe a pet charge, ask which one they mean, and get the answer in writing.

Five terms worth knowing before you read your lease

Before you read your own paperwork, it helps to have these terms straight:

Surrender — the factual event of giving the property back: moving out, returning possession, and returning keys as the lease requires. It is not automatically the last calendar day of your lease term, and several deadlines run from it.
Security deposit — money advanced, other than a rental application deposit or advance rent, intended primarily to secure performance under the lease. Purpose decides this, not the label.
Reasonable accommodation — a change to a rule, policy, practice, or service that may be necessary to give a person with a disability an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. Waiving a no-pets policy is the classic example.
Service animal — under Texas Human Resources Code Chapter 121, a canine specially trained or equipped to help a person with a disability. Under the federal framework, an animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks related to a disability.
Emotional support animal — an animal that provides comfort or companionship without being individually trained to perform disability-related work or tasks. That training line is the hinge on which the federal answer now turns.

When do the Texas security-deposit rules apply to a pet deposit?

Chapter 92's protections attach to security deposits. Section 92.102 defines a security deposit by purpose: an advance of money, other than a rental application deposit or advance rent, intended primarily to secure performance under the lease. A refundable pet charge that functions that way may be analyzed under those rules — but whether a separately labeled pet deposit is legally part of the security deposit depends on the lease and the facts, and it is not something this page can decide for your situation. Legal aid organizations and Texas housing attorneys handle exactly this question.

If a charge does qualify, four sections do the work.

The Texas 30-day refund framework (§92.103)

Under Section 92.103 of the Texas Property Code, the landlord must refund the security deposit on or before the 30th day after the date you surrender the premises. Surrender is a factual event about returning possession, not simply the calendar date your lease ends, so follow the lease's notice, key-return, and move-out requirements and keep proof of each.

Black cat in a teal harness on the windowsill of an empty apartment at move-out, as the Texas deposit refund clock starts

One lease term to look for while you are still reading the paperwork: a landlord may condition return of the deposit on your giving advance notice of surrender, but Section 92.103 makes that requirement effective only where it is underlined or printed in conspicuous bold print in the lease. Find it, diary it, and comply with it.

The written forwarding address (Texas §92.107)

Under Section 92.107 of the Texas Property Code, the landlord is not obligated to return the deposit or provide a written description of damages and charges until you give a written statement of your forwarding address. The statute also provides that failing to give one does not by itself forfeit your right to a refund or to a description of deductions. Send it in writing anyway, and keep a copy — it is the single cheapest thing you can do to protect the money.

Deductions and itemization under Texas §92.104

Section 92.104 lets a Texas landlord deduct damages and charges for which you are legally liable under the lease or as a result of breaching it, and requires the landlord to give you the balance together with a written description and itemized list of all deductions. The landlord may not retain any portion for normal wear and tear. Chapter 92 defines normal wear and tear as deterioration that results from the intended use of a dwelling, not deterioration caused by negligence, carelessness, accident, or abuse. The Texas Attorney General's renter's rights guidance states the same boundary in plainer words: a landlord may charge only for actual abnormal damage. There is a narrow exception to the itemization requirement when you owe rent at surrender and the amount owed is not in controversy.

Withholding and remedies: Texas §§92.108 and 92.109

Do not treat a deposit as your last month's rent. Section 92.108 prohibits withholding the last month's rent on the ground that the deposit secures unpaid rent, and attaches its own penalty. On the other side, Section 92.109 makes a landlord who retains a deposit in bad faith liable for $100, three times the portion wrongfully withheld, and the tenant's reasonable attorney's fees, and it treats a landlord who neither returns the deposit nor provides the written description and itemization by the 30th day after surrender as presumed — rebuttably — to have acted in bad faith.

Two further parts of the same section matter more than most renters realise. A landlord who in bad faith fails to give the written description and itemized list forfeits the right to withhold any portion of the deposit and the right to sue you for damage to the premises. And in a suit brought by a tenant under this subchapter, the landlord carries the burden of proving that retaining any portion of the deposit was reasonable.

Those are statutory standards with conditions and burdens of proof attached, not an automatic payout. If you are considering a claim, talk to a lawyer or legal aid about your specific facts.

Can a landlord charge a nonrefundable pet fee and monthly pet rent?

Not current law: HB 410 in the 89th Legislature would have added a Property Code section allowing a landlord to collect either a one-time refundable pet deposit or a monthly pet fee capped at $20, but not both. The bill was referred to committee and did not pass. Verified August 7, 2026 against the Texas Legislature's bill history and the introduced text. If you have read that Texas caps pet rent at $20, you have read a proposal, not a statute.

The same proposal has now been filed in three consecutive sessions and enacted in none of them: HB 279 in the 87th Legislature, HB 1166 in the 88th, and HB 410 in the 89th. Each would have added a new Section 92.027 to the Property Code; no Section 92.027 exists. The 88th- and 89th-session versions carried the $20 monthly cap that circulates online as though it were law.

Because no such cap was enacted, stacked charges are a lease question. In practice, that means a Texas landlord may write a lease with a refundable deposit, a nonrefundable fee, and monthly pet rent together, and the legal analysis of any one of those charges still depends on the lease language, the facts, and other law that may apply. Whether a particular charge is enforceable is not something a general guide can answer, and this page does not claim that every stacked charge is.

What you can do without a lawyer is price it correctly. Recurring money is the part that grows, and it is the part most renters underestimate when comparing two listings. Paw Parent HQ calls the tool below the Texas pet-charge worksheet.

Line	What to enter	Why it stays separate
Refundable upfront amount	The deposit the lease says is refundable	This may come back after move-out, so it is not the same as a cost
Nonrefundable upfront charges	Pet fee, admin fee, or screening fee, only if the written lease requires them	This money is gone on day one
Monthly pet rent	The monthly amount, multiplied by the months in your term	Twelve months of a small number is often larger than the fee
Other required pet costs	Only what the lease requires, such as a liability policy or a pet-registration service	Requirements vary by property and belong in the comparison
Cash needed at move-in	Refundable plus nonrefundable upfront	This is your move-in number
Cost you should not expect back	Nonrefundable plus recurring plus other required costs	This is your true annual pet-housing cost
Worst case if the refundable amount is not returned	The refundable amount plus the line above	Plan as though this may not come back — it is the line most renters do not budget

Three worked examples — illustrative figures only. The numbers below are chosen to show the arithmetic. They are not sampled, observed, or representative of Texas pricing, and Paw Parent HQ publishes no Texas pet-charge figure. All three assume a twelve-month term and no other required pet costs.

Illustrative scenario	Refundable upfront	Nonrefundable upfront	Pet rent over the term	Cash at move-in	Cost you should not expect back	Worst case
Deposit only	$300	$0	$0	$300	$0	$300
Deposit, fee, and pet rent	$300	$250	$30 × 12 = $360	$550	$610	$910
Two animals on per-animal terms	$600	$500	$60 × 12 = $720	$1,100	$1,220	$1,820

Read the middle row across and the point of the exercise appears: the listing that advertised "$30 pet rent" is the one carrying the largest single line in that model. Read the bottom row and a second point appears — per-animal terms multiply every line at once, which is why "is this per animal or per household?" is worth asking before you sign rather than after you adopt.

This worksheet is a Paw Parent HQ planning aid for cash flow, not a determination that any charge is legal or enforceable. For the wider picture beyond housing, the first-year puppy budget covers food, veterinary care, supplies, and the rest.

Is an assistance animal treated as a pet in Texas?

No — and this is the part of the page most worth reading slowly, because the federal ground moved recently.

Texas law, for service animals

Texas Human Resources Code Section 121.003(h) provides that a person with a total or partial disability who has or obtains a service animal is entitled to full and equal access to housing accommodations and may not be required to pay extra compensation or make a deposit for the animal — while remaining liable for damages the animal does to the premises, except for reasonable wear and tear. That is a state statute, and it did not change in 2026.

One scope point matters on a pet site. Section 121.002 defines both "assistance animal" and "service animal" as a canine that is specially trained or equipped to help a person with a disability. The state provision above is written for dogs. The federal framework is not limited the same way — HUD's May 2026 memorandum notes that an animal-related accommodation under the Fair Housing Act could involve a species other than a dog, provided the animal is trained to perform a disability-related service. If your trained animal is a cat, a miniature horse, or anything other than a dog, the Texas deposit bar may not reach it and the federal accommodation route is the one to work through. The same Texas chapter also makes it an offense to represent an animal as a specially trained assistance animal when that training has not in fact been provided, which is one reason no online certificate or registry is worth buying.

Section 121.006 sets the penalty for that offense: a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 and 30 hours of community service, to be completed within a year. Verified August 7, 2026.

Federal fair-housing law, and what changed in May 2026

The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to refuse a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices, or services when the accommodation may be necessary to give a person with a disability an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, and HUD's regulation gives the example of waiving a no-pets policy so a blind tenant can live with a trained guide dog. The statute and that regulation are unchanged. What changed is how HUD enforces them. In a memorandum dated May 22, 2026, HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity permanently rescinded its 2020 assistance-animal notice — reconfirming a withdrawal made on September 17, 2025 — and adopted a new standard: for animal-related accommodation complaints, the office will find reasonable cause and recommend charges only in cases involving animals trained to provide disability-related assistance. Under that memorandum, requests to waive a pet policy for an animal individually trained to perform disability-related work or tasks are presumptively reasonable, and requests for untrained emotional support animals are not. HUD has said it intends to conduct notice-and-comment rulemaking on the subject.

What the 2026 federal change means for a Texas renter

If your animal is individually trained to do work or perform tasks related to your disability, both the Texas statute and the federal framework support treating the request as an accommodation rather than a pet application, and Texas law is explicit that no extra compensation or deposit may be required for a service animal. If your animal provides emotional support without that training, the federal enforcement route narrowed in 2026, and any general claim that pet fees can never be charged for an emotional support animal no longer reflects HUD's current posture. That is not the end of the analysis — the Fair Housing Act still allows a person to bring a private civil action in federal or state court within two years of the alleged discriminatory practice, HUD's memorandum does not address complaints under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act, and state and local fair-housing agencies enforce their own laws. It does mean that this is a question for individualized legal help, not for a template letter.

What it covers	Ordinary pet	Assistance-animal request
Who decides	The landlord, through the lease and pet policy	The law, applied to your documented disability-related need
What you pay	Whatever the lease sets, subject to Chapter 92 for qualifying deposits	For a service animal, Texas law bars extra compensation or a deposit for the animal
How you ask	Sign the pet addendum	Submit a written accommodation request through the property's process
Damage	Deducted under the lease and Chapter 92 rules	You remain responsible for actual damage in both frameworks
If you are denied	A lease and contract dispute	A fair-housing matter with agency and court routes

If you believe a request was denied unlawfully. Which route is worth taking now depends on whether the animal is individually trained, so read the branch that fits before you file anything.

If your animal is individually trained to do work or perform tasks related to your disability, both administrative routes are open. You may file with the Texas Workforce Commission's Civil Rights Division, which enforces the Texas Fair Housing Act and asks that complaints be submitted within one year of the discrimination, through its housing discrimination inquiry system. You may instead report housing discrimination to HUD, which states that an allegation must be filed within one year of the last date of the alleged discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. File in one place and say where you filed: the Texas Workforce Commission states it cannot take a complaint that has already been filed with HUD or with one of the five local offices listed later on this page, so do not file the same complaint twice.
If your animal is not individually trained — an emotional support animal that provides comfort or companionship without trained work or tasks — a federal administrative complaint is unlikely to produce a cause finding, because HUD's May 22, 2026 memorandum limits reasonable-cause findings to individually trained animals. What remains is the state and local fair-housing route, a private court action, and the Section 504 and ADA paths that memorandum does not address. Whether the Texas Workforce Commission will apply the same standard under the Texas Fair Housing Act has not been settled, and the one-year clock does not restart — get individualized advice from Disability Rights Texas or a legal aid organization before you choose where to file.
Either way. Filing an administrative complaint is not the same as filing a lawsuit, and the two deadlines run separately: the one-year administrative window above is not the two-year private court window. If a court claim matters to you, talk to a lawyer early. Disability Rights Texas publishes a plain-language handout on both routes.

What should I do before I sign or move in?

The work that protects your money happens before you hand anything over. Ten steps, in order:

Get the complete lease and every pet or animal addendum before you pay.
Circle each amount and mark it refundable, nonrefundable, or recurring.
Write down what the landlord says each charge is supposed to cover.
Confirm whether charges are per animal and whether they change at renewal.
Ask for written approval of your specific animal, and keep the message.
If you are requesting a disability-related accommodation, use the property's written process and keep every reply.
Photograph or video the unit at move-in, including floors, doors, trim, baseboards, and any yard.
Keep receipts for cleaning or repairs, and note any damage that was already there.
Read the notice, surrender, key-return, and forwarding-address requirements now, not on your last day.
Before move-out, document the condition again and preserve proof that you surrendered possession.

Two of those carry more weight than the rest. Written approval of the specific animal is what prevents a later dispute about whether the animal was authorized at all — an unauthorized animal can be a lease violation regardless of what you paid. And dated move-in documentation is what turns a later disagreement about "pet damage" into a comparison of two records rather than two memories. Photographs do not guarantee anything; they simply mean you have evidence.

One note on lease restrictions. Breed limits, weight limits, animal-count limits, and required liability coverage are lease and insurance terms. They are not statements about your individual animal's health or temperament, and they are separate from any assistance-animal analysis. If you have a genuine behavior concern about your dog or cat, that is a conversation for your veterinarian or a credentialed trainer, not something to resolve through the lease. For the rest of the move-in sequence, the new puppy checklist and the new kitten checklist cover setup, supplies, and first-week timing.

What if the landlord has already found out about an unapproved animal?

The paragraph above is about preventing this. If it has already happened, the order of operations changes:

Read the lease's pet clause and its notice-and-cure provision before you reply to anything. What the lease requires, and how long it gives you, is the fact that governs the next two weeks.
Ask in writing what the property needs in order to approve the animal, and what charge would apply if it does. Getting the animal authorized is usually a cheaper problem than arguing about whether it was.
If a notice to vacate has been issued, this is an eviction-track matter with its own deadlines, and it is no longer a pet-policy conversation. Contact legal aid the same day using the routes further down this page.
If the animal is a disability-related accommodation rather than a pet, the request belongs in the property's written accommodation process, not in the pet-violation track. Say so in writing and keep the reply.

This page cannot tell you whether a particular notice is valid. It can tell you that the deadline is real, that it runs from the notice rather than from when you reply, and that the people who handle this every day are named below.

How do I get a refundable amount back after I move out?

Work the sequence in order. Each step exists because it protects the next one.

Give a written forwarding address. Send it before or at move-out, keep a copy, and use a delivery method that produces proof. This is the step that removes the landlord's statutory reason to hold the money.
Document surrender. Return keys as the lease requires, note the date and time, photograph the empty unit, and keep any written acknowledgment you receive.
Wait out the 30-day framework. For a qualifying security deposit, the refund or the written description and itemized list of deductions is due on or before the 30th day after surrender. Do not apply this deadline to a nonrefundable fee or to monthly pet rent — those are not deposits.
Compare the deductions to the lease and to your photographs. Check each line against what the lease says you are liable for, and against the normal wear and tear boundary. Faded paint and worn carpet from ordinary use sit on a different side of that line than a chewed door frame.
Send one factual written demand. State the amount, the date of surrender, the date you sent your forwarding address, the specific deductions you dispute, and what you are asking for. Keep it unemotional and attach your evidence.
Escalate on the right track. A money dispute over a deposit is a contract and statutory claim, and small-claims court handles many of them without a lawyer. A denied disability-related accommodation is a fair-housing matter and goes to the Texas Workforce Commission, HUD, or a local fair-housing office. Keep the two tracks separate — they have different deadlines and different decision-makers.

Evidence to keep for all six steps: the signed lease and every addendum, all written approvals, proof you sent the forwarding address, move-in and move-out photographs with dates, receipts for any cleaning or repairs you did, and every message about charges. If you are considering a bad-faith claim under Section 92.109, get individualized advice first — the statute sets standards you would need to meet, and outcomes are not automatic.

What if the pet charges are more than I can pay?

This is a common position and a solvable one. Where you are in the process decides which of these applies:

Before you sign. The statute is not negotiable; the lease is. The three things worth asking for in writing are installment terms on a nonrefundable fee, a per-household rather than per-animal charge if you have more than one animal, and a stated refund condition in words rather than a bare label. A property that will not put any of it in writing has told you something useful about how move-out will go.
Already signed, already paid. You still have most of this page. Classification still matters, the 30-day framework still runs at move-out for any part that qualifies as a security deposit, and the per-animal and renewal terms still govern what happens next year. What has passed is the negotiating window, not the documentation window — start the photographs and the written record now.
Free and low-cost legal help. Three organizations funded by the Legal Services Corporation cover the state between them: Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Lone Star Legal Aid, and Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas. The Texas Judicial Branch legal aid page lists all three with their service areas and notes that if you do not qualify for legal aid, the State Bar of Texas Lawyer Referral and Information Service offers a thirty-minute attorney consultation for a $20 referral fee. The TexasLawHelp legal help directory matches you to the organizations serving your county. For a disability-related accommodation question specifically, start with Disability Rights Texas.
If the housing itself feels at risk. A dispute about a pet charge is a money and paperwork problem, not a verdict on whether you should have an animal. Get the classification question answered by one of the organizations above before you make any decision about the animal — the amount in dispute is often smaller than it looks once the refundable and nonrefundable parts are separated. If keeping the animal through a move looks genuinely uncertain, your local shelter or municipal animal services department can usually point you to temporary fostering, pet food assistance, and pet-friendly housing lists in your area. Ask before you decide, not after.

Do public, subsidized, or city rules change the answer?

Sometimes, and only in specific ways. Two different layers are at work here, and they are unrelated to each other: the federal pet rules that govern certain program properties, and the city you happen to live in.

Program-based and subsidized housing

Housing operated under a named federal or state program can carry pet rules, deposit limits, and installment terms written into that program rather than into Chapter 92. Those rules apply to that program and that property. They do not transfer to an ordinary private rental, and a figure you read about assisted housing is not a Texas cap.

For HUD-assisted and public housing, the governing rules are codified and public. Which one applies depends on the property type, and the amounts below come from the regulation itself rather than from any sampling by Paw Parent HQ. Across both, a pet deposit is refundable by definition: under 24 CFR §5.318(d)(1) it may be used only for reasonable expenses directly attributable to the pet, and the unused portion is returned a reasonable time after you move out or no longer keep a pet.

Program property type	Governing rule	What the rule allows or limits	Status, August 7, 2026
Public housing, other than developments for the elderly or persons with disabilities	24 CFR part 960, subpart G	A public housing agency's reasonable requirements may include a non-refundable nominal fee covering reasonable operating costs relating to the presence of pets, a refundable pet deposit, or both (§960.707(b)(1))	Verified
The same properties, on how a pet deposit is held and returned	24 CFR §960.707(d)	A pet deposit must be placed in the type of account applicable state or local law requires for pet deposits — or, where there is no such law, for rental security deposits — and the agency must follow that law on retention, interest, and return	Verified
Projects for the elderly or persons with disabilities, HUD Housing programs	24 CFR §5.318(d)	A refundable pet deposit only. For tenants other than those in the assisted and subsidized categories HUD identifies by notice, the deposit may not exceed one month's rent when the pet arrives. For tenants whose rents are subsidized under a program HUD identifies by notice, the rules must allow the deposit to accumulate gradually — no more than $50 initially and no more than $10 a month until the amount is reached. A waste-removal charge of up to $5 per occurrence is permitted	Verified with limitation — the deposit ceiling for the HUD-identified categories is fixed by HUD notice and does not appear in the regulation
Projects for the elderly or persons with disabilities, public housing programs	24 CFR §5.318(d)(3)	The pet deposit per dwelling unit may not exceed the higher of the Total Tenant Payment or a reasonable fixed amount the agency sets, and the rules may permit gradual accumulation	Verified
Any of the above, where the animal is an assistance animal	24 CFR §5.303 and §960.705	These pet rules do not apply at all. An owner or agency may not enforce them against an animal that is necessary as a reasonable accommodation	Verified

Two features of the subpart C rules — the ones covering projects for the elderly or persons with disabilities — are worth knowing even if you never live in one, because they are the opposite of what a private Texas lease may do. Under Section 5.318(d), the pet deposit is not part of rent, and the owner or agency may not prescribe pet rules imposing additional financial obligations designed to recover pet-related costs — including requiring you to carry liability insurance for the pet, to agree to be strictly liable for all pet damage where state or local law does not already impose that, or to indemnify the owner for pet-related litigation. And under Section 5.315(d), the pet rules may not conflict with applicable state or local law; where a conflict may exist, the state or local law applies.

The direction of travel is worth noticing, because it is the opposite of what most renters assume. Program rules do not simply displace state law. Section 960.707(d) sends a public housing agency to whatever state or local law governs pet deposits or, where a state has none, rental security deposits — and Texas has no pet-deposit-specific statute, which points that reference back toward the Chapter 92 framework this page has been describing rather than to something separate. What the program adds is its own written pet rule on top of that. How it works out at one particular property is a question for its management and, if the money is disputed, for legal aid. So ask management for the program name and the written pet rule that governs the property, read that document alongside the regulation above, and do not assume a figure you read about assisted housing tells you anything about a private lease down the street.

City rules, and where a fair-housing complaint goes

City rules work differently from what most renters expect. This page does not verify individual city ordinances, and no municipal pet-deposit cap appears in the state sources reviewed here — if you are in a home-rule city, ask that city's housing department or code compliance department whether a local ordinance applies before you assume one does. That is a separate question from the routing below, and the two are often confused: which city you are in changes where a fair-housing complaint goes, and says nothing about what a landlord may charge for a pet.

The Texas Workforce Commission's housing discrimination inquiry system states that if the property is in Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, or Garland, the complaint goes to that city's local fair-housing office rather than to the state. Those five cities are the complete set, and the office that takes the complaint is named below. Every other Texas city routes to the Texas Workforce Commission or to HUD.

If the property is in	The fair-housing complaint goes to
Austin	City of Austin Equal Employment and Fair Housing Office
Corpus Christi	City of Corpus Christi Department of Human Relations
Dallas	City of Dallas Fair Housing Office
Fort Worth	Fort Worth Human Relations Commission
Garland	City of Garland Fair Housing Services
Anywhere else in Texas	Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division, or HUD

Contact details for each office are published in the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs fair-housing complaint directory. This routing applies to fair-housing complaints only. An ordinary deposit dispute goes to court, usually small claims, wherever you live.

How was this page verified, and what can it not tell you?

Every legal rule on this page was read in a governing or official source and dated. Statutory rules come from the Texas Property Code and the Texas Human Resources Code. Federal program pet rules come from the current text of the Code of Federal Regulations. Federal fair-housing material comes from HUD's own current documents. Complaint deadlines and routes come from HUD and the Texas Workforce Commission. Legal-aid and tenant-advocacy pages were used only for plain-language framing and practical context; where they conflict with statutory text, the statute controls. TexasLawHelp's overview of pets and leases is the plain-language source used that way here. Search summaries and landlord-industry blog posts were not used as evidence for any rule, and several of them currently describe HB 410's proposed cap as though it were law.

This page is written and maintained by the Paw Parent HQ editorial team. How this page is funded: Paw Parent HQ is supported by advertising and, on some pages, disclosed referral links. No provider has paid for placement, ordering, or inclusion on this page, and compensation never determines what is included or how it is ranked. If a compensated link is added to this page, it will be disclosed here. Sources are re-read on a 90-day cycle, and immediately on any enacted Texas housing law, HUD guidance or regulation change, or broken official link. If a rule on this page no longer matches its governing source, tell us at hello@pawparenthq.com: the page is corrected and re-dated rather than quietly edited, and the verification line at the top of the page always shows when the sources were last read.

Three things this page deliberately does not do. It does not classify your specific charge — whether a particular refundable pet deposit is legally part of your security deposit depends on the lease and facts, and that determination belongs to a qualified reviewer. It does not tell you whether a specific accommodation must be granted, because that analysis is individual and, on the federal side, currently in transition. And it does not publish a Texas pet-charge figure that could be mistaken for a statewide rule.

How do I compare rentals and pet terms without guessing?

This is a comparison of documented characteristics, not of companies. Shortlist the lease terms and the property's process, not a brand.

Best for a first-time renter with an ordinary dog or cat: a pet addendum written as one clearly defined charge with the refund condition stated in words, rather than a deposit, a fee, and monthly rent stacked together.
Best for a renter with a trained service animal: a property that publishes a written accommodation process separate from its pet policy and names who handles requests.
Best if you are not sure whether your animal qualifies as an assistance animal: no signature and no payment yet — get individualized advice from legal aid or Disability Rights Texas before you pay a pet charge, and do not buy a certificate or registry listing.
Best for a renter in Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, or Garland: know in advance that fair-housing complaints for those cities go to the local office rather than the state.

Your situation	What to shortlist	What to confirm in writing before you sign
First lease with an ordinary pet, limited cash at move-in	A single clearly labeled charge with a written refund condition	Is any part refundable, and on what condition? Is it per animal or per household? Does it change at renewal? Who decides what counts as pet damage?
Trained service animal, or planning an accommodation request	A written accommodation process that is separate from the pet policy	How do I submit the request in writing? What will you ask me for? Will any pet charge apply while it is pending? How are damage claims handled for an approved animal?
An emotional support animal without individual training	Properties whose written pet terms you could live with if no accommodation is granted	What is the full pet charge if this is treated as a pet? Is any of it refundable? Would you consider an accommodation request, and through what process? Is there an installment option on the nonrefundable part?
Two or more animals	Per-household rather than per-animal terms	Is each amount per animal or per household? Does adding an animal change the monthly amount? Is there a count limit, and where is it written?
Adopted or took in an animal after signing	Written approval of that specific animal, before anything else	Will you approve this animal in writing? Does a charge apply now, at renewal, or both? Is the addendum retroactive? What happens to an animal that was never approved?
Public, subsidized, or program-based property	The property's own written pet rule and the exact program name	Which program governs this property? Where is the written rule? Does it set its own limit or installment terms? Which agency handles complaints here?

Use the same before-you-sign checklist as your scorecard for every property you are comparing, rather than a different set of questions for each. A property that will not put in writing what another property will is not the cheaper option — it is the less documented one, and the difference usually shows up at move-out.

Your next step: mark every charge in the lease

Woman and calico cat on a Texas porch swing at dusk on a teal cushion, deposit returned and the new home settled

Open the lease and the pet addendum, and mark each amount as refundable, nonrefundable, or recurring. Write down what each one is supposed to cover, and ask for anything unclear in writing before you pay. Save the addendum somewhere you will find it in a year — that document, plus dated photographs and a written forwarding address, is what a move-out conversation actually turns on. If the question is about a disability-related animal, use the accommodation process and the official complaint routes rather than the pet policy. For the rest of your move, the renting with pets guide covers the national picture and the questions to ask any landlord.

Sources and last verified date

Last verified: August 7, 2026

Texas Property Code, Chapter 92 — Texas Legislature — Governing text for the security-deposit definition, refund deadline, the conspicuous-print rule on advance notice of surrender, deductions and itemization, forwarding address, last-month's-rent restriction, landlord liability including the bad-faith forfeiture and burden of proof, and fee in lieu of a security deposit.
Texas Human Resources Code, Chapter 121 — Texas Legislature — Definitions of assistance animal and service animal, state housing protection for service animals including the bar on extra compensation or a deposit, damage liability, and the misrepresentation offense and its penalty.
Enforcement Guidance: Assessing Requests for the Use of an Animal as a Reasonable Accommodation Under the Fair Housing Act, May 22, 2026 — HUD Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity — Rescission of the 2020 assistance-animal notice, the trained-animal enforcement standard, the guide-dog regulatory example, the non-canine species note, and the two-year private civil action window.
24 CFR Part 5, Subpart C — Pet Ownership for the Elderly or Persons With Disabilities — Assistance-animal exclusion, refundable pet deposit and its permitted uses, the one-month-rent and Total Tenant Payment ceilings, gradual-accumulation terms, the waste-removal charge, the bar on additional pet-related financial obligations, and the state-law conflict rule.
24 CFR Part 960, Subpart G — Pet Ownership in Public Housing — Assistance-animal exclusion, the nominal-fee and refundable-deposit provisions, and the requirement that pet deposits be held and returned under applicable state or local law.
Learn About FHEO's Process to Report and Investigate Housing Discrimination — HUD — One-year filing window for Fair Housing Act allegations and the federal investigation process.
Report Housing Discrimination — HUD — Official federal intake route for housing discrimination allegations.
Housing Discrimination — Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division — Texas Fair Housing Act enforcement, the one-year complaint window, and the rule that a complaint already filed with HUD or a local office cannot also be taken by the state.
Housing Discrimination Inquiry System — Texas Workforce Commission — Official state complaint intake and the local-office routing for Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Garland.
How to File a Fair Housing Complaint — Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs — Names and contact details of the five local Texas fair-housing enforcement offices.
Renter's Rights — Office of the Texas Attorney General — Official renter summary of the forwarding-address requirement, 30-day return, itemized deductions, and the normal wear and tear boundary.
HB 410 bill history, 89th Legislature Regular Session — Texas Legislature Online — Confirms the proposed pet-fee cap did not become law.
HB 410 introduced text, 89th Legislature Regular Session — Texas Legislature Online — The proposal language that is frequently misread as current Texas law.
HB 1166 introduced text, 88th Legislature Regular Session — Texas Legislature Online — The 2023 version of the same proposed Section 92.027, also carrying the $20 monthly cap.
HB 279 introduced text, 87th Legislature Regular Session — Texas Legislature Online — The 2021 version of the same proposed Section 92.027.
Legal Aid — Texas Judicial Branch — Official listing of the three Legal Services Corporation–funded legal aid organizations with their service areas, and the State Bar Lawyer Referral and Information Service consultation fee.
Legal Help Directory — TexasLawHelp.org — County-level matching to legal aid organizations, published by the Texas Legal Services Center.
Pets and Leases — TexasLawHelp.org — Legal-aid implementation context confirming that Texas has no specific pet statute and that lease terms govern ordinary pets.
Filing a Complaint: Possible Discrimination in Housing — Disability Rights Texas — Plain-language routing for administrative complaints and the separate court deadline.

Next review: November 5, 2026

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