Table of Contents
To get your security deposit back in Texas, leave the home clean, give your landlord a forwarding address in writing, and know they have thirty days to refund it or itemize what they kept. Cleaning is the part you control; the rest is a timeline and a definition — and the definition protects normal wear and tear.
We do a lot of move-out cleans across Houston and Katy, and the deposit is usually the reason they’re booked. So here’s the honest version of how it works — the rules, the part a clean can fix, and the part it can’t. One thing up front: this isn’t legal advice. Your lease governs, and the actual sections are worth reading yourself at the Texas State Law Library’s deposit guide.
Key Takeaways
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| How long does a Texas landlord have? | Thirty days from the day you surrender the home — to refund it or send an itemized list. |
| What’s the catch? | They don’t owe it until you’ve given a forwarding address in writing. |
| What can’t they deduct? | Normal wear and tear — the deterioration that comes from simply living there. |
| What can they? | Damage beyond that, and charges the lease makes you liable for — a cleaning clause included. |
| What does cleaning control? | Dirt, buildup, appliance interiors. Not a broken blind or a burn in the carpet. |
The 5 Texas Rules That Decide Your Deposit
Five sections of the Texas Property Code do almost all the work. In plain terms, and with the section numbers so you can check me:
1. The clock is thirty days from the day you surrender
The landlord “shall refund a security deposit to the tenant on or before the 30th day after the date the tenant surrenders the premises” (Section 92.103). In plain terms, surrender is the day you’ve moved out and handed the place back — usually the day the keys go, not the day the lease says it ends.
2. It doesn’t start until they have your forwarding address in writing
A landlord isn’t obligated to refund the deposit, or to describe what they kept, “until the tenant gives the landlord a written statement of the tenant’s forwarding address” (Section 92.107). You don’t lose the deposit by forgetting — the guide is explicit that the right survives — but you do stall it.
3. Normal wear and tear can’t be deducted
A landlord “may not retain any portion of a security deposit to cover normal wear and tear” (Section 92.104). The definition is “deterioration that results from the intended use of a dwelling,” including breakage or malfunction due to age — but not deterioration that results from “negligence, carelessness, accident, or abuse” (Section 92.001). Living in a home is intended use. Leaving it dirty is not.
4. Deductions come with an itemized list
If the landlord keeps any of it, they owe you “an itemized list of all deductions” (Section 92.104) — provided your rent was paid in full and there’s no dispute over it. A number with no list isn’t a deduction; it’s a question you’re entitled to ask.
5. Withholding in bad faith costs them triple
A tenant can sue to recover “three times the portion of the deposit wrongfully withheld,” plus fees, if the deposit or the itemized list isn’t sent within the thirty days (Section 92.109). Know the date you surrendered.
Everything above is the statute as the State Law Library summarizes it; requirements can turn on your lease and your situation, so if a deposit is actually in dispute, talk to a lawyer or a tenant-rights organization rather than a cleaning company.
The Part Cleaning Controls — and the Part It Doesn’t
Cleaning controls the deductions that come from dirt: the inside of the oven, the inside of the refrigerator, the cabinets and drawers, the bathrooms, the baseboards and floors. Those are the places a move out cleaning is built around, and the checklist is what gets done — and the paper trail if a deduction is questioned.
What cleaning doesn’t control is damage. A clean house doesn’t fix a broken blind, a hole in a door, or a stain that’s in the carpet fiber rather than on it. If your lease has a cleaning clause — clauses vary, and some name a professional clean specifically — that clause is what the dirt side of your deposit is measured against. Read it before you decide how to handle the clean.
What to Document Before You Hand Over the Keys
- Photograph every room after the clean, including inside the appliances and cabinets. Wide and close — it’s the best evidence you’ll have once someone else has the keys.
- Send the forwarding address in writing — email or letter — and keep the copy. This is rule 2, and it’s the one people forget.
- Read the move-out clause of your lease and do what it says, in the order it says it. If it names a cleaning standard, meet that standard; if it names a professional clean, keep the receipt.
- Return the keys on the date you agreed, and note the date. That’s the day rule 1 starts counting.
When a Professional Move-Out Clean Is Worth It
Choose to do it yourself if the home is small, you have the time before the walk-through, and the lease doesn’t name a professional clean. Choose a professional clean if the lease does name one, if the home is large or has been lived in hard, or if the move date is fixed and the days between the last load out and the walk-through are already spoken for. The point is to get your security deposit back without spending the last two days of the move inside an oven. If the next place is empty too, the move-in clean before the boxes arrive is the other end of the same job.
What Good Looks Like When You Get Your Security Deposit Back
The deposit arrives within thirty days with no list — or with a list you can read line by line and agree with. If the thirty days pass with nothing, write to the landlord, cite the date you surrendered and the date you sent your forwarding address, and ask for the refund or the itemized list. The State Law Library’s guide explains the next steps from there.
If the Walk-Through Is Already on the Calendar
If the home will be empty and the lease wants it clean, book the move out cleaning for the gap before the walk-through. The crew works the published checklist end to end, and if the walk-through turns something up, we come back and make it right.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a landlord charge me for cleaning in Texas? Not for normal wear and tear — that can’t be deducted. Dirt isn’t wear and tear, though, and if your lease makes you responsible for returning the home clean, cleaning charges are something the lease can hold you to. The itemized list has to show them.
How long does a landlord have to return a security deposit in Texas? Thirty days from the day you surrender the home, to either refund the deposit or send an itemized list of deductions — and only once you’ve given a forwarding address in writing.
Is carpet wear normal wear and tear? Wear from walking on it is the kind of deterioration the definition describes — it comes from intended use. A burn, a tear, or a pet stain that has soaked into the fiber comes from an accident or neglect, and that’s the other side of the line.
Will a professional move-out cleaning guarantee I get my security deposit back? No, and be wary of anyone who says otherwise. A clean addresses the dirt side of the deposit; it can’t fix damage, and the lease and the landlord decide the rest. What we guarantee is the clean itself: if you’re not completely satisfied, we’ll come back and make it right.
