Texas Leaves Rental Registration to Cities; Chapter 92 Sets Floors

No Texas statute requires landlords to register rental property, and no state law caps registration or inspection fees, so rental registration is a city-by-city matter. Dallas, DeSoto, Mesquite, and other cities operate registration or inspection programs with their own fees and schedules; many Texas cities have none. Statewide, Property Code Chapter 92 imposes uniform landlord duties: security deposits must be refunded within 30 days of surrender (92.103), landlords must diligently repair conditions materially affecting health or safety after notice (92.052-92.061), install and maintain smoke alarms (92.251-92.259), and disclose ownership and management (92.201). These tenant protections cannot be waived by lease or weakened by local ordinance.

Failing to register where a city requires it is a municipal code violation, typically punished by fines. Landlord violations of Chapter 92 duties on deposits, repairs, and smoke alarms trigger statutory damages and attorney's fees.