Eviction Notice Requirements in Texas

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Texas evictions run through Chapter 24 of the Property Code, the forcible-entry-and-detainer statute. That chapter was substantially rewritten by Senate Bill 38 (89th Legislature, 2025), which applies to any eviction petition filed on or after January 1, 2026 (petitions filed before that keep the prior law). The core notice rule is § 24.005, with a new time-computation rule in § 24.0042. The separate rule for ending a month-to-month tenancy is § 91.001, and the tenant's retaliation defense is in § 92.331.

Notice for unpaid rent

The landlord must give a tenant who defaults or holds over at least three days' written notice to vacate before filing a forcible-detainer suit, unless a written lease or agreement sets a shorter or longer notice period (§ 24.005(a)). For rent specifically, the form of the notice depends on your payment history: if your possession is ending based solely on nonpayment of rent and you were not late or delinquent in paying rent before the month in which the notice is given, the notice "shall be given in the form of a notice to pay rent or vacate" — a pay-or-quit that lets you pay within the period and head off the suit. But if you were late in an earlier month, the landlord "may" give "either a notice to pay rent or vacate or a notice to vacate," and a bare notice to vacate carries no statutory right to pay and stay.

Notice for a lease violation

Texas does not have a separate cure-or-quit statute. The same § 24.005(a) at-least-three-day notice to vacate covers a tenant "who defaults" on any lease term. The statute sets no period in which you can fix a non-rent violation and keep the tenancy — whether you get that chance, and how long, comes from your lease, which § 24.005(a) expressly allows to contract for a shorter or longer notice period. If your lease is silent, three days' notice to vacate is the floor and there is no state-law cure right.

Unconditional quit (no cure allowed)

Texas has no distinct "unconditional quit" tier for serious conduct like waste, nuisance, or illegal use. Unlike states that set a different (often longer or shorter) no-cure notice for that conduct, Texas applies the single § 24.005(a) notice to vacate — at least three days, or whatever the lease says — to every default and holdover alike. In practice every Texas notice to vacate is already an unconditional demand for possession unless the lease or, for rent, the pay-or-vacate form gives a way to stop it.

Ending a month-to-month tenancy

To end a periodic tenancy with no fault, § 91.001 controls. Either the tenant or the landlord may terminate "by... giving notice of termination to the other" (§ 91.001(a)). If the rent-paying period is at least a month, the tenancy ends on the later of "the day given in the notice for termination" or "one month after the day on which the notice is given" (§ 91.001(b)) — so a monthly tenant gets a full month. If the rent period is shorter (say, week to week), the notice scales down to the length of that period (§ 91.001(c)). Crucially, a "landlord and a tenant [who] have agreed in an instrument signed by both parties on a different period of notice... or that no notice is required" are governed by that agreement instead (§ 91.001(e)) — your lease can change or waive the one-month default. And even after the tenancy is terminated this way, § 24.005(a) says a landlord suing on a holdover "must also comply with the tenancy termination requirements of Section 91.001" and still give the three-day notice to vacate before filing.

How the notice must be served

Under the rewritten statute, "a notice required by this section must be delivered using at least one of the following methods": mail (including first-class, registered, certified, or a delivery service); "delivery to the inside of the premises, in a conspicuous place"; "hand delivery to any tenant of the premises who is 16 years of age or older"; or, "if the parties have agreed in writing, electronic communication, including e-mail or other electronic means" (§ 24.005(f-3)). One safety valve: those method rules do not apply if the tenant actually receives the notice (§ 24.005(f-4)). Note that S.B. 38 repealed the older inside-door-after-6-p.m. plus mailing method — the current list in § 24.005(f-3) is what governs a notice for an eviction filed on or after January 1, 2026.

Tenant's right to cure/reinstate

There is no general statutory right to cure. For rent, the "notice to pay rent or vacate" is required only in the narrow case where you were not late in any earlier month; paying the demanded rent within that period avoids the suit. For a non-rent violation, any cure right comes from the lease. What state law does give you is a retaliation defense. A landlord "may not retaliate against a tenant" who, among other things, "in good faith exercises... a right or remedy," "gives a landlord a notice to repair," "complains to a governmental entity responsible for enforcing building or housing codes, a public utility, or a... nonprofit agency," or "establishes... or participates in a tenant organization" (§ 92.331(a)). And a landlord "may not, within six months after the date of the tenant's action..., retaliate against the tenant by... filing an eviction proceeding, except for the grounds stated by Section 92.332," or by cutting services, "increasing the tenant's rent[,] or terminating the tenant's lease" (§ 92.331(b)). The § 92.332 exceptions (for example, a tenant genuinely behind on rent) mean retaliation is a shield against a pretextual eviction, not a bar to a legitimate one.

What trips people up

"Three days" but not the same three days as California or Florida. Texas counts weekends and holidays in the three-day period (§ 24.0042), so it is a calendar count, not a business-day count — the opposite of California's and Florida's pay-or-quit clocks, which exclude weekends and holidays. The two softeners are that the delivery day itself doesn't count and a deadline that lands on a weekend or a state or federal holiday rolls to the next business day.

Your lease can move the number in either direction. Section 24.005(a) lets the parties may contract for a shorter or longer notice period, and § 91.001(e) lets a signed agreement set a different month-to-month notice period or none at all. So the three-day and one-month figures are defaults that a lease can override — always check the lease before assuming the statutory number applies.

Paying late once changes your rights. The mandatory "pay rent or vacate" form — the version that lets you pay and stay — applies only if you were not late in any month before the one in which the notice is given. A tenant with an earlier late payment can be given a straight notice to vacate, with no statutory pay-to-cure option.

Common questions

Is a 3-day notice really only three days? It's at least three days, counted with weekends and holidays included, but not counting the day it was delivered, and if day three lands on a weekend or a state or federal holiday you get until the next business day. Your lease can also require more (or less) than three days.

If I pay everything the notice demands, does the eviction stop? Only if the notice is a "notice to pay rent or vacate." That form is required when you weren't late in any earlier month; paying the demanded rent within the period then avoids the suit. If you'd been late before and the landlord gave a plain notice to vacate, state law gives no right to pay and stay — though the landlord can still choose to accept payment.

My landlord never gave me a reason — can they just end my month-to-month lease? Yes. Texas has no just-cause requirement. For a monthly tenancy the landlord gives one month's notice under § 91.001 (unless the lease sets a different period), then the three-day notice to vacate before filing.

Can my landlord change the locks or shut off the utilities to force me out? No. Only a court can order an eviction, carried out by a constable or sheriff. A lockout or utility shutoff to force you out is handled separately under Texas law and is not a substitute for the notice-and-court process.

Statutes and sources

• Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005(a) — at-least-3-day notice to vacate; "pay rent or vacate" form rules; holdover cross-reference to § 91.001 (enrolled S.B. 38, 89R 2025). https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB00038F.htm (accessed 2026-07-10)
• Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005(f-3), (f-4) — permitted delivery methods; actual-receipt exception (enrolled S.B. 38, 89R 2025). https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB00038F.htm (accessed 2026-07-10)
• Tex. Prop. Code § 24.0042 — computation of time; weekends/holidays counted, delivery day excluded, weekend/holiday deadline rolls forward (enrolled S.B. 38, 89R 2025). https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB00038F.htm (accessed 2026-07-10)
• Tex. Prop. Code § 91.001 — notice for terminating a month-to-month tenancy; one month for a monthly tenancy; lease may set a different period or none. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/GetStatute.aspx?Code=PR&Value=91.001 (accessed 2026-07-10)
• Tex. Prop. Code § 92.331(a) — protected tenant actions the landlord may not retaliate against (enrolled S.B. 630, 83R 2013). https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/83R/billtext/html/SB00630F.htm (accessed 2026-07-10)
• Tex. Prop. Code § 92.331(b) — six-month retaliation bar on filing eviction, cutting services, raising rent, or terminating the lease. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/GetStatute.aspx?Code=PR&Value=92.331 (accessed 2026-07-10)