Texas Eviction Process: Notice Periods, Timeline, and Costs

Texas Property Code § 24.005(a) requires at least three days' written notice to vacate before you file, unless a written lease sets a shorter or longer period — many Texas leases shorten it to one day, so read your lease before you count. For petitions filed on or after January 1, 2026, § 24.0042 controls the math: you do not count the day you deliver the notice, you do count Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, and if the last day lands on a weekend or holiday the period runs to the next business day. The notice must demand that the tenant vacate, and under § 24.005(f-3) it must be delivered by mail (first class, registered, certified, or a commercial delivery service), by leaving it inside the premises in a conspicuous place, by hand to a tenant at least 16 years old, or by electronic communication if the lease authorizes that in writing.

Texas uses the same notice to vacate for lease violations as for nonpayment — at least three days unless the written lease sets a different period. State law does not require you to offer a cure period, because the notice demands possession rather than compliance, but if your own lease promises the tenant a chance to cure you must honor it or the case can be dismissed.

Under Texas Property Code § 91.001 a month-to-month tenancy ends on the later of the date stated in the notice or one month after the day notice is given; if the rent-paying period is shorter than a month, the notice period equals that period. The parties can agree in a signed writing to a different period or to no notice at all. There is no statewide just-cause restriction, but after the tenancy ends you still must serve a separate § 24.005 notice to vacate before filing.

SB 38 made venue mandatory in the justice precinct where the property is located, and justice courts have exclusive jurisdiction over possession. The filing fee is $54 in all 254 counties; constable service typically runs $75-$100 per tenant and executing a writ of possession costs roughly $150-$205 more depending on the county.

Under the rewritten Rule 510 the tenant may file a written answer but is not required to; simply appearing at trial preserves every defense. The one exception is the new summary disposition procedure — if you file a sworn motion for summary disposition with your petition, the tenant must file a written response within four days after service or the court can rule without holding a trial.

Count three days of notice, a trial that must be set between the 10th and 21st day after the petition is filed, a writ that cannot issue before the sixth day after judgment, and a 24-hour warning posted on the front door before the constable executes it. An appeal to county court restarts the case with a new trial due within 21 days, and a defective notice to vacate sends you back to the beginning.

Texas is the rare state that permits a narrow statutory lockout. Property Code § 92.0081 lets you change the door locks for delinquent rent only if that right is written into the lease and you first mail notice at least five calendar days before, or hand-deliver or post it inside the main entry door at least three calendar days before, stating the earliest lock-change date, the amount that will stop it, where rent can be paid, and — in bold or underlined print — the tenant's right to a new key at any hour whether or not they pay. At the lockout you must post a 24-hour key contact and hand over the key on demand regardless of payment. Shutting off utilities, removing doors or windows, and removing the tenant's belongings remain flatly illegal, and a violation exposes you to a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $1,000, actual damages, court costs and attorney's fees, with an additional month's rent penalty for refusing the key.

Senate Bill 38 (89th Legislature) applies to every eviction petition filed on or after January 1, 2026, adding electronic delivery of the notice to vacate when the lease authorizes it, a statutory computation-of-time rule, mandatory venue in the property's justice precinct, a sworn-petition requirement, a bar on counterclaims, and a new summary disposition procedure. The Texas Supreme Court rewrote Rule 510 to match, effective the same date.

SB 38 rewrote Property Code Chapter 24 and the Texas Supreme Court replaced Rule 510 outright for every eviction petition filed on or after January 1, 2026, so most published guides — and some form packets still sitting in JP court lobbies — describe a procedure that no longer exists. Rule 510 is now the sole procedural rule, so a justice court can no longer add local requirements like mandatory mediation, pretrial conferences or extra pleadings, and it cannot hear counterclaims or title disputes. You may represent yourself or send a non-attorney agent in justice court, but a county court appeal is a real lawsuit and most landlords need counsel there. The single most common fatal mistake is a defective notice to vacate — wrong delivery method, or counting the delivery day as day one.

• Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005
• Tex. Prop. Code § 24.0042 (added by SB 38, 89th Leg.)
• Tex. Prop. Code § 92.0081