HB1533

HB1533 changes several parts of Texas’s property-tax appraisal and appeal system. Most changes took effect September 1, 2025, with separate January 1, 2026 start dates for training courses and the new tenant-arbitration right. It does not set a tax rate or guarantee a lower appraisal. Final law

Notices and records: Notice concerning property omitted from a prior year’s appraisal roll must be sent by certified mail. This is a targeted requirement, not a certified-mail rule for every appraisal notice. Appraisal districts in counties with 120,000 or more residents must maintain a website and post completed appraisal records, excluding legally confidential information, updating them at least weekly for appraisal-value changes. The law also removes the requirement that an agent supply the signing computer’s IP address when a chief appraiser requests information about an electronically submitted agent designation; signature information and signing date remain required.

Protest hearings: A property owner without a designated agent may elect telephone or video participation in the protest notice or by written notice filed at least five days before the hearing. An owner represented by a designated agent still faces the 10-day deadline. If an appraisal review board dismisses a protest for lack of jurisdiction, it must notify the owner in writing and explain the grounds. Notice of the good-cause hearing required before issuing a subpoena increases from five to 15 days, and the person being subpoenaed must have an opportunity to be heard.

Tenant arbitration: A tenant contractually required to reimburse the owner for property taxes can use binding arbitration to challenge an appraisal review board’s determination of appraised or market value of $5 million or less. The underlying protest must have been brought by the tenant under the applicable tenant-protest law, or by the owner if the owner does not appeal. This is an alternative to court appeal, not a right for every renter to pursue duplicate proceedings. The tenant is treated as the owner for the appeal, and the comptroller must send notices to both. Existing arbitration filing and deposit requirements still apply; arbitration is not automatically free. Arbitration law, including Sections 41A.011 and 41A.03

Court appeals: Courts cannot order discovery—the exchange of evidence—unless a party requests it. They cannot impose expert-witness discovery deadlines earlier than the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, or otherwise accelerate expert discovery without the parties’ agreement.

Board-member training: If the comptroller hires a service provider to help with the specified appraisal review board training courses, at least one trainer must be a taxpayer representative. Ordinarily that trainer must be a Texas resident and Texas lawyer with at least five years’ practice and property-tax experience, with no prior representation of an appraisal district, review board or taxing unit, no prior appraisal-district employment/officer service, and no prior review-board membership. If no qualifying applicant applies, the comptroller may instead choose a Texas resident with a bachelor’s degree and property-tax knowledge/experience who does not currently hold the listed appraisal-district, review-board or taxing-unit positions. This fallback is not an unrestricted waiver.

The act preserves earlier law for agent-information requests, protest notices, subpoenas and court appeals made, filed or issued before September 1, 2025, as specified in its transition sections. The training requirement applies to courses provided on or after January 1, 2026; the tenant-arbitration provision applies to requests filed on or after that date. Final law, Sections 11–17 · Supplemental appraisal records and notices