2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB2037
HB2037 removes an outdated print-advertising requirement for repair providers and permits qualifying security-deposit communications by email.
Official caption: Relating to repairs made pursuant to a residential or manufactured home tenant's notice of intent to repair and the provision of notice regarding a residential or manufactured home tenant's security deposit.
Official report lists House author(s): Darby, Luther. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.
Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.
Bill highlights
Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.
- HB2037 removes an outdated print-advertising requirement for repair providers and permits qualifying security-deposit communications by email.
- For repairs under the statutory tenant repair-and-deduct process, the provider must now be an independent company, contractor or repairperson, rather than one listed in a telephone directory or local newspaper classifieds.
- This does not let a tenant deduct any desired repair from rent.
- For notices and other communications under the security-deposit subchapters, a managing agent, leasing agent or resident manager is treated as the landlord's agent.
- The changes apply only to a lease entered into or renewed on or after September 1, 2025.
What does it do?
HB2037 removes an outdated print-advertising requirement for repair providers and permits qualifying security-deposit communications by email. It makes parallel changes for residential tenancies under Property Code Chapter 92 and manufactured-home lot tenancies under Chapter 94. The latter concerns renting a lot for a manufactured home, not every rental of a manufactured home itself. Final law; Chapter 94 scope.
For repairs under the statutory tenant repair-and-deduct process, the provider must now be an independent company, contractor or repairperson, rather than one listed in a telephone directory or local newspaper classifieds. Where municipal licensing is required, the provider must be licensed. Existing restrictions generally exclude the tenant, immediate family, employer, employees or a tenant-owned company unless landlord and tenant make the permitted agreement. Existing structural-work restrictions also remain. Final law, Sections 1 and 4.
This does not let a tenant deduct any desired repair from rent. The existing repair-and-deduct laws still impose qualifying-condition, notice, timing, cost-limit, building-code and documentation requirements. HB2037 changes who may perform qualifying work, not that entire framework. Property Code 92.0561; Property Code 94.157.
For notices and other communications under the security-deposit subchapters, a managing agent, leasing agent or resident manager is treated as the landlord’s agent. Those communications may be sent by email if the tenant and landlord or landlord’s agent have previously communicated by email. The landlord or agent may designate a specific email address for the tenant to use. This is permission, not a requirement to use email, and it is not a blanket rule for eviction notices or every repair notice. Final law, Sections 2–3.
The changes apply only to a lease entered into or renewed on or after September 1, 2025. A lease entered into or renewed before that date remains governed by the prior law until the applicable new-lease or renewal trigger. Final law, Sections 5–6.
What changed along the way?
The introduced bill already contained the repair-provider changes. Its security-deposit provisions were different: they listed delivery methods for a forwarding address, said certain delivery attempts counted even if the landlord refused or failed to claim them, and proposed changing the wording of the 30-day bad-faith presumption to reference both surrender and the forwarding-address requirement. Introduced text.
The House committee substitute removed those proposed forwarding-address and bad-faith amendments, replacing them with the agency and prior-email-communication provisions that became law. HB2037 therefore should not be described as enacting the introduced delivery list or rewriting the deposit-refund deadline. Existing forwarding-address and refund duties remain relevant. House substitute; existing residential deposit provisions.
The House-passed, Senate committee and enrolled texts retained the substitute’s substance. The official index reports no amendments; the material changes occurred through the committee substitute. All versions; amendment index; history.
For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.
Official bill versions
Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.
Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?
Tenants may find qualifying independent repair providers without relying on obsolete print listings. Tenants and landlords who already use email gain a permitted channel for security-deposit communications, and the named agents’ role is clearer. Landlords and managers must handle those messages appropriately; tenants still need to meet the applicable notice and repair requirements.
The May 22, 2025 fiscal note anticipates no state or local-government fiscal impact. It does not quantify private savings, compliance costs or separate two-year and five-year dollar effects.
Official sources
- Bill history and latest recorded action
- Bill versions, analyses and fiscal notes
- Action history and votes
- Amendment index
Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.
