From the 89th – Laws in Effect September 1, 2025

Background – The effective date of any given bill can vary. Some that get super-majority support have immediate effect, others that require more time to prepare or get into compliance have dates set off in the future. But one of the more common defaults for many bills is September 1st of the session year.

While we were all enjoying Labor Day this past Monday, several new laws passed during the Legislative Session (regular session) that could have some impact on our industry, or your business went into effect.

One of TMHA’s key legislative priorities and advocacy victories, SB 1341, is now in effect.

Summary – SB 1341

Clarifies the definition of a manufactured home and HUD-code manufactured home to reference the federal definition; allows licensees to maintain records electronically and not physically in Texas; and eliminates the 24-hour/one day prior timeline on pre-sale consumer notices in the sales process.

Key Points – SB 1341

Licensees can choose to keep their necessary records electronically, rather than physically in a file at a location in the state.

The state promulgated and mandatory Consumer Notice just has to be given to a prospective buyer before they complete a credit application or enter into a cash sales contract. The prior law required the notice be provided a day in advance on cash sales.

Similarly, retailers are no longer required to provide a copy of the retail sales contract a day in advance. This eliminates part of the old law that was based on the pre-Dodd Frank Act indirect lending model. Since the majority of the industry shifted 15 years ago to a direct lending model, this law was antiquated and unduly burdensome.

SB 1940 - Relating to authorizing a beneficiary designation that transfers a manufactured home classified as personal property at the owner's death

Summary - SB 1940

This is a small simple law change and deals with transferring MH ownership in a faster, easier way if the owner dies. The bill allows for the direct designation of a beneficiary for manufactured homes adopting a similar “transfer-on-death” designation available for other types of personal property (such as cars).

Key Points – SB 1940

This law will help MH owners and make it easier to transfer their property upon death to the person they want to own their home after they die. The process is simpler than having to go through probate or other cumbersome estate processes.

The MH Division of TDHCA will modify their Statement of Ownership Application to include this optional designation on the title of homes.

SB 2349 – Relating to notice requirements for a leased dwelling located in a floodplain.

Summary – SB 2349

Allows the floodplain notice (that has been required since Hurricane Harvey) to be included in the lease or as a lease addendum, which must be signed by both landlord and tenant

Key Points – SB 2349

The prior law mandated a separate notice rather than being incorporated in the lease. This law simply provides more flexibility to either continue with a separate lease floodplain disclosure or incorporate it in the lease.

The new law does explicitly say that both landlord and tenant must sign whatever document used to provide the notice to evidence receipt. Some landlords might find it easier and more of a safeguard to incorporate the flood notice into their lease contract. This could better ensure that the document is signed by both parties, rather than a separate document that may have been overlooked.

SB 1333 - Relating to the unauthorized entry, occupancy, sale, rental, lease, advertisement for sale, rental, or lease, or conveyance of real property, including the removal of certain unauthorized occupants of a dwelling.

Summary - SB 1333

This is an anti-squatters law that focuses more on the criminal enforcement aspect of removing squatters. The bill also adds a process for the property owner to submit a formal complaint and get the sheriff or constable to remove the unauthorized person.

Key Points – SB 1333

Property owners and landlords should be aware that this new law provides greater enforcement and quicker criminal remedies if they have an unauthorized squatter on their property. Specifically, there is a new chapter in the Property Code, Chapter 24B, where the property owner submits a complaint to the sheriff or constable in the county on a state promulgated complaint form with 12 criteria that must be met. But this should result in a faster remedy and removal by law enforcement of a squatter.

HB 2037 - Relating to repairs made pursuant to a tenant's notice of intent to repair and the refund of a tenant's security deposit.

Summary – HB 2037

For both traditional landlord tenant relationships governed by Chapter 92, Property Code, (this would include when both the home and a lot are leased in MHCs), and manufactured home communities with lot leases only governed by Chapter 94, Property Code, the law allows for landlord and tenant email communication if they have previously communicated by email.

“Sec. 92.113. NOTICE BY E-MAIL. (a) Notice and other communications required or permitted by this subchapter may be sent by e-mail if the tenant and the landlord or landlord's agent have previously communicated by e-mail.

 (b) The landlord or landlord's agent may designate a specific e-mail address for a tenant to use for the purpose of Subsection (a).”

Sec. 94.111. NOTICE BY E-MAIL. (a) Notice and other communications required or permitted by this subchapter may be sent by e-mail if the tenant and the landlord or landlord's agent have previously communicated by e-mail.

 (b) The landlord or landlord's agent may designate a specific e-mail address for a tenant to use for the purpose of Subsection (a).”

Key Points – HB 2037

The option for a landlord to communicate and document, via email, various notices and disclosures were sent to tenants will be a feature many landlords prefer. This could also open up greater efficiency and automation for some functions in the property management space.

This law also requires if the tenant, living in a city that requires use of licensed contractors, makes certain repairs for health and safety that their landlord will not make after they have been requested, the tenant must hire a licensed contractor and document the work and expense (i.e. the tenant can’t “hire” their brother-in-law to do the work)

TMHA’s efforts ensured this new option applied to both home-and-lot and lot-lease only leasing arrangements in MHCs.

For Housing Development, the following new laws went into effect on September 1, 2025:

HB 2559 - Relating to the imposition by a municipality of a moratorium on property development in certain circumstances.

This law increases the transparency and notice requirements to prevent municipalities from unfairly imposing moratoriums on property developments.

The changes now require a 30-day notice and certified mail notice to person(s) registered previously with the city secretary, and also that two (not just one, like previously) public hearings at least 30-days apart must occur before a city can impose a building moratorium.

SB 15 - Relating to size and density requirements for residential lots in certain municipalities; authorizing a fee.

This is the minimum lot size bill for some larger cities for new “greenfield” developments.

This law creates preemption standards for smaller sized “greenfield” new development lots in some cities. It only applies to cities with a population of more than 150,000 and is in a county of more than 300,000. This means the larger cities within the following counties:

Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, Travis, Collin, Denton, Fort Bend, Hidalgo, El Paso, Montgomery, Williamson, Cameron, Brazoria, Bell, Galveston, Nueces, and Lubbock.

Being limited to only new developments, this applies to land that will be newly developed (not existing developments or neighborhoods, only “green field” new single-family homes).

Legal Action – this new law has legal teeth by allowing a person to bring suit against a city for violating this law and get injunctive relief, compel the city to comply, attorneys’ fees and court costs for the winning party, and even opt to go to the 15th Court of Appeals for any appeals.

SB 1883 - Relating to the approval of land use assumptions, capital improvement plans, and impact fees.

This change reforms the law that allowed cities to impose and increase impact fees for new development by a simple majority vote.

The new requirements on cities looking to increase or impose impacts fees, increases the vote threshold to a super-majority (2/3rds), limits increases to, at most, every three years, and requires, prior to increasing the fees an independent audit (with 10 specific audit evaluation criteria that must be satisfied) followed by posting the audit results on their website and a public hearing.

HB 2025 - Relating to the filing for record of a plat, replat, or amended plat or replat of a subdivision of real property or a condominium.

If a person files a plat, replat, or amended plat with the county clerk after September 1 of a year, the person must attach to it a tax receipt issued by each taxing unit with jurisdiction over the property indicating that the taxes imposed by the taxing unit for the current year have been paid or, if the taxes for the current year have not been calculated, a statement from the taxing unit indicating that the taxes to be imposed for the current year have not been calculated.

However, under the previous law if taxes are calculated after the person files the plat but before the county clerk records the plat, the county clerk may reject the plat.

Under this change the law changes so that a plat is not rejected if the taxes owed for a property for which a plat was filed are calculated after a person files a plat but before the county clerk records the plat.