Texas Rent Increase Rules: What Renters Need to Know
Last updated 2026-09-29
Texas has no legal cap on rent increases, and none of its cities are allowed to set one (Local Gov't Code §214.902 bars local rent control outright). There's no state-mandated notice period for a renewal price either, since a renewal is a new lease offer, not a unilateral increase. With no legal ceiling to check your number against, a real market comparison is the only meaningful check you have. That's exactly what the calculator below does, with the deepest data we have anywhere in Dallas–Fort Worth.
Check your increase against Texas's rules
→ Related tools: full rent increase calculator · is a $300 increase normal?
Is there a cap in Texas?
Texas has no statewide or local cap on how much a landlord can raise rent between lease terms, and it can't get one: Texas Local Government Code §214.902 prohibits cities and counties from adopting rent control ordinances at all. Outside of a fixed-term lease's own terms, there's no percentage ceiling anywhere in the state. That makes negotiation, not a legal cap, the only lever a renter has.
Source: Texas Local Government Code §214.902. Summary current as of 2026-09-29.
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What a Texas leasing office can and can't do
Between lease terms, a Texas leasing office can raise your rent to whatever the new lease states. There's no percentage limit to check it against. What they can't do: raise it mid-lease unless your current lease specifically allows it, retaliate against you for exercising a legal right (like requesting a required repair), or discriminate based on a protected characteristic under the Texas Fair Housing Act and federal law. Outside of those, Texas gives a leasing office wide latitude at renewal.
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Check My Renewal →Notice requirements
No state-mandated notice period for a rent increase at renewal; 30 days’ notice is standard practice to end or change a month-to-month tenancy. Texas doesn't have a dedicated statute requiring advance notice of a new proposed rent the way California or New York do. A renewal is legally treated as an offer for a brand-new lease, which either side can decline. In practice, most leasing offices give 30-60 days' notice before your term ends so you have time to decide, but that's a business norm here, not a legal floor.
Source: Texas Property Code §91.001 (month-to-month termination notice, commonly applied in practice to renewal-price notice).
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Average yearly increase
There's no official statewide figure for Texas specifically. Without a legal cap, increases simply track whatever the local market will bear, and that varies a lot by metro and even by neighborhood. Nationally, increases have typically landed in roughly the 3–5% range in recent years, but that's a weak stand-in for your specific building. The ZIP-level comparison in the calculator above is a much better answer for Dallas–Fort Worth than any single statewide number could be.
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Why our Dallas–Fort Worth data is different
Texas has no cap, which means the market comparison is the whole ballgame. There's no legal ceiling to fall back on, only the question of whether your new price is in line with what similar units nearby actually rent for. DFW is where CounterWise has the deepest per-ZIP market data of anywhere we cover, so the calculator's comparison is meaningfully more precise here than the national default. If you're renewing in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, that's the number worth trusting.
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Moving out and your rights
If your renewal price isn't one you want to accept, you're free to give notice and move out instead. For a month-to-month tenancy, Texas requires at least one full rental period's notice (commonly treated as 30 days) under Property Code §91.001. Your security deposit must be returned, or an itemized list of deductions provided, within 30 days of move-out (Property Code §92.103, assuming you've left a forwarding address).
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