Are Landlords Responsible for Pest Control in Texas?

In Texas, landlords are responsible for pest control when an infestation materially affects the health or safety of an ordinary tenant and the tenant didn’t cause it. That duty comes from Section 92.052 of the Texas Property Code and applies to every residential lease in the state. It cannot be waived, no matter what the lease says.¹ But the duty only unlocks after you give the landlord notice the right way, and the remedies only follow if you’re current on rent when you do it.

When the Landlord Has to Act

The trigger is severity. A few ants on a counter probably don’t rise to a health-and-safety condition. A widespread cockroach problem, active rodents, or bed bugs generally do. Rodents carry disease and chew wiring. Heavy roach populations are a known asthma trigger. Bed bugs cause skin reactions and make a unit genuinely unlivable. When the problem is at that level, hiring a professional exterminator is the landlord’s responsibility.

The duty also reaches the structural conditions that let pests in: gaps in the foundation, holes in exterior walls, broken window screens, and deteriorating door seals. A landlord who leaves those unfixed is inviting the next infestation, and the statute treats those repairs the same way it treats the pests themselves.

When You’re on the Hook Instead

The landlord’s repair duty does not apply when the tenant, someone in the tenant’s household, or a guest caused the condition.¹ If pests trace back to accumulated garbage, chronically unsanitary conditions, or furniture brought in already infested, the cost of extermination falls on you. Normal wear and tear is excluded from this exception, so the landlord still has to fix things that break down over time.

Leases can also assign routine, low-level pest control to the tenant. A clause making you handle occasional ants or spiders with store-bought treatments is enforceable. What a lease cannot do is override the landlord’s statutory duty for anything that materially affects health and safety.² A blanket clause saying “tenant is responsible for all pest control” does not relieve the landlord of dealing with a rat infestation. When the problem is severe, the statute controls.

How to Give Notice

Before any legal remedy is available, you have to follow the notice process. Miss a step and every remedy in the statute closes, no matter how bad the infestation is.

Send the First Notice

Send your first notice to the person or place where you normally pay rent. If your written lease requires notice in writing, this first notice has to be written. If the lease is silent on that, an oral request is enough for this step.¹ Put it in writing anyway. You’ll want the paper trail later.

The Seven-Day Window

After your first notice, the landlord has a “reasonable time” to act. Texas law presumes seven days is reasonable. That presumption can be rebutted based on the severity of the condition, when the landlord got the notice, and the availability of materials and labor.³ A severe hazard might justify a shorter deadline; a rare pest that needs a specialist might justify a longer one.

Second Notice, or Certified Mail Up Front

If the landlord hasn’t made a diligent effort within a reasonable time, you have two ways to complete the notice requirement. You can send a second written notice, or you can rely on your first notice if you sent it by certified mail with return receipt, registered mail, or another trackable method.³ Certified mail from the beginning collapses the two-notice sequence into one and gives you a return receipt proving the landlord got it.

You Have to Be Current on Rent

One requirement trips people up: you must not be delinquent on rent at the time you give notice.³ If you owe back rent when you send the notice, the landlord has no legal obligation to respond. Pay first, then send.

What You Can Do if the Landlord Ignores You

Once you’ve completed the notice process and the landlord still hasn’t made a diligent effort, several remedies open up.

End the Lease

You can terminate the lease and walk away from future rent.³ This is often the practical answer when the infestation is severe and the landlord has shown no interest in dealing with it. You are not breaking the lease; the statute authorizes you to leave.

Repair and Deduct

You can hire a licensed exterminator yourself and take the cost out of your next rent payment. The deduction cannot exceed one month’s rent or $500, whichever is greater.² If rent is $1,200, you can deduct up to $1,200. If rent is $400, you can still deduct up to $500. This remedy fits a problem a single professional treatment can resolve.

Sue in Justice Court

You can file suit in justice court without an attorney. The court can order the landlord to fix the problem, reduce your rent retroactively to the date of your first notice in proportion to the lost rental value, and award actual damages. On top of that, the statute provides a civil penalty of one month’s rent plus $500, along with court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.⁴

The risk is real. If the court finds the condition didn’t materially affect health and safety, or that you didn’t follow the notice steps, you could end up covering the landlord’s legal costs. Document everything before you file: dated photographs of the infestation, copies of every notice, receipts for any pest control you paid for, and medical records if the pests caused health problems.

Constructive Eviction

Separately, Texas courts recognize a claim called constructive eviction. It applies when a landlord’s failure to act makes the property so uninhabitable that the tenant is effectively forced out, and a severe unaddressed infestation can qualify. You generally need to show the landlord’s inaction substantially interfered with your use of the property, was serious enough to deprive you of the benefit of the lease, that you notified the landlord and gave a reasonable opportunity to fix it, and that you moved out within a reasonable time after. A tenant who proves constructive eviction is relieved of the obligation to pay rent. That matters most when a landlord later sues a former tenant for breaking the lease early.

Retaliation Is Illegal

Tenants sometimes hold back on reporting pests because they worry the landlord will raise rent or refuse to renew. Texas law addresses this directly. Within six months after a tenant files a good-faith complaint with a government entity responsible for enforcing building or housing codes, or otherwise exercises a right under the statute, the landlord is prohibited from retaliating.⁵

Prohibited retaliatory actions include filing an eviction, raising rent, cutting off services or maintenance, and terminating the lease. If a landlord retaliates, you can recover a civil penalty of one month’s rent plus $500, actual damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney’s fees.⁶ The landlord can defeat a retaliation claim by proving the action had a legitimate, non-retaliatory purpose, such as an eviction based on unpaid rent or a material breach of the lease.

Reporting to Local Authorities

You can also report the infestation to your local health department or code enforcement office. Texas cities and counties with health departments handle housing complaints at the local level. In areas without local enforcement, the Texas Department of State Health Services investigates complaints about unsanitary conditions.⁷ A code enforcement complaint creates an official record, can result in an inspection and fines against the property, and triggers the six-month retaliation protection.

Renters Insurance Won’t Help Here

Standard renters insurance policies do not cover pest infestations or the damage they cause. Insurers treat infestations as a maintenance issue rather than a sudden, accidental event, so cockroaches, bed bugs, rodents, and termites are excluded. Personal property damaged by pests, additional living expenses if you have to leave the unit, and the cost of extermination itself all fall outside a typical policy. If pests force you out or destroy your belongings, your remedies run against the landlord under the statutes above, not through an insurance claim.

1
State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.052 – Landlord’s Duty to Repair or Remedy
2
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Chapter 92 – Residential Tenancies
3
State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.056 – Landlord Liability and Tenant Remedies; Notice and Time for Repair
4
State of Texas. Texas Property Code 92.0563 – Tenant’s Judicial Remedies
5
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Chapter 92 – Residential Tenancies – Section 92.331
6
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Chapter 92 – Residential Tenancies – Section 92.333
7
Texas DSHS. Complaints and Enforcement – Public Health Sanitation