Texas Security Deposit Notices by Email 2025: When Electronic Delivery Counts

Email delivery of a security deposit notice is valid specifically when the tenant and the landlord or landlord's agent have previously communicated by email.

[Cite: Tex. Prop. Code 92.113, as added by HB 2037, 89th Leg., R.S.]

That condition means email isn't automatically available as a notice method from day one of a tenancy; some prior email exchange between the parties has to already exist before a landlord can rely on email for this specific kind of notice.

A landlord can designate a specific email address for a tenant to use for these communications.

[Cite: Tex. Prop. Code 92.113]

That designation option gives a landlord control over which email channel is treated as the official one for deposit-related notices, rather than having to guess which of a tenant's several email addresses counts, or risk sending a notice to an address the tenant doesn't regularly check.

A managing agent, leasing agent, or resident manager is the agent of the landlord for purposes of notice and other communications under this provision.

[Cite: Tex. Prop. Code 92.113]

Before this clarification, a property manager sending a deposit notice on a landlord's behalf operated in some ambiguity about whether that communication legally counted as coming from the landlord itself; this provision settles that question directly for notices under this framework.

The same email-notice structure was added to Property Code Chapter 94, covering manufactured home communities with lot leases, through new Sections 94.110 and 94.111.

[Cite: Tex. Prop. Code 94.111, as added by HB 2037, 89th Leg., R.S.]

A property manager operating a manufactured home community alongside standard residential rentals doesn't need 2 different sets of rules for this; the same prior-communication condition and agent-status clarification apply in both contexts.

This provision applies prospectively from its effective date; it doesn't validate an email notice that was sent before September 1, 2025, under whatever informal practice a landlord may have been using previously.

[Cite: HB 2037, 89th Leg., R.S.]

A landlord reviewing a pre-effective-date dispute over an email notice's validity should recognize that this statutory framework doesn't retroactively settle that earlier question; it governs notices sent on or after the effective date.

Since the entire email-delivery option depends on prior communication by email already existing between the parties, a landlord benefits from being able to point to that history if a notice's validity is ever questioned.

[Cite: Tex. Prop. Code 92.113]

A landlord relying on this provision should be able to show some email exchange predating the deposit notice itself, whether that's a maintenance request, a lease question, or any other correspondence; that history is what establishes the condition this provision requires.

While a landlord can designate a specific email address for a tenant to use, doing that formally in the lease agreement itself, rather than informally after the fact, creates clearer documentation of the designation.

[Cite: Tex. Prop. Code 92.113]

A lease clause specifying the exact email address for deposit-related notices, agreed to by the tenant at signing, gives a landlord a cleaner basis for relying on this designation option than an informal, undocumented after-the-fact arrangement would.

This provision adds email as a valid delivery method under the specified conditions; it doesn't remove or restrict whatever other notice methods, such as mail or hand delivery, were already available for security deposit related communications.

[Cite: Tex. Prop. Code 92.112, 92.113]

A landlord isn't required to switch to email; this provision simply gives email a defined, statutorily recognized place alongside the existing methods, for use when the prior-communication condition is actually met.

The statute specifically names a managing agent, leasing agent, or resident manager as falling within this agent-status clarification.

[Cite: Tex. Prop. Code 92.113]

A property management company should confirm that whichever staff role is actually handling deposit-related email communications falls within one of these specifically named categories, rather than assuming every employee automatically qualifies as the landlord's agent for this purpose.

This email-notice provision fits a broader legislative trend toward recognizing how landlords and tenants actually communicate today, rather than relying solely on traditional mail-based notice methods.

[Cite: HB 2037, 89th Leg., R.S.]

A property manager should expect this kind of modernization to continue showing up across different areas of Texas landlord-tenant law, and should build email-communication documentation practices that would support reliance on similar provisions elsewhere.

The practical starting point is reviewing lease templates to formally designate an official email address for deposit-related notices, rather than relying on an informal or undocumented arrangement.

For any tenant where email notice might be used, confirming and documenting that prior email communication already exists between the parties keeps the landlord's reliance on this provision on solid footing if it's ever questioned.