The 89th Texas Legislature was one of the most successful ever for Texas REALTORS®, with 60 association-supported bills passing that will make a positive difference in real estate transactions, property ownership, and the operations of small businesses.

These new laws bring more clarity to how you serve your clients and reduce costs to run your business. Texas REALTORS® also helped pass significant property-tax savings and lower business taxes—measures that mean Texas property and business owners keep more of their hard-earned money.

Here are some of the highlights from the 89th Legislature. Texas REALTORS® will share additional information on these and other new laws in the coming months.

Modernizing Real Estate Agency Law
SB 1968 – Effective January 1, 2026

This bill updates real estate agency law by ensuring that rules reflect modern practices and provide more clarity to brokers, agents, clients, and customers. Among its provisions, this law:

• Eliminates subagency in all real estate transactions. That includes residential, commercial, vacant land, farm & ranch—every type of real estate transaction. Subagency—typically when a license holder shows properties to an unrepresented buyer and thus owes fiduciary duties to the seller—created confusion for consumers and agents alike. This change gives consumers greater clarity on their relationship with agents, offers more choices in how consumers work with agents, and makes agent-client responsibilities more transparent.
• Requires all agents—not just REALTORS®—to have a written agreement with prospective buyers of residential real property:
  • Before showing a property to a prospective buyer.
    • Can be a full representation agreement or a showing-only agreement without representation.
    • The showing-only agreement must be non-exclusive and expire within 14 days.
  • Before presenting an offer to purchase on behalf of the buyer.
    • A representation agreement is always required before presenting an offer to purchase.
    • If you entered into a showing-only agreement and the prospective buyer wants you to perform any other acts of real estate brokerage, you must enter into a separate representation agreement with the buyer.
• Expands the requirement for taking a broker responsibility course to all brokers. Previously, the course was mandatory only for designated brokers, supervising brokers, and sales agents who supervise other license holders. The new law also requires all broker applicants to take a broker responsibility course.
• Recognizes a category of “associated brokers.” This will allow TREC to provide a notice to the sponsoring broker when an affiliated associated broker is the subject of an investigation.

Texas REALTORS®—recognizing a need to update some aspects of real estate license law to address areas of confusion or practices that were out of date—worked with elected officials to promote the best interests of consumers and license holders. Association leadership saw this legislative session as a perfect opportunity to make positive changes for license holders and the clients and customers they serve. Texas REALTORS® will provide additional information to members about SB 1968 prior to the law becoming effective at the beginning of next year.

Regulation of Property Owner Associations
SB 711 – Effective September 1, 2025

This new law builds on progress made two sessions ago when a new law brought more transparency and accountability to homeowners associations. SB 711 extends those same protections to condominium associations by requiring better information on management certificates, adding condo association information to hoa.texas.gov, requiring association information be accessible online to members, and limiting the fees for condo resale certificates. This means greater transparency for existing property owners and potential buyers, providing enhanced fairness in HOA operations.

More Transparency for Public Improvement Districts
SB 1106 – Effective January 1, 2026

When this law takes effect, PID assessments will be included on central appraisal districts’ tax transparency websites so that property owners have a full picture of the taxes and fees assessed on their properties. Some central appraisal districts are already adding this information to their sites.

Another bill, HB 2468, which went into effect June 20, eliminates some liability for sellers when providing the required PID notice to potential buyers if the PID information was not properly filed with the county. In those cases, the buyer can’t cancel the contract solely because the seller didn’t provide the PID notice.

Improvements related to Flood Notices for Leases
SB 2349 – Effective September 1, 2025

After September 1, landlords and property managers will no longer need to provide a tenant flood notice for leases of less than 30 days or in leaseback situations of 90 days or less. This law also provides additional methods for providing the notice, no longer requiring a separate document, and the document containing the notice must now be signed by both the landlord and the tenant.

More Property Tax Relief

Texas REALTORS® has been a driving force in property tax relief for many years. This session, the association played an integral role in efforts to provide even more savings. If approved by voters in a state constitutional amendment election in November, these changes take effect retroactively, providing property tax relief for the 2025 tax year:

• The standard homestead exemption will increase from $100,000 to $140,000. (SB 4/SJR 2; Proposition 13)
• The homestead exemption for elderly and disabled homeowners will increase from $10,000 to $60,000. This gives those eligible a total $200,000 homestead exemption. (SB 23/SJR 85; Proposition 11)
• The business personal property tax exemption will see a huge increase, from $2,500 to $125,000. This will encourage investment in income-producing properties and will provide some small business owners a significant amount of tax savings. (HB 9/HJR 1; Proposition 9)

Increasing Housing Availability and Affordability

Texas REALTORS® leaders and committees have been studying housing availability and affordability challenges and working toward solutions. Several pieces of legislation passed this session start to address these issues, including the following:

• In cities with populations over 150,000 in counties over 300,000, SB 840 makes it easier to convert office buildings that are at least five years old to mixed-use or multifamily residential, and to build multifamily and mixed-use development in commercial zones. It also limits some costs to housing development by prohibiting costly, unnecessary rezoning meetings, impact studies, and fees.
• HB 24 changes how Texas cities amend zoning codes and zones on specific parcels by streamlining notice requirements for comprehensive zoning changes and updating posted signage requirements, and by raising the bar for neighbor protests of zoning changes on specific parcels or groups of parcels. This will make zoning amendments simpler and allow for housing developments to start more quickly.
• Landowners with at least 5 acres of unplatted land in the 20 largest Texas cities will be able to bypass municipal minimum lot size requirements and build homes on as small as 3,000-square-foot lots. Higher density development can increase housing availability, which may also help with affordability. The bill still preserves some local control over what can be built. (SB 15)
• A law requiring that cities allow for some development of new HUD-code manufactured homes increases affordable housing options. This ensures broader access to housing while preserving certain local controls and protections. (SB 785)

Additional Laws that affect real estate

Other Texas REALTORS®-supported bills include new laws to:

• Amend the Property Code to comprehensively revise procedures for evictions, providing more-uniform processes that balance the interests of landlords and tenants while ensuring due process.
• Amend the Property Code and Penal Code to allow property owners or their agents to request immediate removal of unauthorized occupants (squatters) by law enforcement, provided that specific conditions are met.
• Prohibit HOAs from fining property owners for discolored vegetation or turf during times of watering restrictions imposed by municipalities or water suppliers.
• Prohibit HOAs from prohibiting property owners or residents from inviting governmental officials or political candidates to meet in common areas.
• Clarify that solar roof tiles are included in the definition of “solar energy device” under the Property Code, preventing HOA restrictions on them.
• Invest in water infrastructure to serve a growing Texas population in order to maintain healthy real estate markets.
• Invest in workforce development to ensure economic growth in the state.