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Colleyville is a mid-sized suburban city in Tarrant County, situated between Fort Worth and Dallas in the heart of the DFW metroplex. The city has a relatively high homeownership rate, but a meaningful share of residents rent apartments, townhomes, and single-family homes — many of whom may be unfamiliar with their legal rights as tenants under Texas law.
Colleyville has not enacted any local tenant protection ordinances beyond what Texas state law provides. That means the Texas Property Code is the primary — and in most cases the only — source of legal protections available to renters in Colleyville. Key areas governed by state law include security deposit handling, landlord repair obligations, anti-retaliation protections, and the formal eviction process.
This article is intended to help Colleyville renters understand those state-level protections clearly. It is informational only and does not constitute legal advice. If you are facing an eviction, habitability issue, or deposit dispute, consider contacting a qualified attorney or legal aid organization.
Colleyville has no rent control, and Texas state law makes it impossible for any city in the state to enact one. Tex. Prop. Code § 214.902 explicitly prohibits municipalities and counties from adopting any ordinance that would control the price of rent charged for privately owned residential housing. This preemption applies statewide, meaning no Texas city — regardless of local housing conditions — can cap rent increases or limit how much a landlord charges.
In practical terms, this means a landlord in Colleyville may raise your rent by any dollar amount at the end of a lease term, or with proper notice during a month-to-month tenancy, without any legal ceiling. There is no requirement that increases be tied to inflation, a cost index, or any other benchmark. Renters who receive a rent increase have limited legal recourse unless the increase is retaliatory (see the anti-retaliation section below) or violates a specific lease provision.
If your landlord gives you a rent increase you cannot afford, your primary options are to negotiate with the landlord, look for alternative housing, or — if you believe the increase is retaliatory — consult a legal aid organization. Advocacy groups have periodically sought changes to § 214.902 at the state legislature, but as of April 2026 the preemption remains fully in effect.
Although Colleyville has no local ordinances, Texas state law provides several important protections for renters that apply everywhere in the state, including Colleyville.
Security Deposits (Tex. Prop. Code §§ 92.101–92.109): Landlords must return your security deposit — along with a written, itemized statement of any lawful deductions — within 30 days of you vacating the unit and providing a forwarding address. If a landlord wrongfully withholds your deposit in bad faith, you may be entitled to three times the withheld amount plus reasonable attorney's fees under § 92.109. Texas imposes no statutory cap on how large a security deposit can be.
Habitability & Repairs (Tex. Prop. Code § 92.056): Landlords are legally required to make repairs that materially affect the health or safety of an ordinary tenant. To trigger this obligation, you must give the landlord written notice of the needed repair. If the landlord fails to act within a reasonable time (generally 7 days for urgent matters under § 92.0561), you may have the right to repair-and-deduct (up to the lesser of $500 or one month's rent), terminate the lease, or seek a rent reduction — but only if you are current on rent and the problem was not caused by you.
Notice to Terminate a Month-to-Month Tenancy (Tex. Prop. Code § 91.001): Either party must give at least one month's written notice to terminate a month-to-month lease. The notice period can be modified by a written lease agreement, but it cannot be reduced to fewer than the interval between rent payment dates for monthly tenancies unless both parties agree in a signed writing.
Anti-Retaliation (Tex. Prop. Code § 92.331): Your landlord cannot raise your rent, decrease your services, threaten eviction, or take other adverse action against you because you exercised a legal right — such as requesting a repair, filing a complaint with a government agency, or joining a tenant organization. If retaliation occurs within six months of a protected action, the law presumes it was retaliatory. Remedies include one month's rent plus $500, attorney's fees, and actual damages under § 92.333.
Lockout & Utility Shutoff Prohibition (Tex. Prop. Code § 92.0081): A landlord cannot change your locks, remove doors or windows, or intentionally interrupt utilities (electricity, gas, water) to force you out of a rental unit without a court order. Such self-help eviction tactics are illegal in Texas. If your landlord locks you out illegally, you have the right to immediate re-entry and may recover one month's rent plus $1,000, actual damages, and attorney's fees.
Texas law governing security deposits is found in Tex. Prop. Code §§ 92.101 through 92.109, and those rules apply in full to Colleyville rentals. There is no statutory cap on the amount a landlord can charge as a security deposit in Texas, so the amount is a matter of negotiation and what is stated in your lease.
Return deadline: Your landlord must return your deposit within 30 days after you surrender the premises (vacate and return keys). If you provide a forwarding address in writing before or at move-out, the landlord must mail the deposit — or the remaining balance — along with an itemized, written list of deductions to that address within the 30-day window (Tex. Prop. Code § 92.107).
Allowable deductions: A landlord may only deduct amounts for unpaid rent or actual damages to the unit beyond normal wear and tear. Deductions for ordinary wear and tear — minor scuffs, carpet wear from normal use, faded paint — are not permitted (Tex. Prop. Code § 92.104).
Penalty for wrongful withholding: If a landlord retains any portion of your deposit in bad faith — meaning without a reasonable basis and without providing the required itemized statement — you can sue for three times the wrongfully withheld amount plus reasonable attorney's fees and court costs (Tex. Prop. Code § 92.109). The landlord bears the burden of proving that any retention was made in good faith and based on actual damages. Note: if you fail to provide a forwarding address, the landlord's obligation to return the deposit is delayed but not eliminated.
Eviction in Colleyville is governed exclusively by Texas state law — primarily Tex. Prop. Code Ch. 24 (Forcible Entry and Detainer) and the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. Texas does not require landlords to have "just cause" to terminate a tenancy at the end of a lease term; however, every step of the eviction must follow the legally prescribed process.
Step 1 — Written Notice to Vacate: Before filing in court, a landlord must first give the tenant a written notice to vacate. For non-payment of rent, the minimum notice period is 3 days unless the lease specifies a different period (Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005). For lease violations or end of tenancy, the notice period is also typically 3 days unless a longer period is required by the lease. Month-to-month tenants are entitled to at least 1 month's notice to terminate the tenancy itself under § 91.001, but a separate 3-day notice to vacate is still required before filing eviction for non-payment.
Step 2 — Filing in Justice Court: If the tenant does not vacate by the deadline in the notice, the landlord may file a Forcible Entry and Detainer (FED) suit in the Tarrant County Justice of the Peace court with jurisdiction over Colleyville's ZIP code. The filing fee is set by the court. The court will schedule a hearing, typically within 10–21 days of filing.
Step 3 — The Hearing: Both the landlord and tenant have the right to appear, present evidence, and call witnesses. Tenants should bring all relevant documents — the lease, rent receipts, repair requests, communications — to court. If the judge rules in the landlord's favor, a judgment for possession is entered. The tenant then has 5 days to appeal to the county court at law (Tex. Prop. Code § 24.007).
Step 4 — Writ of Possession: If no appeal is filed (or the appeal is unsuccessful), the landlord may request a writ of possession from the court, which directs a constable to physically remove the tenant if necessary. A constable — not the landlord — must carry out any physical removal.
Self-Help Eviction Is Illegal: A landlord in Colleyville cannot remove a tenant by changing locks, removing the tenant's belongings, shutting off utilities, or blocking access to the unit outside of the formal court process (Tex. Prop. Code § 92.0081). Doing so exposes the landlord to liability for one month's rent plus $1,000, actual damages, and attorney's fees.
This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Tenant rights laws can change, and the applicability of any law to your specific situation depends on the facts of your case. Colleyville renters facing eviction, deposit disputes, habitability issues, or other housing legal matters should consult a licensed Texas attorney or contact a qualified legal aid organization for advice tailored to their circumstances. RentCheckMe makes no warranties regarding the completeness or current accuracy of the information presented here.
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