Security Deposit Alternative in Texas
Texas sets no legal maximum on a security deposit, and gives you 30 days after a resident moves out to return it. The pressure in Texas comes from the market rather than the law. A large deposit is the number a prospective resident compares between two listings, and it is often the reason one of them sits empty while the other fills.
What Texas law says about security deposits
Read from the Texas statute on 2026-09-03. Deposit rules change, and this is general information rather than legal advice. Confirm the current text with your own counsel before you change a lease.
Can you require it of every Texas resident?
Texas has no law that specifically covers charging a resident a monthly fee instead of a deposit, and no cap on the deposit itself. That means the arrangement rests on your lease and on general deposit rules rather than on a law written for it. Offering residents the choice is straightforward. Writing it into every lease as a requirement is a question for your own attorney.
Rules differ by state and by city, and subsidized housing is its own question. This is general information for property managers, not legal advice. Get a written opinion before you make the fee a condition of tenancy anywhere.
How the program works in Texas
The mechanics are the same in every state Beagle operates in. The program is designed to comply with applicable state and local regulations, and the rate is set by the deposit amount rather than by geography, so a Texas property and one two states over are quoted the same way.
The resident chooses at signing
Instead of producing the full deposit, the resident pays a smaller non-refundable monthly fee that is billed with rent. Nothing is held, so nothing has to be returned.
The property keeps its protection
Damage beyond normal wear is reimbursed up to the deposit amount the unit would otherwise have required, so what you can recover does not shrink.
Move-out stops being a negotiation
A claim is filed against the program rather than deducted from money you are holding, which takes the itemised-deduction letter and the dispute that follows it off your team's desk.
You earn on every resident who takes it
You set an administrative fee on top of the premium, up to $5 per unit per month, and keep it.
Texas security deposit alternative FAQs
Because the cap was never the binding constraint in Texas. Move-in cost is. A deposit alternative lowers what a resident has to produce on day one without lowering what the property can recover, which is a leasing advantage in a market where units compete on the number at the bottom of the application.
Security deposit rules in other states
See it on your Texas units
Run the program against your own unit count, or walk through it with our team. No upfront fees, no onboarding charges, no long-term contracts.