Raising lot rent in Texas: notice rules, caps, and the law (2026)
Texas is the light-touch state for lot rent: no statewide cap, and cities are barred from rent control. But Texas Property Code Chapter 94 — the manufactured-home-community statute — still has two rules that void careless increases, and both are procedural.
The short version: you can't raise rent mid-lease unless the lease has an increase clause the tenant separately initialed, and every renewal (with its new rent) must be offered in writing at least 60 days before the current lease expires.
Mid-lease increases: only with an initialed clause
Chapter 94 requires an initial lease term of at least six months (§94.052), and §94.053(d) is blunt: a lease provision that lets you raise rent or fees during the lease term is void unless the tenant initialed it. Not signed the lease — initialed that specific provision. If your form lease has an escalation clause nobody initials, you don't have an escalation clause.
The 60-day renewal notice is your increase mechanism
Texas doesn't have a separate "rent increase notice" statute for parks. Instead, §94.055 makes the renewal offer the vehicle: no later than the 60th day before the lease expires, you must give written notice that you're offering renewal (with the proposed rent and any changed terms) or not renewing. The offer must also tell the tenant that if they don't reject it within the statutory window, the lease renews automatically on the new terms. Miss the 60-day deadline and you can be stuck renewing on the old terms.
No cap — but two real limits
There's no statutory limit on the size of a Texas lot-rent increase, and Local Government Code §214.902 preempts municipal rent control (outside a declared disaster emergency). The practical limits are different ones:
- Retaliation. Chapter 94 bars retaliatory rent increases after a tenant complains to a government agency, joins a tenant association, or reports a violation — time your increases so they can't be read that way.
- The market. An increase that empties three lots costs more than it raises. See how to raise lot rent without losing the increase.
Common Texas mistakes
- Raising rent mid-term on a lease whose escalation clause was never initialed
- Sending the renewal offer late and auto-renewing at the old rent
- Leaving the proposed new rent out of the renewal offer
- Raising rent right after a tenant complaint — a retaliation claim waiting to happen
When you're ready, the free rent-increase notice generator drafts the letter, and the lot rent increase calculator shows how Texas compares with the capped states.
Sources
- Texas Property Code §94.052 (lease term): https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._prop._code_section_94.052
- Texas Property Code §94.053 (initialed increase clause): https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._prop._code_section_94.053
- Texas Property Code §94.055 (renewal / nonrenewal notice): https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._prop._code_section_94.055
- Texas Local Government Code §214.902 (rent-control preemption): https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._local_gov't_code_section_214.902
General information, not legal advice. Confirm the current statute text (or ask a Texas landlord-tenant attorney) before you send an increase.
Lot Sidekick flags who's late and generates the notice in one click, with the fee schedule you set already applied. Send your spreadsheet and I'll set up your park, or see the live demo, or call (425) 405-0734.