For Sale By Owner in Texas: Required Disclosures and What to Know
- Inherited, behind on payments, tenants, repairs: we buy it as-is
- Zero fees, zero commissions, zero closing costs
- No obligation: turn the offer down and owe us nothing
Selling Your Texas House Yourself? Get a Cash Offer First
No agent, no showings, no repairs. Compare a written cash offer with selling on your own.
Last updated November 14, 2026. Citations come from the Texas statutes and official agency pages linked in Sources. Where we could not confirm something on an official page, we say so.
A Texas owner selling a home without an agent still has to give the buyer a Seller’s Disclosure Notice, and if the house will still be encumbered by a recorded lien at closing the seller must give a separate lien disclosure at least seven days before. Those duties are in Property Code Secs.
5.008 and 5.016. We could not confirm from TREC whether an owner needs a license to sell their own home.
The Seller's Disclosure Notice
A seller of residential real property with not more than one dwelling unit must give the buyer a written notice substantially like the statutory notice (Property Code Sec. 5.008).
It covers the seller’s knowledge as of the date signed, such as appliances, roof, defects, flooding history, floodplain, termites and lead-based paint. It is not a substitute for inspections or warranties. If something is unknown, the seller says so on the notice and complies (Sec. 5.008(d)).
The seller or agent has no duty to disclose a death by natural causes, suicide or an accident unrelated to property condition, or that a former occupant had HIV-related illness (Sec. 5.008(c)). Deliver the notice on or before the effective date of a binding contract. If you do not, the buyer can terminate within seven days after receiving it (Sec. 5.008(f)).
The notice does not apply to many transfers, including court-ordered or foreclosure sales, sales by fiduciaries of an estate or trust, transfers between co-owners, to a spouse or lineal relatives, to or from a governmental entity and never-occupied new homes (Sec. 5.008(e)). TREC publishes the form as 55-1.
Other federal and TREC notices
TREC also publishes a Notice to Prospective Buyer (58-0), a Seller’s Disclosure about Groundwater and Surface Water Rights (61-0) and the federal lead-based paint addendum (56-0). Paragraph 7C of Form 20-19 says a lead-based paint disclosure is required by federal law for a dwelling built before 1978.
The lien disclosure
Sec. 5.016 says a person cannot convey, or contract to convey, residential property that will be encumbered by a recorded lien at conveyance unless a separate written disclosure of at least 12-point type is given to the buyer and each lienholder on or before the seventh day before the earlier of conveyance or signing a binding contract or option.
It must identify the property and each lienholder, state the debt and loan terms, say whether the lienholder consented, cover insurance and property taxes due, and start with the prescribed all-caps warning about possible demand for full payment.
A violation does not invalidate the conveyance, but the buyer can terminate on or before the seventh day after receiving the notice. The section has exceptions, including transfers where the buyer gets a title insurance policy insuring the transfer, and a violation is not actionable if the person reasonably believes, and acts to ensure, that each unnotified lien will be released within 30 days after title transfers (Sec. 5.016).
Do you need a license to sell your own home?
The Occupations Code defines a broker as a person who, in exchange for or expecting a commission or other valuable consideration, performs acts such as selling, listing or negotiating real estate for another person (Sec. 1101.002).
The list of persons the chapter does not cover does not have a separate entry for a homeowner selling their own home (Sec. 1101.005). The TREC FAQ page we opened did not answer the question, so we state no TREC position. The definition applies to acts for another person.
Form 20-19 itself says it is intended for use by trained real estate license holders. See TREC Form 20-19 and the option period and Texas closing costs.
How to sell a house in Texas when you want to sell without an agent
- Gather your Seller’s Disclosure Notice and, if the house has a lien that will remain at closing, the separate lien disclosure.
- Get a payoff for any mortgage and the amount of any unpaid property tax. Both are paid from the sale proceeds at closing.
- Compare offers on what you net after repairs, commissions and closing costs, not on the headline price.
- If you want a fast, simple closing, ask for a written cash offer. We buy houses as-is, with no repairs and no agent commission. See how we buy houses in Texas.
For sale by owner Texas FAQ
What disclosures does a Texas FSBO seller owe?
The Seller's Disclosure Notice under Property Code Sec. 5.008 for residential property with not more than one dwelling unit, and a separate lien disclosure under Sec. 5.016 if a recorded lien will encumber the property at closing.
What if I do not give the disclosure on time?
The buyer can terminate within seven days after receiving the Seller's Disclosure Notice (Sec. 5.008(f)) or the lien disclosure (Sec. 5.016(b)).
Do I have to disclose a death in the house?
The statute says there is no duty to disclose a death by natural causes, suicide or an accident unrelated to property condition (Sec. 5.008(c)).
Do I need a license to sell my own home?
We could not confirm a TREC position. The broker definition covers acts performed for another person (Occupations Code Sec. 1101.002).
Sources
- Texas Property Code, Chapter 5 (Secs. 5.008 and 5.016)
- Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 1101 (Real estate brokers and sales agents)
- TREC: Contracts and forms
- TREC Form 20-19
This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Laws, forms and fees change, so confirm details with the official office or a Texas attorney or tax professional.