What Texas Law Actually Requires When Your Houston Landlord Won't Fix the AC
Harris County renters have more remedies than they think — and fewer than they've been told. Here's the real escalation ladder, from written notice to JP court.
Harris County renters have more remedies than they think — and fewer than they’ve been told. Here’s the real escalation ladder, from written notice to JP court.
When the AC goes out in Houston in August, you’re not dealing with a comfort problem. You’re dealing with a health emergency. Harris County ranks among the highest in Texas for heat-related hospitalizations, according to Texas DSHS data. People die in hot apartments. The Texas Legislature understood this when it wrote the habitability statutes, and the legal framework that resulted gives Houston renters specific, enforceable rights that most tenants never use correctly — usually because they don’t know what the law actually requires them to do first.
This piece walks through the full escalation sequence from the day the AC fails to the day you walk into JP court. Every step is grounded in the Texas Property Code.
A Broken AC in Houston Is a Legal Emergency Under Texas Law
Texas Property Code §92.052 defines a landlord’s duty to repair as covering conditions that “materially affect the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant.” In most of Texas, a broken AC in October is a habitability question that invites some legal interpretation. In Houston in July or August, it isn’t. Harris County’s summer heat index routinely sits between 105°F and 115°F, and an unventilated apartment can reach dangerous indoor temperatures within hours of an AC failure.
When a JP judge evaluates whether your landlord made a “diligent effort” to repair in a “reasonable time,” the fact that this happened in August and not November matters. A lot. That context shapes everything that follows.
What the Texas Property Code Actually Requires Your Landlord to Do
Sections 92.052 through 92.061 govern landlord repair obligations. Here’s what the statute says.
Your landlord must make a diligent effort to repair or remedy a condition affecting the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant after receiving written notice from the tenant. Air conditioning is explicitly covered under the health-and-safety definition when temperatures make its absence dangerous — no Houston judge is going to tell you August heat doesn’t qualify.
The critical phrase is “after receiving proper written notice.” This is where most tenants lose their legal standing before the clock even starts.
A verbal complaint doesn’t start the clock. A text message doesn’t start the clock. Leaving a message with the property management office doesn’t start the clock. Only proper written notice, delivered in a specific way, triggers your landlord’s legal duty and starts the statutory timeline you can enforce. Tenants who skip the notice requirements and go straight to withholding rent or hiring their own contractor have no legal standing under §92.056. The notice requirements aren’t procedural technicalities. They’re the foundation of every remedy that follows.
How Many Days Does Your Landlord Have?
Here’s the question every Houston renter searching this topic in July wants answered directly: the Texas Property Code does not specify a number of days. The statute requires repair within a “reasonable time” after written notice.
That’s a frustrating answer, but “reasonable time” isn’t arbitrary. The working benchmark cited by tenant law practitioners and applied in Harris County JP courts is 7 to 10 days for most habitability repairs under normal circumstances — not codified in the statute, but consistently applied. A landlord who hasn’t made a diligent repair effort within that window after receiving proper written notice is in a legally vulnerable position.
For AC repairs during summer, that window compresses. A JP judge evaluating whether a three-week delay was “reasonable” in August is going to apply a much harder standard than for the same delay in February.
Landlords sometimes argue that HVAC technician scarcity during peak season excuses delays. Contractor wait times can genuinely run 3 to 10 days in August in Houston. That’s real. But a landlord who waited until receiving a tenant’s complaint to start calling contractors isn’t going to impress a JP judge with availability as an excuse. Diligent effort means starting immediately. The contractor shortage argument is a lot weaker when the landlord didn’t pick up the phone for five days.
If your landlord hasn’t scheduled a confirmed repair appointment within 7 to 10 days of your written notice in August, you have a legitimate argument that reasonable time has elapsed.
The Two Written Notices You Have to Send Before Anything Else
Tenants who skip or bungle the two-notice requirement lose their case.
Before you send anything, document everything. Timestamped photos of your thermostat showing the indoor temperature. The outdoor heat index from weather.gov for your zip code. Screenshots of any texts or emails about the AC. A running log of dates and what was said. You’d be surprised how quickly the details blur when you’ve been dealing with weeks of heat and stress, and you’ll want all of it if you end up in front of a judge.
Notice #1: The Basic Repair Request
Your first written notice must identify the specific condition needing repair — the AC is not working, the unit is not cooling, be specific — and be delivered in a way you can prove. Certified mail with return receipt is the cleanest option. Hand-delivery with a signed and dated receipt from the landlord or property manager also works. Don’t rely on email unless your lease specifically designates it as acceptable. Certified mail creates a timestamped, legally verifiable paper trail.
Send it to the address listed in your lease for notices. Keep the receipt and the green card when it comes back. The clock starts when the landlord receives Notice #1.
Notice #2: Invoking Your Remedies
If the landlord hasn’t made a diligent repair effort within 7 to 10 days, you send Notice #2. This notice must reference the earlier notice and the ongoing repair failure, specifically invoke your rights under the Texas Property Code — including your intent to use repair-and-deduct or terminate the lease — and be delivered the same way as Notice #1.
Notice #2 activates your remedies. Without it, even if Notice #1 was perfectly executed and the landlord has clearly failed to act, you cannot legally proceed to repair-and-deduct, lease termination, or a damages claim. This is the step most tenants skip. They send one letter, wait a week, and then stop paying rent or hire a contractor. That sequence has no legal protection. Both notices must be sent even if you believe the landlord is deliberately ignoring you. I know that’s maddening when it’s 95 degrees inside your apartment, but skipping it will cost you.
Can You Withhold Rent If the AC Is Broken?
No. Texas has no general rent-withholding statute. If you stop paying rent because your AC is broken and your landlord hasn’t fixed it — even if everything you believe about the landlord’s failure is correct — your landlord can file for eviction. A JP judge will likely grant it, and your legitimate habitability complaint will not save you from losing your housing.
The legal remedies available to Texas tenants are repair-and-deduct and lease termination. Those are the tools the statute gives you. Use them.
Using Repair-and-Deduct — and What the $500 Cap Actually Means for a Real AC Repair
Once you’ve sent both notices and the landlord has still failed to act, Texas Property Code §92.0561 gives you the right to hire a contractor and deduct the cost from your next month’s rent. The statutory cap is the lesser of one month’s rent or $500.
For most Houston renters dealing with a broken AC, the math here is painful. A capacitor or contactor replacement runs $150–$350. Refrigerant recharge, $150–$400. A compressor replacement starts around $1,200. Full system replacement in Houston’s market runs $4,000 to $8,000 or more. If your AC needs a capacitor, repair-and-deduct works. If it needs a new compressor — common in Houston’s aging apartment stock — the $500 cap doesn’t come close to covering the actual problem. That’s a real limitation of the statute.
The cap applies per repair incident. You can’t stack multiple repair-and-deduct actions to cover a full system replacement. This is why completing the notice sequence correctly matters even when you already know repair-and-deduct won’t cover the full cost: it’s also the prerequisite for the stronger remedies available through JP court.
When you use repair-and-deduct, hire a licensed HVAC contractor, keep the invoice, and document everything. You must provide the landlord with evidence of the repair and cost when you deduct it from rent.
How to File a Complaint with Houston Code Enforcement — and What Actually Happens
This is the part almost no online resource explains for Houston specifically. Filing a code complaint is a parallel action, not a substitute for the written notice process — but it creates a government record and can produce a citation with real legal weight.
Call 3-1-1 (or 713-837-0311 from outside Houston), use the Houston 311 online portal at houstontx.gov, or use the MyHouston311 app. Describe the condition specifically: the AC unit is not functioning, interior temperatures are unsafe, you have notified your landlord in writing and received no repair. Include your address, unit number, and landlord contact information.
Houston has adopted the International Property Maintenance Code, which sets minimum standards for heating and cooling systems in occupied dwellings. Interior habitability complaints are routed to the City of Houston’s Code Enforcement Division. For non-emergency interior complaints, expect a response window of roughly 2 to 8 weeks — a code complaint will not fix your AC by Friday, and you shouldn’t wait on code enforcement before pursuing your legal remedies.
What a code complaint does do is create an official record of the condition and the complaint date. If an inspector visits and confirms the violation, they issue a Notice of Violation with a compliance deadline. That paper trail is genuinely useful in JP court — a code violation notice corroborates your claim in a way that’s hard for a landlord to argue around.
One jurisdictional note: Houston Code Enforcement covers properties within Houston city limits. If your rental is in Katy, Humble, or unincorporated Harris County, you’re under a different framework and the county’s code enforcement capacity is more limited. Confirm your jurisdiction before filing.
What to Do When Repair-and-Deduct Isn’t Enough
When the repair cost exceeds the statutory cap and the landlord has still failed to act after both written notices, you have two primary paths: file suit in Harris County Justice of the Peace court, or terminate the lease.
Filing in JP Court
Harris County JP courts handle landlord-tenant disputes. File in the precinct where the rental property is located — find yours on the Harris County JP Court website. Under §92.056, if you’ve completed the two-notice process and the landlord has failed to make a diligent repair, you can sue for actual damages (hotel stays, medical costs related to heat exposure, property damage), moving costs, a civil penalty of one month’s rent, rent paid during the violation period, and attorney’s fees. Large property management companies know this math. It’s often why a completed notice sequence gets results before you ever reach the courthouse.
You don’t need an attorney to file in JP court. Lone Star Legal Aid (713-228-0732) offers free consultations and can advise whether your situation warrants representation.
Terminating the Lease
If the landlord has failed to repair after proper notice, §92.056 also gives you the right to terminate the lease. You must follow the proper procedure — another written notice — and you can’t simply leave without it. Done correctly, a lease termination under these circumstances doesn’t expose you to early termination penalties, and you’re entitled to a pro-rata refund of prepaid rent and your security deposit under the normal rules.
Retaliation Protection
If you file a code complaint, send repair notices, or file suit, §92.331 prohibits your landlord from retaliating — by raising your rent, reducing services, or filing for eviction — within six months of your complaint. Retaliation creates its own damages claim. Document any unusual landlord conduct after you begin the complaint process, even things that seem minor at the time.
Section 8 Renters Have a Faster Lever
If you rent with a Housing Choice Voucher through the Houston Housing Authority, your landlord has a financial obligation that moves faster than either code enforcement or JP court: suspension of the Housing Assistance Payment.
HUD’s Housing Quality Standards treat air conditioning as a required system in Houston’s climate. A landlord who fails to maintain a functioning AC system violates their HAP contract — the agreement that keeps the subsidy flowing. An HQS violation can result in HHA suspending the HAP until the landlord comes into compliance. That’s a direct hit to the landlord’s monthly income. It creates pressure the Texas Property Code remedies alone don’t.
Contact your HHA case manager directly and report the AC failure. Request an emergency or expedited inspection. HHA’s re-inspection timeline for habitability complaints runs roughly 2 to 4 weeks — faster than Houston Code Enforcement’s standard queue, and with a financial consequence that lands immediately when the finding is confirmed. Your voucher packet has your case manager’s direct contact information. Use it.
Section 8 tenants should still send the written notices under the Texas Property Code in parallel. The HQS process and the state law process aren’t mutually exclusive. Running both simultaneously creates more pressure and more documentation. Don’t pick one track when you can use both.
Your Escalation Checklist, Day by Day
Day 1 — AC fails:
- Photo your thermostat showing indoor temp, with timestamp. Check the outdoor heat index at weather.gov for your zip code and note it.
- Draft and send Notice #1 via certified mail or hand-delivery with receipt, to the address listed in your lease for notices. Describe the specific problem and request repair.
- File a 311 complaint (dial 3-1-1 or 713-837-0311) as a parallel track. Reference the date of your written notice.
- Housing Choice Voucher? Call your HHA case manager today and request an inspection.
Days 2–6:
- Log every landlord contact — calls, texts, visits — with date and time.
- Keep documenting indoor temperatures daily.
- Save any technician appointment confirmations the landlord shares, or note their absence.
- If the landlord drops off a portable unit: document whether it actually cools the space. A single window unit in a three-bedroom apartment is not a diligent repair effort.
Days 7–10 — Reasonable time threshold:
- If no confirmed repair has been completed, draft and send Notice #2. It must specifically state your intent to exercise your remedies under the Texas Property Code — repair-and-deduct, lease termination, or court action.
- Send via certified mail to the same address as Notice #1.
After Notice #2:
- If the repair is within the $500/one-month cap: hire a licensed HVAC contractor, get the invoice, have it done, document everything, deduct from next month’s rent with written notice to the landlord.
- If the repair exceeds the cap: call Lone Star Legal Aid at 713-228-0732 to assess whether to file in JP court or terminate the lease.
- To file in JP court: confirm your precinct at the Harris County JP Court website and bring everything — both notices with delivery proof, thermostat photos, temperature logs, landlord communications, 311 complaint record, any code violation notice.
If you receive an eviction notice at any point: Call Lone Star Legal Aid at 713-228-0732 immediately, before you respond or sign anything. Texas eviction timelines move fast.
The system described above requires paperwork, certified mail, dated photographs, and patience at a moment when you’re hot and scared. That’s an unfair ask. But the Harris County JP court record is pretty clear on what separates the tenants who win from the ones who don’t: it’s the paperwork. Both notices. All documentation. No rent withholding. No skipped steps. The tenants who lose are usually the ones who did what seemed logical — stopped paying rent, hired a contractor without notice — and discovered that logic and statute aren’t the same thing. Do the paperwork. Then escalate.
Lone Star Legal Aid provides free civil legal services to income-qualifying Harris County residents, including landlord-tenant matters. Phone: 713-228-0732. Harris County JP Court information: harriscountytx.gov. Houston 311: dial 3-1-1 or 713-837-0311.
