Renting Out Your Fort Worth House: The Day-One Checklist (2026)

The house you are moving out of and the house a tenant will rent are not the same house. They share an address. That is about it.

A couple we work with moved to New England for work. They had the place "ready for someone to swap in": clean, empty, keys on the counter. What they had not pictured was the house the way a renter at a top-of-market rent would see it. The nail holes from every frame they had ever hung. The front room painted a color they loved and most of the market would not. Getting it ready to rent was a real bill, and it landed in the same month as the moving bill. They are fine now. The sticker shock was the first lesson.

That is the pattern with accidental landlords. The big decision (rent it out instead of selling) gets all the thought. The small items get none, and the small items are where the money goes. Some of them are on a contract you signed years ago. Some are in the Texas Property Code. Two are on your tax return.

As of October 2026, the market is not the hard part. Single-family rentals in 76179 (Saginaw and far north Fort Worth) were listed at a median of $2,199 a month, and spent a median of 30 days on the market (RentCast, 76179 single-family, data as of October 4, 2026). A well-prepared house in Tarrant County rents. The checklist below is about everything around the rent: what to read, who to call, and what Texas requires before and after the tenant gets the keys.

It is general information from a property manager, not legal or tax advice.

What do I need to do before I rent out my house in Fort Worth?

Read the occupancy clause in your deed of trust and ask your servicer if you are inside the first year. Call your insurance company before the tenant moves in. Check your homestead exemption against the Tax Code, and tell the appraisal district in writing when it ends. If the house is in an HOA, read the leasing rules in its recorded Declaration. Write down the date the house became available for rent and what it was worth that day, for your tax preparer. Before anyone applies, put your tenant selection criteria in writing, and if the house was built before 1978, have the lead-based paint disclosure and pamphlet ready. Before the lease is signed, give the flood notice and get the smoke alarms right. Rekey by the seventh day after each new tenant moves in, and refund the deposit within 30 days after a tenant moves out (once they give you a written forwarding address).

That is the list. Here is why each item is on it.

1. The loan: "But it's my house"

This is the sentence we hear most, and it is fair. It is your house. It is also the lender's collateral, and most owner-occupied loans came with a promise attached.

The standard Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac deed of trust for Texas (Form 3044) says the borrower "shall occupy, establish, and use the Property as Borrower's principal residence within 60 days after the execution of this Security Instrument and shall continue to occupy the Property as Borrower's principal residence for at least one year after the date of occupancy, unless Lender otherwise agrees in writing, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld, or unless extenuating circumstances exist which are beyond Borrower's control."

Read that slowly and two things stand out. The promise has an end date for most people: one year of living there. And even inside that year, the door is not locked: the lender can agree in writing, and the same sentence says that consent "shall not be unreasonably withheld."

Not everyone takes out an investor loan, because not everyone plans to be a landlord. Life changes. When it does, the move is to read your own recorded deed of trust (FHA, VA, jumbo, and portfolio loans use different forms) and, if you are inside the occupancy window, ask your servicer before you sign a lease. Jumping through the hoops on the front end is cheaper than explaining them later.

2. Insurance: call before the tenant moves in, not after the claim

Your homeowners policy was written for a house you live in. The Texas Department of Insurance puts it plainly: "Most homeowners insurance won't cover damage to a rental property, or it might limit what it pays for." TDI points owners toward landlord insurance instead, which is "mainly for traditional, long-term leases."

There is also a clock on an empty house. TDI's home insurance guide lists, among losses most policies do not cover, "Losses that occur if your house is vacant for the number of days specified by your policy." Among the reasons a company can decline to renew: "Your house is vacant for 60 days or more. Most companies stop your coverage if your house is vacant for that long." The weeks between your move-out and the tenant's move-in are exactly when a house sits empty.

We do not take a house on without the right coverage in place: a landlord policy on the owner's side, and renters insurance on the tenant's. Both are required, and we track both, so a lapse on either side gets caught.

Then there is the claim itself. We have fought roof claims, flood claims, and one claim where a car hit a house. What we have learned is not complicated: document, document, document, then send it. Photos, invoices, dates, every call. When an adjuster pushes back, the file is what gets you a second opinion and a fight instead of a closed letter. A lot of owners we hear from were denied once and stopped there. The paperwork is the difference.

3. Homestead: renting is not automatically the end. But it usually is, eventually.

This one costs real money, so it is worth getting exactly right.

Under Texas Tax Code Section 11.13(j), a residence homestead is a home "occupied as the individual's principal residence by an owner." Moving out does not instantly end it. Section 11.13(l) says a home "does not lose its character as a residence homestead when the owner who qualifies for the exemption temporarily stops occupying it as a principal residence if that owner does not establish a different principal residence and the absence is ... for a period of less than two years and the owner intends to return." (Military service and certain care-facility stays have their own rule in the same subsection.)

Read the conditions back. No different principal residence. Less than two years. Intent to return. Most accidental landlords are buying or renting a new home somewhere else, which is a different principal residence, and that is the condition that usually ends it.

Two more lines from the Tax Code do the rest:

• January 1 generally decides the year. Section 11.42(a): eligibility "for any tax year are determined by a claimant's qualifications on January 1."
• You have to tell them. Section 11.43(g): a person whose exemption is not claimed annually "shall notify the appraisal office in writing before May 1 after his entitlement to the exemption ends."

What it looks like on the bill: Section 11.13(b) gives a homeowner an exemption "from taxation by a school district of $140,000 of the appraised value" of the homestead. Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD's adopted 2026 rate is $1.2857 per $100 of value, subject to a voter-approval election on November 3, 2026; last year's rate was $1.2457 (EMS ISD tax rate page, read October 6, 2026). Take the exemption off a house there and, with the value held the same, the school line alone goes up about $1,750 to $1,800 a year, depending on how that vote lands. Any percentage exemption your city or county gives comes off too. If the mortgage has an escrow account, that difference shows up in the monthly payment.

A home with an over-65 or disability exemption has more to lose: a larger school exemption under Section 11.13(c), and the school tax ceiling in Section 11.26. If that is your house, call the appraisal district before you move, not after.

Plan for that number before you set the rent, not after the escrow letter. The longer version, including the two-year window, the 10% appraisal cap, and what happens if an exemption stays on a rental too long, is in our homestead post.

Does renting out my house change my taxes?

Yes, in two places, and both start running around the time you move out. This is the part to hand to your tax preparer, not to solve yourself.

Depreciation starts on conversion, and the starting number is the lower one. IRS Publication 527: "When you change property you held for personal use to rental use (for example, you rent your former home), the basis for depreciation will be the lesser of the FMV or adjusted basis on the date of conversion." The clock starts when the house is "ready and available" for rent, not when the tenant moves in. In the IRS's own example, a house listed for rent on October 1 and rented on December 1 is in service on October 1. Under the general system, residential rental buildings depreciate over 27.5 years, and land does not depreciate at all.

The day-one move: write down the date the house was available, and keep the evidence of what it was worth that day, an appraisal or the comps. That number is much easier to prove now than in five years.

The sale clock keeps running. IRS Publication 523 lets you exclude up to $250,000 of gain ($500,000 for many married couples) on a home you owned and lived in "for at least 24 months of the previous 5 years," if you meet the rest of its tests. Rent the house for a while and that window is still open; rent it long enough and it closes. And even inside the window, the depreciation does not come back tax-free: "you cannot exclude the part of your gain equal to any depreciation allowed or allowable as a deduction for periods after May 6, 1997." Allowed or allowable means the depreciation you were entitled to take, whether or not you took it.

People sometimes mix this "2 out of 5 years" rule up with the mortgage's one-year occupancy rule. They are different rules from different places: one is your loan, the other is the IRS. Ask your servicer about the first and your CPA about the second.

4. The HOA and the city: two things to read before you list

The HOA. If the house is in a homeowners association, the leasing rules are in the recorded Declaration, its amendments, and any other recorded governing documents (bylaws and adopted rules count), not in the welcome packet. Texas Property Code Section 209.016 draws the line on what an association can do. It may not require a tenant "to be submitted to and approved for tenancy by the property owners' association," and it may not demand the tenant's credit report or rental application. It may ask for contact information for each person who will live in the house and "the commencement date and term of the lease." The same section says nothing in it prohibits "a restriction relating to occupancy or leasing," so a rental cap or a minimum lease term can be real. (Chapter 209 does not apply to condominiums, which have their own chapters.) Tarrant County's recorded documents are searchable online at no charge. Read all of yours before the listing goes up.

The city. The City of Fort Worth says rental registration "is voluntary for one- and two-family rentals with no violations" and "mandatory for one- and two-family rentals with fire safety and/or public health and sanitation code violations," at an annual fee of $200 for each unit with violations (City of Fort Worth Code Compliance, Rental Registration page, read October 6, 2026). Inside the TCU Residential Overlay District, registration of one- and two-family rentals is required. Saginaw, Haslet, Keller, and the other cities in Tarrant County set their own rules, so check the city the house is actually in.

5. Before anyone applies: criteria in writing, and the lead paint disclosure

Texas Property Code Section 92.3515 requires a landlord, "at the time an applicant is provided with a rental application," to make available "printed notice of the landlord's tenant selection criteria and the grounds for which the rental application may be denied," and the applicant signs an acknowledgment. Criteria first, screening second. We covered why that order matters, and the adverse action notice federal law requires when a consumer report plays a part in a denial, in how to verify a rental application in Texas.

One rule covers the ad itself. The federal Fair Housing Act exempts some single-family owners from parts of the law, but never from the advertising rule, and the exemption does not apply once a broker or agent is involved (42 U.S.C. 3603(b)). The safe habit is the simple one: describe the house, never the tenant you picture in it.

If the house was built before 1978, federal law adds a step. Under 40 CFR 745.107, a landlord "shall disclose to the purchaser or lessee the presence of any known lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards," provide an EPA-approved lead hazard pamphlet, and do it before the tenant "is obligated under any contract to ... lease." The rule also requires handing over any lead records or reports available to you. The lease itself also has to carry a Lead Warning Statement, signed and dated by you, any agent, and the tenant (40 CFR 745.113(b)). Owners tend to roll their eyes at this paperwork. It is a form, a pamphlet, and whatever reports are available to you. Skip it, and it is the one that follows you.

6. Before the lease is signed: the flood notice and the smoke alarms

The flood notice. Section 92.0135 requires a written notice saying whether the landlord is or is not aware that the dwelling is located in a 100-year floodplain, and if you know flooding has damaged the house at least once in the five years before the lease's effective date, a second notice saying so. It goes in the lease, an addendum, or a separate document, signed by both of you and given "at or before execution of the lease." (The section was amended in 2025; use the current wording, not an old form.)

The smoke alarms. Section 92.255(a): "A landlord shall install at least one smoke alarm in each separate bedroom in a dwelling unit." The same subsection adds one in the hallway outside the bedrooms when they share a corridor, and at least one on each level. Section 92.258(b) says the landlord tests each one "at the beginning of the tenant's possession."

The lease form. Section 92.056(g): "A lease must contain language in underlined or bold print that informs the tenant of the remedies available" when a landlord does not make a required repair. Check that yours does. A generic form pulled off a national website may not.

State law is about smoke. Gas is where we have seen the closest call. We were once inside an empty house with a gas line open and no alarm of any kind installed. Nothing went off, because there was nothing to go off. Nobody lived there. If someone had, the story could have ended very differently.

One detail worth knowing: a carbon monoxide alarm warns about a gas appliance burning badly, and it does not detect a natural gas leak. That takes gas detection, either a separate detector or a combination unit that does both. Inside Fort Worth city limits it is not only advice. The city's fire code amendments say rented dwellings "shall be provided with smoke alarms in accordance with this code ... as well as carbon monoxide alarms where required" by the code's carbon monoxide sections (Fort Worth Fire Code amendments, Section 907.11.1, read October 6, 2026). If the house has gas, treat that question as yours and get the answer before move-in. These are the cheapest items on this list.

7. Every turnover: rekey within seven days, check the locks, deposit back within 30

Rekey. Section 92.156(a): a lock operated by a key, card, or combination "shall be rekeyed by the landlord at the landlord's expense not later than the seventh day after each tenant turnover date." The turnover date is the day a new tenant moves in after the previous occupants have moved out. Doing it before move-in day is simpler. This is the one owners talk themselves out of, because the old tenant seemed nice. The horror stories we hear are always the same shape: nobody changed the locks, and somebody with an old key came back. Sometimes it is the last occupant. Sometimes it is a scrapper who found the key under the mat. The tenants scoff and the owners scoff, until someone gets sued.

The rest of the hardware. Rekeying is one piece. Section 92.153 says a rental "must be equipped with" a window latch on each exterior window, a doorknob lock or keyed dead bolt on each exterior door, a pin lock and a handle latch or security bar on each exterior sliding glass door, and "a keyless bolting device and a door viewer on each exterior door," installed at the landlord's expense, with some exceptions in the statute. A house that was fine for you can be short a door viewer or a pin lock. Walk the doors and windows with that list before move-in.

Deposit. Section 92.103(a): "the landlord shall refund a security deposit to the tenant on or before the 30th day after the date the tenant surrenders the premises." The clock waits on the tenant's written forwarding address (Section 92.107), and anything you keep generally has to be itemized in writing. Thirty days goes fast when the owner lives in another state.

Ready to move out is not ready to rent

Back to where this started. Everything above is paperwork, and paperwork is the easy part to schedule. The hard part is the honest look at the house itself, through the eyes of someone paying the rent, while you are also packing and paying for the next place.

We cover what that make-ready usually involves, what it costs, how to price the rent, and when a property manager makes sense on our rent-out page.

Where we stand

Most of this checklist is one phone call or one form. None of it is hard. It just has to happen in the right order, in the few weeks when you have the least time to think about it. If you are renting out a house in Fort Worth, Saginaw, or anywhere in Tarrant County and want a second set of eyes on the list, ask us.

Andrew Chavis · Century 21 Alliance Properties · License #0845090 · IABS Notice · Consumer Protection Notice. This article is general information from a property manager and is not legal or tax advice. It is not written by an attorney or a tax professional, it does not create an attorney-client relationship, and nothing here is a recommendation about how to handle your own loan, lease, or return; consult a Texas attorney and a tax preparer about your own situation. Market figures are RentCast data as of October 4, 2026. Deemed reliable but not guaranteed. View sources and disclaimers.