State Law | 2025 Session

Other 2025 Texas Housing Laws: What Passed and What Did Not

The 89th Texas Legislature met in a regular session in 2025 and then in two called (special) sessions. Beyond the three main laws (SB 15, SB 840 and HB 24), it passed bills on impact fees, single-stair apartment buildings, eviction procedure, occupancy limits and home backup power. A statewide ADU bill did not pass. This page lists every 2025 bill VanPlex checked, with its real subject and result, read from each bill's own history page on Texas Legislature Online.

Every 2025 Bill We Checked

Each row comes from the bill's history page. "Filed without the Governor's signature" means the Governor neither signed nor vetoed the bill, so it became law. Click a bill number to open its official history.

Sources: bill history pages on Texas Legislature Online for each bill, and the 1st and 2nd Called Session passed-bill reports. SB 4 and SB 23 effective dates from the statute history notes in Tax Code 11.13.

The Three Main Laws, in Brief

Three 2025 laws have their own pages in this guide. SB 15 bars large cities from requiring lots over 3,000 square feet on new single-family tracts of five acres or more. SB 840 requires the same cities to allow housing of three or more units on commercial land with no rezoning. HB 24 raises the neighbor protest threshold to 60 percent for rezonings that add housing. All three took effect on September 1, 2025.

SB 2477 (Chapter 1026) covers converting office buildings to mixed-use and multifamily housing. It was signed on June 20, 2025 and also took effect on September 1, 2025. It created a Chapter 218 in the Local Government Code, as SB 840 did, and the official code merges the two. Two tax bills, SB 4 and SB 23, raised the school homestead exemption to $140,000 and the extra exemption for owners 65 or older or disabled to $60,000, effective November 4, 2025.

The Statewide ADU Bill Did Not Pass

Texas has no statewide law on accessory dwelling units (ADUs), the smaller extra homes some owners add on the same lot as a house. SB 673, by Senator Hughes, carried the caption "Relating to municipal and county regulation of accessory dwelling units; authorizing a fee." It passed the Senate. Its last action was on May 26, 2025, when it was placed on the House General State Calendar, and no later action is recorded. ADU rules in Texas therefore come from each city. The ADU page compares Houston, Austin, Dallas and San Antonio.

SB 1883: How Cities Approve Impact Fees

An impact fee is a one-time charge a city collects from new development to pay for roads, water and sewer capacity. SB 1883, in force since September 1, 2025, changes how a city adopts and raises one:

• approving an impact fee needs a vote of two-thirds of the members of the governing body;
• a city may not raise an impact fee for three years from the later of the date it was adopted or last raised;
• before raising an existing fee, or adopting a new one where one already existed, the city must get an independent financial audit by a certified public accountant (CPA) and hold a hearing on it;
• at least 50 percent of the impact fee advisory committee must come from the real estate, development or building industries;
• the attorney general may sue on behalf of a property owner to contest a fee.

A separate 2025 law, SB 14 of the 2nd Called Session, requires a city to give builders credits against impact fees for certain water conservation and reuse projects. It was signed on September 17, 2025 and took effect on January 1, 2026.

SB 2835: Single-Stair Apartment Buildings

SB 2835 lets a Texas city allow an apartment building with a single stairway, if the building meets every listed condition: no more than six stories above grade; no more than four dwelling units on any floor; sprinklers; stair enclosures rated for two hours, with no elevator opening into them; no more than 20 feet from any unit door to the stair; no more than 125 feet of exit travel; and other listed safety features. The law says a city "may authorize" this, so each city decides. The Governor let SB 2835 become law without a signature on June 20, 2025, and it took effect on September 1, 2025.

SB 1202 and SB 1252: Backup Power and Plan Review

HB 14 (2023) created Local Government Code chapter 247, which lets an owner hire a licensed engineer or certified inspector when the city misses a review or inspection deadline by 15 days. SB 1202 (2025) extends that chapter to home backup power installations: generators, batteries and standby systems serving a one- or two-family home at 600 volts or less. A licensed master electrician or electrical inspector may review and inspect them. SB 1202 also changed Section 247.003, so a city may not charge any fee for a review or inspection done by a third party under the chapter.

SB 1252 (2025) added Local Government Code 214.214(d), which bars a city from adopting or enforcing an amendment to the National Electrical Code that would regulate how a residential energy backup system is installed or inspected. A city-owned utility can still set rules in its service area.

SB 1567: Occupancy Caps in College Towns

SB 1567 applies only to a home-rule city (a city that runs under its own charter) with fewer than 250,000 people that has, or sits next to, the campus of a college or university with more than 20,000 students. Such a city may not cap the number of people in a home by age, family status, occupation, relationship, or whether they are related. It may cap occupancy at one person per bedroom of at least 70 square feet, plus one more person for each extra 50 square feet of that bedroom.

SB 1567 added its own Subchapter D to Local Government Code chapter 211, with section numbers that also appear in SB 15's Subchapter D. Always cite the bill with the section. SB 1567, like SB 15, says it does not stop owners from enforcing HOA rules or deed restrictions.

SB 38: Eviction Procedure From January 1, 2026

SB 38 rewrote eviction procedure in Property Code chapter 24. From January 1, 2026, an eviction suit must be filed in the justice precinct where the property is. A landlord may file a sworn motion for summary disposition, which asks the court to rule without a full trial. The tenant has until the fourth day after being served to respond. If the facts are disputed, the justice court sets a trial between the 10th and 21st day after the petition is filed. One section, Section 16, took effect earlier, on September 1, 2025. The landlord rules page covers notice periods and deposits.

Bill Numbers That Get Mixed Up

If you searched for one of these bill numbers, here is what each one does:

• SB 1567 (2025) sets limits on occupancy caps in college towns. ADU owner-occupancy rules come from city codes, such as San Antonio's.
• HB 2789 (2025) covers child welfare and child-care facilities.
• SB 1202 (2025) covers backup power reviews and the fee ban. The broad third-party review law is HB 14 (2023).
• HB 3699 is a 2023 bill that amended the plat approval deadlines in Local Government Code 212.009. The written-reasons rules came from HB 3167 (2019).
• SB 1883 (2025) covers impact fees.
• SB 844 (2025) was the Senate twin of HB 24. HB 24 became law.
• SB 4 and SB 23 (2025) raised homestead exemptions. They are tax laws, explained on the property tax page.

The 2025 Special Sessions

The 1st Called Session passed no bills; its passed list shows only resolutions. The 2nd Called Session passed 21 bills. VanPlex read the full list. Two touch land: SB 14 (impact fee credits, above) and SB 16, on real property theft and fraud, which adds new recording requirements and was signed on September 17, 2025. None of the 21 changed zoning, lot size, ADU or building code rules.

One property tax bill failed. SB 10 of the 2nd Called Session, on how some taxing units calculate their voter-approval tax rate, ended on September 2, 2025, when the House refused to adopt the conference committee report.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the Texas multiplex guide overview and the California multiplex guide, for a state with its own ADU law.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)