Documents Needed to Sell a House in Texas (2026 Checklist)

The documents needed to sell a house in Texas start with the Section 5.008 Seller’s Disclosure Notice, the deed and title paperwork your title company prepares, your mortgage payoff statement, and, if you’re in an HOA, a resale certificate. Add a survey with a T-47 affidavit and a few property records, and you’ve covered most closings.

That’s the short version. The longer version is what actually keeps a Texas deal from stalling three days before closing, and I’ve watched plenty of them stall. A missing survey. A disclosure notice nobody filled out. An HOA that takes two weeks to cough up a resale certificate the seller didn’t order in time. None of it is hard. It just has to be done in the right order, and Texas has a few quirks that trip up sellers who’ve moved from other states. So here’s the full checklist, plus what each document is and when you actually need it.

The Texas seller document checklist

I’ll give you the table first, because that’s what most people came for. Then I’ll walk through the ones that matter most and the Texas-specific traps.

Print that, tape it to the fridge, and check it off as you go. Now the parts worth explaining.

The Seller’s Disclosure Notice: your one non-negotiable form

If you sell a home in Texas, this is the document you cannot skip. Texas Property Code Section 5.008 says a seller of residential property with at least one dwelling unit has to give the buyer a written notice of the property’s condition, on or before the effective date of the contract. It asks what you know about the roof, foundation, plumbing, electrical, prior flooding, and a long list of other items.

Two forms float around. The TREC OP-H is the bare statutory minimum. The Texas REALTORS version, TXR-1406, is longer and asks more, and it’s the one used in most agented deals because it doubles as a liability shield for the seller. Either satisfies the law. Hand a buyer the short one and their agent will usually hand you the long one anyway.

A few sellers are exempt. Foreclosure and court-ordered sales, transfers by an executor or trustee handling an estate, sales to a spouse or a direct-line heir, divorce-related transfers, and brand-new construction that’s never been lived in all skip the 5.008 notice. If that’s you, great. If it’s not, fill it out honestly. My rule after years of watching post-closing disputes: disclose the thing you’re tempted not to. A disclosed defect gets negotiated. A hidden one gets a demand letter. I go deeper on the whole form in our Texas seller’s disclosure guide, so I won’t re-run all of it here.

Survey and the T-47 affidavit (the one out-of-staters miss)

Here’s a Texas wrinkle that surprises people from other states. If you have an existing survey of your property, you can often let the buyer use it instead of paying for a brand-new one, which saves them a few hundred dollars (standard residential boundary surveys in Texas run roughly $350 to $850) and speeds closing. The catch is the T-47 Residential Real Property Affidavit, a form from the Texas Department of Insurance where you swear, under oath, that nothing on the property has changed since that survey was made.

No new pool, no new fence, no added deck or shed. If something did change, the title company will usually require a new survey. And because it’s a sworn statement, don’t sign it loosely: if you fudged it and the survey turns out wrong, that’s on you. There’s a newer version, the T-47.1 Declaration, that skips notarization, and the current TREC contract references both. Dig up your old survey now if you can find it. It’s one of the easiest ways to make your listing more attractive to a buyer counting every dollar.

Title, deed, and the payoff — what the title company handles

Texas is a title-company state. You don’t need a real estate attorney to close a home sale here (you can hire one, but it isn’t required), and the closing runs through an escrow officer at a title company. That’s different from a lot of East Coast states, and it changes who prepares what.

The title company pulls a title commitment, clears liens, orders the property tax certificate, and drafts the general warranty deed, which is the standard conveyance in Texas and the one that gives the buyer the broadest protection. Your job on this side is smaller than you’d think. You provide your payoff information so title can request an exact mortgage payoff statement from your lender, you clear anything flagged on the commitment (an old lien, a name mismatch, a probate issue), and you show up with a valid photo ID. At the table you’ll sign the deed and the Closing Disclosure, the settlement statement showing every debit and credit in the deal.

One tip from experience: get your payoff figure early. Lenders quote a payoff good through a specific date, and if closing slips past it, the number changes. I’ve seen a Friday closing move to Monday and leave a seller scrambling because the payoff expired over the weekend.

HOA or condo? Order the resale certificate now

If your home is in a homeowners association, budget time for this one, because it’s the single most common cause of a delayed Texas closing I see. Under Texas Property Code Chapter 207, the association has to deliver a resale certificate, spelling out dues, any special assessments, the association’s financials, and transfer fees, within 10 business days of a written request. They can charge up to $375 for it, plus $75 for an update.

Ten business days is two calendar weeks. If you wait until you’re under contract with a 30-day close, you’ve already burned a third of your timeline. Request it the day you list, or the day you go under contract at the latest. Condos have their own version of this under Chapter 82, the Texas Uniform Condominium Act — same $375 cap, but a 10-calendar-day turnaround and a 90-day prep window instead of 60, so don’t assume the numbers are identical. If you’re not in an HOA or a condo association, ignore this whole section and count yourself lucky.

FSBO and flat-fee: the listing paperwork nobody warns you about

Everything above assumes you’re already on the market. To get there without a traditional agent, you need listing paperwork too, and this is where selling by owner in Texas gets its own small stack.

To appear on the MLS (and therefore Zillow, Realtor.com, and Redfin, which pull from it), you either sign a listing agreement with a broker or use a flat-fee MLS service that inputs your listing for a one-time cost. HomeRise lists Texas homes on the MLS for a flat $95, which is how a for-sale-by-owner seller keeps the roughly 2.5% to 3% listing commission and still gets full syndication. If you’re weighing that route, our flat-fee MLS Texas breakdown covers what’s included, and the broader sell-a-house-by-owner guide walks the whole process step by step.

You’ll also want your own set of clean listing photos, a property description, and a spare copy of the 5.008 disclosure ready to hand to any buyer who asks, because on a FSBO deal, that’s on you, not an agent.

Lead paint, tax records, and the small stuff

A handful of documents round out the file. If your home was built before 1978, federal law (Title X, Section 1018) requires a lead-based paint disclosure: you disclose what you know, hand over the EPA’s “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home” pamphlet, and give the buyer a 10-day window to test. Built in 1978 or later? Skip it.

Then there’s the useful-but-optional pile: recent property tax statements, utility bills a buyer might ask about, appliance manuals and warranties, permits for any work you had done, and receipts for major repairs or a new roof. None of these are legally required, but they answer buyer questions before they become objections. After you close, hang onto the signed contract, the disclosure, and the settlement statement. Here’s which documents to keep after you sell and how long.

Bottom line

Selling a house in Texas isn’t a paperwork marathon, but it has a specific shape: the 5.008 disclosure is mandatory, the title company carries the deed and title load, the survey plus T-47 can save your buyer real money, and the HOA resale certificate is the one thing you should order the day you list. Get those four moving early and the rest falls into place. If you’re going the FSBO or flat-fee route, add your listing paperwork to the front of the pile. Do it in order and your closing table is boring, which, when you’re selling a house, is exactly what you want.

FAQ: documents needed to sell a house in Texas

What documents do you legally have to provide to sell a house in Texas?
The one document Texas law actually requires from most residential sellers is the Seller’s Disclosure Notice under Property Code 5.008. The deed, title commitment, and Closing Disclosure are required to close but are prepared by your title company. Add a lead-based paint disclosure if the home predates 1978, and an HOA resale certificate if you’re in an association.

Do I need a lawyer to sell my house in Texas?
No. Texas closes residential sales through title companies, not attorneys. An escrow officer handles the deed, title, and settlement paperwork. You can hire a real estate attorney if your sale has a wrinkle (probate, a boundary dispute, an unusual lien), but for a standard sale it isn’t required.

What is a T-47 affidavit and do I need one?
A T-47 is a sworn affidavit stating nothing has changed on your property since your existing survey was made. It lets the buyer and title company rely on that old survey instead of ordering a new one, saving the buyer several hundred dollars. You need it only if you have a prior survey and want to avoid the cost of a fresh one.

How long does an HOA resale certificate take in Texas?
Up to 10 business days, which is two calendar weeks. Texas Property Code Chapter 207 gives the association that long to deliver it after a written request, and they can charge up to $375. Order it the day you list or go under contract so it doesn’t stall your closing.

Do I need a survey to sell a house in Texas?
Not strictly, but you’ll almost always need to resolve the survey question. If you have an existing survey, provide it with a T-47 affidavit and the buyer can usually reuse it. If you don’t, the buyer typically orders a new one during the option period. Either way, the title company needs a survey it can rely on to insure the boundaries.