Security Deposit Demand Letters
Garland, Texas · Tex. Prop. Code § 92.103

The Garland security deposit demand letter that gets deposits back.

Texas law gave your Garland landlord 30 days to return it or itemize. If that clock has run, a Garland security deposit demand letter puts Tex. Prop. Code § 92.103 to work on your side.

Stop asking. Start demanding.
Writing it costs nothing. $20 covers printing, certified postage and the return receipt.
30
days to return or itemize
3×
potential damages on wrongful withholding
$20
letter + certified mail, one-time

Last updated September 2026 · local figures: U.S. Census ACS 2024 5-year

Garland deposit math
Median rent in Garland$1,641/mo
Typical deposit ≈ one month≈$1,600
Statutory 3× on wrongful withholding$4,800
Fixed statutory penalty+$100
Landlord's potential exposure$4,900

Median gross rent: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year (table B25064). Deposit example rounded to one month's rent; statutory figures are ceilings, and courts decide actual awards.

What Garland renters should know

Garland deposit law at a glance

The law that protects your deposit

Deposits in Garland are governed by Texas state law: Tex. Prop. Code § 92.103, § 92.109. Bad faith retention can make the landlord liable for $100 plus three times the amount wrongfully withheld, plus reasonable attorney's fees. Bad faith is presumed if the landlord misses the 30-day deadline. Full Texas deadline & penalty guide →

The court that would hear it

Deposit claims from Garland are filed in a Justice of the Peace Court in Dallas County. Texas JP courts hear claims up to $20,000, no lawyer required. A typical Garland deposit, even at the statute's $4,900 cap, fits under that limit, which is exactly why a statute-citing certified letter usually settles it first.

What actually goes in the mail

You approve the wording first. Then it prints, goes out certified with return receipt requested, and comes back to you as a tracking number, a delivery record, and a signed PDF whose fingerprint proves the text never moved.

The full walk-through, including what doing this yourself costs, is on how it works.

Have it mailed, not downloaded.$20 covers the letter, the printing, the certified postage, and the return receipt — and you read every word before you pay.
Read my Garland letter
On the last page of your letter

The bit that stops them arguing

Not a logo that says “verified.” A short record of how and when you signed, printed on the letter your Garland landlord is holding, plus a code made from the letter's own words.

  • The demand paragraph
  • The signature record
  • The SHA-256 hash
  • Certified Mail with Return Receipt
Pin 1 · The demand paragraphThe paragraph names your state's statute, the amount your landlord kept, the deadline they missed, and gives them a firm deadline to send the money before the letter says what happens next. Every part of it comes from the answers you gave, printed in the order the law expects.
Pin 2 · The signature recordMethod (drawn or typed), date, time zone, IP, browser, and consent to sign electronically. Printed on the letter itself, so the person receiving it can see how it was signed. Nothing goes out until a real person signs.
Pin 3 · The SHA-256 hashA 64-character code built from every word in your letter, recorded with the date and time you signed. It is your signing record: paste it into the checker at /verify/ and it confirms the wording you hold is the wording you signed, unchanged. It is not proof of delivery; the certified mail record below is.
Pin 4 · Certified Mail with Return ReceiptSomeone at the other end has to sign. This is the proof: the certified mail receipt, the USPS tracking history, and the delivery signature with its date. The Postal Service records them, our mail partner passes them to us, and we email them to you and post them on your letter tracker. Your landlord cannot claim the letter never came.

The closing words above are the real ones our engine writes for Garland letters, statute and deadline included. The name, signature and codes are made up; yours carry your own record. The time is shown in the signer's own time zone, not ours.

That code is built from every word in your letter. Change one word and it no longer matches. Type it into our checker and it tells you the letter is the same one you signed. Try the checker on this Garland example →

What a Garland deposit is usually worth

The typical Garland household pays about $1,641 a month in gross rent (ACS 2024 5-year), and a deposit is commonly pitched at roughly that. That is about 17% above the Texas median of $1,403, which means deposits here run larger than the statewide picture suggests, and so does what you lose by writing one off.

About 38% of Garland households rent rather than own. That is a large enough population that the local court is thoroughly used to hearing deposit claims from tenants without lawyers. The rule that governs what happens to that money is set at the state level, by Tex. Prop. Code § 92.103, § 92.109, and it applies in Garland exactly as it does anywhere else in Texas.

It is worth naming the imbalance plainly. To you that sum is next month’s rent or the cost of the move you just made. To a landlord holding a dozen of them it is a line item worth stalling on, because stalling has historically been free. A formal, dated, statute-citing demand is what makes it stop being free.

Leaving a Garland rental without losing the deposit

Here you are likely dealing with the owner directly. That can mean the dispute feels personal, and it also means one well-drafted letter reaches the person who actually decides, instead of disappearing into a support inbox.

  • Do a final photo pass at handover. Every room, every surface, and the meter readings. Keep the originals: their embedded timestamps are what make them evidence rather than pictures.
  • Send the forwarding address somewhere it leaves a trace. A dated message beats a remembered conversation every time, and you will not get to re-run this later.
  • Work out the right recipient before you send. The person who rented you the place and the person who owes you the deposit are not always the same, even in a small market.
  • Act once the window has gone. After 30 days you are not being pushy, you are being timely, and every further month weakens what you can prove.

Where a Garland renter would actually file

A landlord reading your letter is silently sizing up one thing: does this person actually know what happens next? It costs you five minutes to be someone who does.

Texas routes deposit claims to the Justice Court (Justice of the Peace), with a limit of $20,000. For a rental in Garland, that normally means the court serving Dallas County. Filing fees and procedure are set by the court. The Texas judiciary publishes its own small claims instructions and forms, which is the page to read before you file.

The forum is deliberately informal, which favors the party who turns up organized. Bring the lease, the photographs with their original dates intact, proof of the address you gave them, and the certified mail receipt for your letter.

Have it mailed, not downloaded.$20 covers the letter, the printing, the certified postage, and the return receipt — and you read every word before you pay.
Read my Garland letter

Garland renters, by the numbers

$1,641
median gross rent per month in Garland
38%
of Garland's ≈82,000 households rent their home
≈31,000
renter households on the same 30-day clock
$4,900
potential statutory exposure on a typical $1,600 deposit

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year, tables B25064 & B25003 (Garland; Census place “Garland city”); Tex. Prop. Code § 92.103, § 92.109. Population ≈247,000.

Garland deposit questions

How long does a landlord in Garland have to return a security deposit?
30 days. The statute (Tex. Prop. Code § 92.103, § 92.109) requires the landlord to act within 30 days after the tenant surrenders the premises and provides a forwarding address. Miss it, and the law's remedies open up: Bad faith retention can make the landlord liable for $100 plus three times the amount wrongfully withheld, plus reasonable attorney's fees. Bad faith is presumed if the landlord misses the 30-day deadline.
Can I sue my landlord in small claims court in Garland?
Yes, that's exactly what the venue is for. Deposit claims from Garland are filed in a Justice of the Peace Court in Dallas County. Texas JP courts hear claims up to $20,000, no lawyer required. A demand letter sent by certified mail is the documented first step judges expect to see.
Is a demand letter worth it for a typical Garland deposit?
Median rent in Garland is $1,641 a month (U.S. Census, ACS 2024 5-year), and deposits typically run about one month's rent. Call it $1,600. Texas's statute puts up to $4,900 of exposure on a landlord who wrongfully withholds that deposit (a statutory ceiling; courts decide actual awards). The letter is $20 flat, certified mail included, and you read every word of it before paying.

General legal information, not legal advice. Court limits and city ordinances change; verify current rules or consult a licensed Texas attorney.

Have it mailed, not downloaded.$20 covers the letter, the printing, the certified postage, and the return receipt — and you read every word before you pay.
Read my Garland letter
Garland · Renter guides

The four arguments behind most Garland deposit disputes

Whatever your landlord has told you, a deposit dispute is usually one of four arguments. Work out which one yours is first.

Deductions Which charges hold up and which do not An itemized statement is only as good as the charges on it. Unpaid rent and genuine damage are fair game. A great deal of what gets billed is neither. Read the guide → Wear and tear The line landlords blur most often Faded paint, worn carpet traffic lanes, loose handles and thinning grout are what happens when someone lives somewhere. None of it is damage, and none of it is yours to pay for. See the line → Evidence The walkthrough that pays for itself two years later The strongest position at move-out is set at move-in. This is what to capture, and where to keep it so it still exists later. Get the checklist → No response When the money simply never shows up Being weeks or months past the date does not weaken your claim. It is the fact the claim is built on. What to do →

Disputing a named deduction?

Cleaning chargesPaint chargesBilled for new carpetCharged for nail holesCharged for a pet

Not sure which apply? The deduction checker reads a whole Garland itemized statement.

Garland · Keep reading

Where to go from here

All of this is on the site already, at no charge.

Other Texas cities

Deposit law is the same across Texas. Rent, venue and local rules are not, so each of these has its own page.

Not renting in Garland any more? We send the same security deposit demand letter Garland, Texas renters send in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, each built on that state's own statute.

Garland · Free help

Help that costs nothing, Garland and statewide

If you would rather talk to someone than read a statute, start here. These Texas organizations take renter questions for free, and the court listed is the one that would hear a Garland deposit claim.

Government and nonprofit resources, listed because they are useful. We are not affiliated with any of them, and none of them is affiliated with us. Every link here was checked on August 30, 2026.

Send the letter your Garland landlord can't ignore.

Send it certified mail