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Finding and Working Vacant Properties in Texas

Real estate investors · Updated 2026-10-16

Finding and Working Vacant Properties in Texas

Information, not legal advice. Laws change; check the current statute or rule and talk to a Texas attorney before you act.

A vacant house costs its owner money every month: taxes, insurance (if it's still insured), utilities, lawn care, and the risk of break-ins, squatters and city citations. Owners of vacant houses are often motivated sellers, but they are also hard to find. The owner may have moved, died, or stopped opening mail.

No single public record says "this house is vacant." Investors piece it together from several clues. This article covers those clues, the Texas rules that kick in when a building sits empty, and how to reach the owner.

Clues that a house may be vacant

ClueWhere it comes fromNotes
High weeds, trash, open structure, or "vacant structure" code casesCity code enforcementOne of the best public signals. Cities can require owners to keep property free of weeds, brush and nuisances (Health & Safety Code §342.004)
City secured the building (boarded it up)City code enforcement and liensCities may secure unoccupied buildings that violate minimum standards (Local Gov't Code §214.0011)
No homestead exemption, mailing address elsewhereAppraisal districtOwner doesn't live there; could be a rental or empty
Several years of unpaid property taxesCounty tax officeLong delinquency on a non-homestead often means a neglected property
Probate filing, or an owner who appears to have diedProbate courtMany vacant houses belong to estates; see probate and the house
Returned mailYour own mailingsA strong practical sign
Drive-by or photosField checksOvergrown yard, notices on the door, no window coverings

What you can't get. In Texas, city-run utilities may not disclose a customer's address or usage information unless the customer asks them to (Utilities Code §182.052). The Attorney General has ruled that even an address-only list of water shut-offs must be withheld (Open Records Ruling OR2022-17135). So "water off" lists from city utilities are not a lawful public-records source. Postal vacancy data is sold through licensed vendors, not by counties.

What Texas cities can do to a vacant building

Vacancy often leads to code enforcement, and code enforcement leads to costs that attach to the property:

For a buyer, these liens and orders are part of the price. Check the city's lien records and open cases before making an offer, and confirm whether a demolition order is pending.

Squatters and unauthorized occupants

Vacant houses attract squatters. Since September 1, 2025, Texas Property Code chapter 24B (Senate Bill 1333, 2025) lets an owner of residential property, or the owner's agent, ask the sheriff or constable to remove an unauthorized occupant by filing a sworn complaint. It applies only in limited cases: the person entered unlawfully and without the owner's consent, the property wasn't open to the public, the person isn't a current or former tenant or an immediate family member, there's no pending litigation over the property, and the owner has told the person to leave. Other cases still go through an eviction suit in justice court. See evictions in Texas justice courts.

Adverse possession is a separate and rare issue. Texas sets 3-, 5-, 10- and 25-year periods depending on the facts, such as whether the possessor has a recorded deed and paid the taxes (Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§16.024-.028). A squatter living in a house for a few months doesn't come close.

Reaching the owner of a vacant house

  1. Mail to the appraisal-district mailing address first. It's the address the owner gives the tax system. If mail comes back, that's information too.
  2. Check probate and death records if the owner may have died. The decision-maker may be an executor, administrator or heir.
  3. Check the tax roll for years owed and whether a tax suit has been filed. A suit names the owner and sometimes heirs, which helps identify who can sign.
  4. Check for liens from the city (securing, mowing, demolition) and for any judgment liens recorded with the county clerk.
  5. Use field checks carefully. Don't enter the property or post notices on it. Texas criminal trespass laws apply to vacant buildings too.

Buying a vacant house

Vacant houses bring specific risks: insurance (many policies limit or exclude coverage after a period of vacancy), theft of fixtures and copper, mold and water damage, and title problems if the owner has died. Budget for a thorough inspection, confirm who has authority to sell, and get title insurance.

How this shows up in Agentix Data

Agentix Data carries city code-violation cases for Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and McKinney, which often capture vacancy-type cases such as weeds, open structures and substandard buildings. Those are linked each morning to appraisal records (absentee and out-of-state owners, homestead status, deed date) in eight counties, to tax delinquency and tax suits, and to Harris, Fort Bend and Denton probate filings. We don't carry utility shut-off data (it's confidential under Texas law) or postal vacancy data.

Sources

General information, not legal or financial advice.