What is the TREC One to Four Family Residential Contract?
The One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale) is the TREC promulgated form Texas license holders use to sell existing single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes and four-plexes. The current version is form 20-19, effective July 1, 2026. Condominiums, builder new construction and farm and ranch each use a different form.
What "promulgated" means and why it matters
The Texas Real Estate Commission writes and approves the contract forms that Texas license holders are required to use. A REALTOR does not draft your purchase contract. They fill in the blanks on a form the state wrote (TREC contract forms).
This is not a technicality. Drafting contract language is the practice of law, and a real estate license does not authorize it. The promulgated forms exist precisely so that license holders can paper a transaction without practicing law. When a deal needs a term the form does not contemplate, the correct answer is not a creative paragraph typed into a blank — it is a Texas real estate attorney.
TREC describes the resale contract as its most frequently used form (TREC). Most residential purchases in Texas run on this one document.
What it covers
The form is for the resale of single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes and four-plexes. The current version is 12 pages and carries a 05-04-2026 footer date (TREC form 20-19 PDF, TREC form page).
Twelve pages sounds like a lot until you try to find something in it. Here is the map of the paragraphs that actually control the deal.
| ¶ | Title | What it decides |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Earnest Money and Termination Option | The 3-day delivery deadline, the option fee, the unrestricted right to terminate |
| 6 | Title Policy and Survey | Who pays for the owner's policy, the 20-day commitment deadline, the survey election, the objection and cure process |
| 7 | Property Condition | Access and inspections, the seller's disclosure notice, as-is versus listed repairs |
| 12 | Settlement and Other Expenses | Each party's itemized expenses, brokerage compensation |
| 13 | Prorations | Taxes, interest, rents, dues through the closing date |
| 14 | Casualty Loss | What happens if the house is damaged before closing |
| 15 | Default | Specific performance, earnest money as liquidated damages |
| 18 | Escrow | How the escrow agent handles and releases the earnest money |
| 23 | Consult an Attorney Before Signing | TREC rules prohibit license holders from giving legal advice |
That is the spine. The deadlines that run the deal — the option fee delivery deadline, the option period expiration, the title commitment, the objection window, the financing deadlines, the closing date — all trace back to the effective date written on this form.
The three "check one box only" elections
Three paragraphs carry a printed instruction to check exactly one box. A blank election or a double-checked one is a real defect in the contract, not a typo, and each of them has been the cause of a deal going sideways weeks later.
¶6C — the survey. Three mutually exclusive options: the seller furnishes the existing survey plus a T-47 Affidavit or T-47.1 Declaration; the buyer obtains a new survey at buyer's expense; or the seller furnishes a new survey at seller's expense (TREC form 20-19, ¶6C). Option (1) contains a second, nested Seller/Buyer expense checkbox for the case where the title company or lender will not accept what was furnished. Option (2) carries a warning: a buyer who elects it and then fails to obtain the survey "may not terminate the contract under Paragraph 2B of the Third Party Financing Addendum because the survey was not obtained."
¶7B — the seller's disclosure notice. Three options: the buyer has received it; the buyer has not and the seller will deliver within a stated number of days; or the seller is not required to furnish it under the Texas Property Code. Option (2) is the consequential one — if the buyer does not receive the notice, the buyer "may terminate this contract at any time prior to the closing," and once the seller delivers it, the buyer may terminate for any reason "within 7 days after Buyer receives" it "or prior to the closing, whichever first occurs," with earnest money refunded (TREC form 20-19, ¶7B(2)).
¶7D — as-is or listed repairs. The contract defines "As Is" as "the present condition of the Property with any and all defects and without warranty except for the warranties of title and the warranties in this contract," and is careful to say that accepting as-is "does not preclude Buyer from inspecting the Property under Paragraph 7A, from negotiating repairs or treatments in a subsequent amendment, or from terminating this contract during the Option Period, if any."
The election is either (1) buyer accepts the property as-is, or (2) buyer accepts as-is provided the seller completes specific listed repairs and treatments at seller's expense. And the form prints its own warning next to the blanks:
"Do not insert general phrases, such as 'subject to inspections' that do not identify specific repairs and treatments."
TREC printed that because people do it anyway. "Subject to inspections" is not a repair obligation — it is a sentence that means nothing and binds nobody, and it is the reason inspection-driven repair fights end up unresolvable. Repairs belong in ¶7D as named items, or in a later amendment on form 39-11.
There is one more ¶7 detail worth carrying: under ¶7A, inspectors must be "licensed by TREC or otherwise permitted by law," "any hydrostatic testing must be separately authorized by Seller in writing," and the seller "at Seller's expense shall immediately cause existing utilities to be turned on and shall keep the utilities on during the time this contract is in effect." A buyer whose inspector shows up to a house with the water off has a contract right, not a scheduling problem.
Money and time: ¶12, ¶13, ¶14, ¶15
¶12A(1) Seller's Expenses: releases of existing liens including prepayment penalties and recording fees, release of seller's loan liability, tax statements or certificates, preparation of deed, one-half of escrow fee, plus an optional capped dollar contribution toward the buyer's expenses.
¶12A(2) Buyer's Expenses: the loan costs, the loan title policy with lender endorsements, one-half of escrow fee, all prepaid items including flood and hazard insurance premiums and reserves, and PMI, the VA Loan Funding Fee or FHA MIP as required by the lender.
¶12B Brokerage Compensation states outright: "Brokerage compensation is not set by law and is fully negotiable." Each party pays their own broker under separate written agreements. Optional checkboxes let one side contribute toward the other's broker compensation, but those contributions "shall not change" either party's obligation under its own agreement (TREC form 20-19, ¶12B).
¶13 Prorations: taxes, interest, rents and regular periodic maintenance fees, assessments and dues are prorated through the closing date. The proration "may be calculated taking into consideration any change in exemptions," and if the actual taxes differ, "the parties shall adjust the prorations when tax statements for the current year are available."
¶14 Casualty Loss: if the property is damaged after the effective date and the seller cannot restore it by the closing date for reasons beyond the seller's control, the buyer may terminate with earnest money refunded, extend performance up to 15 days, or accept the property damaged with an assignment of insurance proceeds plus a credit from the seller in the amount of the deductible.
¶15 Default: if the buyer defaults the seller may enforce specific performance, seek other relief, or both, or terminate and "receive the earnest money as liquidated damages." If the seller defaults the buyer has the mirror-image remedies.
What it does not cover
It is not a universal contract. Using the wrong promulgated form is a real error, not a formality.
| Situation | Correct promulgated form |
|---|---|
| Condominium resale | Residential Condominium Contract (Resale), 30-18 |
| Vacant land | Unimproved Property Contract, 9-18 |
| Acreage, ag land, rural tracts | Farm and Ranch Contract, 25-17 |
| Builder new home, construction complete | New Home Contract (Completed Construction), 24-20 |
| Builder new home, construction not complete | New Home Contract (Incomplete Construction), 23-20 |
All five of those, and the resale contract itself, carry a 07/01/2026 effective date on the current versions (TREC contract forms).
In the Hill Country this distinction comes up constantly. A house on ten acres outside Boerne with a well and a septic system may or may not belong on the resale form rather than the Farm and Ranch contract, and the answer depends on the property, not on habit.
The addenda do the specialized work
The base contract is deliberately generic. The promulgated addenda handle everything specific, and each one attaches to the contract and is checked off on it.
The ones that appear most often:
- Third Party Financing Addendum, 40-11, effective 01/03/2025 — the buyer's loan terms and financing termination right.
- Addendum for Property Subject to Mandatory Membership in a Property Owners Association, 36-11, effective 07/01/2026 — the HOA addendum, which triggers the subdivision information and resale certificate.
- Addendum Concerning Right to Terminate Due to Lender's Appraisal, 49-1 — the low-appraisal exit.
- Addendum for Sale of Other Property by Buyer, 10-6 — the home-sale contingency.
- Non-Realty Items Addendum, 57-0, effective 09/03/2025 — items that are not part of the real property.
- Addendum Containing Notice of Obligation to Pay Improvement District Assessment, 53-0 — PID disclosure.
- Addendum for Reservation of Oil, Gas, and Other Minerals, 44-3 — mineral reservations.
- Seller's Disclosure about Groundwater and Surface Water Rights, 61-0, effective 07/01/2026 — water rights.
- Seller Financing Addendum, 26-8, and Loan Assumption Addendum, 41-3.
Full current list and effective dates are published by TREC.
An addendum that was negotiated but never attached and checked is a frequent and expensive oversight. The contract is the document, not the conversation.
The seller's disclosure is a separate document, governed inside the contract
The Seller's Disclosure Notice, TREC form 55-1, effective 05/28/2026, is its own document, not a page of the purchase contract. It is a statutory notice required under Texas Property Code §5.008 for residential property of not more than one dwelling unit (Texas Property Code §5.008).
What ¶7B does is govern what happens when it has not been delivered. If the buyer has not received it, the buyer may terminate at any time prior to closing; once the seller delivers it, the buyer has 7 days after receipt, or until closing, whichever comes first (TREC form 20-19, ¶7B(2)). That is a termination right independent of the option period, and it can outlive it by weeks.
Two neighboring items in ¶7: ¶7C notes that lead-based paint disclosure "is required by Federal law for a residential dwelling constructed prior to 1978." And ¶6E(2) carries the §5.012 Property Code notice for property subject to mandatory POA membership, warning that "the amount of the assessments is subject to change" and that failure to pay "could result in enforcement of the association's lien on and the foreclosure of the Property."
Changing the contract after it is signed
Once both parties sign, changes go on the Amendment to Contract, form 39-11, effective 07/01/2026 (TREC contract forms). Price changes, repair agreements, closing-date moves and option-period extensions all belong there, signed by both parties.
Emails and texts between agents do not amend a contract. Neither does a verbal agreement between the parties.
Where the form ends and a lawyer begins
The contract answers this itself. Paragraph 23 is titled CONSULT AN ATTORNEY BEFORE SIGNING, and its text reads: "TREC rules prohibit real estate brokers and sales agents from giving legal advice. READ THIS CONTRACT CAREFULLY." The form provides printed fields for the buyer's attorney and the seller's attorney, with phone numbers (TREC form 20-19, ¶23).
Paragraph 6E(1) names the specific job: "Broker advises Buyer to have an abstract of title covering the Property examined by an attorney of Buyer's selection, or Buyer should be furnished with or obtain a Title Policy. If a Title Policy is furnished, the Commitment should be promptly reviewed by an attorney of Buyer's choice due to the time limitations on Buyer's right to object."
Those time limitations are ¶6D: objections are due by the earlier of the closing date or a stated number of days after the buyer receives the commitment, exception documents and survey, and failure to object in time "will constitute a waiver."
TREC forms cover the ordinary case very well. They do not cover everything. A Texas real estate attorney is the right call for custom contract language, an entity or trust taking title, a probate or estate sale, a property with a title defect or a boundary problem, seller financing structured beyond what the addendum contemplates, a 1031 exchange structure, deed restriction interpretation, or a partition. TREC does not write custom contracts, and license holders may not draft them.
Related questions
- What is the option period in a Texas real estate contract?
- What is the Third Party Financing Addendum?
- What is the seller's disclosure notice in Texas?
- What is the Amendment to Contract form in Texas?
- Do I need a real estate attorney to buy a house in Texas?
Questions about a specific property?
Call or text 830-446-3847 · Email heath.shepard@kw.com
This page describes the TREC promulgated residential contract. It is not legal advice. For contract language or a transaction the promulgated forms do not fit, talk with a Texas real estate attorney.