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Texas SB 15: what the small-lot law changes for a lot

Senate Bill 15 (2025) stops large Texas cities from requiring residential lots larger than 3,000 square feet, and caps the setbacks, parking and open-space rules they may put on small lots. It applies to a tract of five acres or more that has no recorded plat and will be platted, in an area zoned for single-family homes, in a city of more than 150,000 people. A house lot in a subdivision already has a plat, so, as we read the text, the act does not change its rules.

Updated . General information, not legal advice: the city’s code and its planning staff decide for your lot.

What the law is

Senate Bill 15 of the 89th Texas Legislature, in force since September 1, 2025, added Subchapter D (Sections 211.051 to 211.058) to Chapter 211 of the Local Government Code. We read the enrolled bill and the codified sections on the Legislature’s own sites on October 18, 2026; nothing here comes from a summary. It is general information, not legal advice, and several of its conditions are questions for the city’s planning staff or a lawyer.

Where it applies

Section 211.052 limits the subchapter to two things at once. The city: a municipality with a population of more than 150,000 that lies wholly or partly in a county of more than 300,000, population as the most recent federal census counts it. The land: a tract inside such a city that will be platted, lies in an area zoned for single-family homes, is five acres or more, and has no recorded plat. Land within a mile of a law-enforcement training center in a county of 2.6 million or more, within 3,000 feet of an airport or a military base, or within 15,000 feet of a military base’s boundary in an area designated as a military airport overlay zone is excluded.

What a city may no longer require

  • A residential lot larger than 3,000 square feet, wider than 30 feet or deeper than 75 feet, or a density rule that keeps a single-family home off a lot of at least 3,000 square feet (Section 211.054).
  • On a small lot, which the act defines as 4,000 square feet or less: a setback of more than 15 feet from the front, 10 feet from the back or five feet from the side; covered parking, more than one parking space per unit, or off-site parking; more than 30 percent open space or permeable surface; fewer than three full stories of up to 10 feet from floor to ceiling; a maximum building bulk; a wall articulation requirement (Section 211.055).

What the city keeps

  • Setbacks for environmental features, erosion or waterways, and open-space rules that protect an aquifer recharge zone.
  • Rules on short-term rentals, flooding, sewer and well water; rules that apply alike to all similarly situated lots, stormwater mitigation included; impact fees, and permit fees at the single-family rate.
  • Deed restrictions and homeowners’ association rules: the act does not touch private agreements (Section 211.057).

What it means for an existing lot

The act speaks of a tract that will be platted and has no recorded plat. A house lot in a subdivision has one, so the small-lot limits are not its rules: its setbacks, height and coverage stay what the city’s code says, and that is what a Lot Report shows. Dallas’s own information sheet of September 8, 2025 reads the act the same way: it allows unplatted land of at least five acres to be divided into lots as small as 3,000 square feet, and the small-lot standards apply to the lots created under it.

Where it matters is an unplatted tract of five acres or more in a qualifying city, zoned for single-family use. There the act limits what the city may require of the lots the tract is cut into, and of the houses on those that come out at 4,000 square feet or less. Whether a tract qualifies (its plat status, the zoning, the excluded areas) is for the city’s planning staff, and for a lawyer, to settle.

What a Lot Report does with it

Nothing changes in the envelope the Lot Report computes for a platted lot: the rules are the city’s, each with its source. For an unplatted tract that may qualify, a note on the act and an answer on dividing the tract are planned; they will quote the statute the way the report quotes a city’s code.

Questions

Does SB 15 let me build closer to the lot line on my existing lot?

As we read the text, no. The act applies to a tract of five acres or more that has no recorded plat and will be platted, and to the lots created from it. A lot that already has a recorded plat keeps its city’s setbacks. Ask the city’s planning staff about your lot.

Which cities does it reach?

A city of more than 150,000 people that lies wholly or partly in a county of more than 300,000, both by the most recent federal census. The act names no cities; the counts decide, and the city itself will say whether it falls under the subchapter.

Does it set a height limit in feet?

No. It says a city may not require fewer than three full stories of up to 10 feet from floor to ceiling on a small lot. It names no height in feet, and neither does this guide.

Does it override deed restrictions?

No. Section 211.057 leaves rules and deed restrictions imposed by a homeowners’ association or another private agreement as they are.

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