If you fall behind on a rent-to-own building in Texas, Chapter 92 of the Texas Business & Commerce Code requires a "rental-purchase agreement" — one for personal, family, or household use, with an initial period of four months or less, that automatically renews with each payment after the initial period and lets you eventually own the merchandise (§92.001(8)) — to give you a right to reinstate it after a missed payment. That right has a deadline — the later of one week after the due date or half your regular payment period — and it survives even if the company attempts to pick the building up in the meantime (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code §92.053, §92.101–92.102). Start there: pull your contract, check whether it matches that description, check whether the building itself still counts as personal property (covered below), find the reinstatement clause, and call the company before the clock runs out.
Texas law doesn't hand you a floating right that exists no matter what your paperwork says. Instead, it requires the agreement itself to include one: a rental-purchase agreement "must provide that... a consumer who fails to make a timely payment may reinstate an agreement, without losing any right or option previously acquired," by acting before the later of one week after the due date, or a number of days equal to half the length of a regular payment period (§92.053). In plain terms: on a monthly schedule, half the payment period is longer than one week, so the reinstatement clause has to give you roughly two weeks, not one. The company also has to disclose that right inside the agreement itself (§92.052(b)).
This chapter does not prevent a merchant from attempting to repossess the building during your reinstatement period (§92.101). But an attempted or completed repossession does not erase your right to reinstate (§92.102). If you do reinstate, the merchant has to give you back the same building, or a substitute of comparable quality and condition (§92.104(a)). If it's a substitute, the merchant has to give you the same required disclosures all over again (§92.104(b)).
If the building is returned during your reinstatement window — by any means other than judicial process — the window doesn't close. It extends for at least 30 more days from the date of the return (§92.103). That's a broad rule: it applies to any non-judicial return, not a narrow voluntary-drop-off scenario.
The agreement can only charge you one late charge or reinstatement fee per missed payment, no matter how long that payment stays unpaid (§92.055(a)). And it can only charge that fee at all once the payment is more than 7 days late on a monthly schedule, or more than 3 days late on a more frequent schedule (§92.055(b)(1)). When it does apply, the fee has to fall between $5 and the lesser of $10 or 10 percent of the delinquent payment (§92.055(b)(2)) — an agreement can't charge a late fee for any other reason or amount (§92.054(a)(1)(A)). The statutes website lists these dollar figures as current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025. The Texas Attorney General's own model rental-purchase agreement uses this same structure, with a blank for the late-charge amount triggered once the payment is more than 7 days late, and its instructions note that a company can choose to allow a longer grace period than 7 days, or charge no late fee at all.
Beyond the reinstatement right, Chapter 92 puts hard limits on what a rental-purchase agreement can contain. It cannot require a confession of judgment. It cannot authorize the merchant or its agent to commit a breach of the peace while repossessing the building. It cannot make you waive any defense, counterclaim, or right you have against the merchant or its agent (§92.054(a)). And you can never be required to pay more than the total amount disclosed up front to acquire ownership of the building (§92.054(b)).
Chapter 92 covers "merchandise," which §92.001(3) and §92.001(6) limit to personal property. Whether a delivered building still counts as personal property, rather than something that's become part of your land, depends on how it was installed — a building bolted to a slab may have become part of the real estate instead. Even if it counts, the chapter does not address what happens to your personal belongings stored inside it. That's the honest limit of this law. The practical move is to get your things out of the building before any pickup happens. If that isn't possible, that's a question for a lawyer, not something Chapter 92 resolves.
Checking whether your own agreement is covered by Chapter 92 includes at least two questions. The first is whether it matches the §92.001(8) definition above — that's answered by your agreement's own terms. The second is whether the building itself is still personal property, which §92.001(3) and §92.001(6) both require — and as covered above, that depends on the building's foundation and how permanent its installation is. Read how rent-to-own sheds work in Texas for the full structure of that kind of program. Worth checking too: the statute's definition of "merchant" covers a person who, in the ordinary course of business, regularly leases, offers to lease, or arranges for the leasing of merchandise under a rental-purchase agreement, and the term also includes anyone assigned an interest in the agreement (§92.001(7)).
Texas law requires the Attorney General to publish a form agreement that satisfies Chapter 92's requirements (§92.051(d)). That model form is written in plain language, and it's a useful comparison point for reading your own agreement — not a description of what any specific company's contract says. Its Repossession section states plainly: "If you do not pay on time, we have the right to come to your house to pick up the merchandise. We cannot enter your house without your permission." Its Right to Reinstate sections mirror the statute — reinstate before repossession by paying within a set number of days after the payment due date, or, if the merchandise is returned or repossessed within its own separate number of days after the due date, reinstate by paying all late payments and charges within 30 days of, in the form's words, "the date you return the merchandise or we repossess it." Its Late Charges section caps the fee to one charge per late payment, triggered once the payment is more than 7 days late, with the specific fee amount left as a blank for each agreement to fill in.
If you're damaged by a merchant's violation of Chapter 92, you can recover actual damages, plus an amount equal to 25 percent of the total payments required to acquire ownership of the building — with a floor of $250 and a cap of $1,000 — plus reasonable attorney's fees and court costs (§92.201(a)). The statutes website lists these figures too as current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025. A merchant has a narrow defense if the violation was its own error: it has to give you written notice of the error and fix your account before the 31st day after discovering the error, and before it receives written notice of the error from you or an action is filed, whichever comes first (§92.201(b)-(c)). A violation of Chapter 92 is also a deceptive trade practice under Texas law (§92.202).
Read your own agreement for the reinstatement window and late-fee terms it discloses, and act before that window closes. Call the company's office directly — for QSB's program, that's 254-687-9209 — and ask what your account needs to bring it current. If your belongings are still inside the building or the company isn't following the rules above, talk to a lawyer — this post explains what the law requires, not what to do in your specific dispute. For the terms of QSB's own program, including how payments apply toward ownership, see QSB's rent-to-own program page.