1. Who we are and what these Terms cover
RentYard is rental-management software operated by [RentYard legal entity] ("we", "us"), currently operated by Dustin Houser, 201 2nd St, Sealy, TX 77474. You can reach us at rent@housertx.com.
RentYard lets a landlord or property manager ("Landlord") keep rent and utility records, split utility bills among tenants, send reminders, manage leases, inspections and room listings, and collect payments through a tenant portal. Tenants and people who apply for a room ("Applicants") use the portal and the public listing pages.
These Terms apply to everyone who uses RentYard at rent.housertx.com, including Landlords and their staff, tenants and Applicants. By signing in, applying, paying or otherwise using RentYard, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, don't use RentYard.
Your lease is between you and your Landlord, not with us. If these Terms and your lease conflict about rent, fees, deposits or your tenancy, your lease and Texas law control. We are not a party to your lease, we are not your Landlord, and we are not a real estate broker, property manager, bank or money transmitter.
2. Accounts and sign-in
- Landlords and staff sign in with a password and a two-factor code (directly or through the Houser Login single sign-in). Tenants sign in with a one-time link sent by email or text; links expire after a short time and a tenant session lasts up to 30 days on that device.
- Keep your sign-in links, password and codes to yourself. You are responsible for activity under your account. Tell us or your Landlord right away if you think someone else used it.
- You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract.
- Give accurate information and keep it up to date.
3. Landlord responsibilities
If you use RentYard as a Landlord or for a Landlord, you agree that:
- You will follow all laws that apply to you, including the federal Fair Housing Act, the Texas Fair Housing Act, the Texas Property Code (including Chapter 92 on residential tenancies, late fees, security deposits and notices), utility-allocation and submetering rules, debt-collection laws and consumer-protection laws.
- The rent, utility shares, fees, deposits and notices you enter or send are accurate and allowed by your lease and the law. RentYard calculates and displays what you set up; it does not check that your lease terms or charges are lawful.
- You have a lawful basis and any required consent to enter tenant and Applicant information, and to text or email them through RentYard.
- You will keep sensitive tenant information (such as dates of birth and driver's license numbers) only as long as you need it, and only share it with people who need it.
- You are responsible for the people you add as managers or staff.
4. Payments in the tenant portal
4.1 Processor
Online payments are processed by Stripe, Inc. under Stripe's own terms. Card and bank numbers are entered on Stripe's secure forms; we never see or store full card or bank account numbers. A payment is credited to your ledger when Stripe confirms it. Bank (ACH) payments can take several business days to clear and show as "pending" until they do.
4.2 Bank transfers have no fee
Paying from a bank account (ACH) has no fee.
4.3 Credit-card fee passed through to you
If you pay with a credit card, a card convenience fee of 2.90% + $0.30, capped at 3% of the payment is added to that payment and paid by you. The fee is shown before you confirm, is never more than 3% of the payment, and is listed on your receipt. Debit and prepaid cards have no fee. The fee covers the card processor's charge; it is not rent and is not kept by the Landlord as income. If you don't want to pay the fee, pay by bank transfer, debit card or another method your Landlord accepts.
4.4 Returned or failed payments
If a payment you made is returned, reversed or fails after it was credited (for example insufficient funds, a closed account, a stopped payment or a bank-transfer return), the payment is removed from your ledger, the amount is owed again, and a returned-payment fee of $30 is charged to you, as stated in your lease. Any late fee in your lease may also apply. After a returned payment, your Landlord may require a different payment method. A card chargeback you file in bad faith is treated like a returned payment.
4.5 Autopay
Autopay is optional and only you can turn it on. When you turn it on, you authorize the Landlord, through Stripe, to charge the bank account or card you choose for rent and posted utility shares (and any catch-up plan you picked) on their due dates. You will get a notice 3 days before each charge with the amount and date, and a charge will never be more than the notice says. A failed charge may be retried a limited number of times, with a notice each time. You can turn autopay off any time in the portal; to stop a charge that is already scheduled, turn it off at least one business day before the charge date.
4.6 Partial payments, receipts and disputes
Your Landlord decides whether partial payments are accepted. You get a receipt for every payment. If you think a charge or a payment record is wrong, tell your Landlord first. You can also email us at rent@housertx.com and we will help look into it, but your Landlord decides questions about your lease and charges.
5. Utility-bill splits
Your Landlord may post a share of a utility bill to your ledger. RentYard divides the bill using the method your Landlord chose (for example equal shares among the tenants who share utilities). You can ask to see the bill a share came from. Photos of bills may be read with an AI tool to save typing; the Landlord reviews the amounts before a share is posted. Questions about whether a utility charge is allowed under your lease go to your Landlord.
6. Leases, notices and electronic signatures
- You agree to receive leases, notices, receipts, statements and other records electronically and to sign documents electronically. Electronic signatures and records have the same effect as paper ones under the federal E-SIGN Act and the Texas Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code ch. 322).
- When you sign, we record the document's fingerprint (SHA-256), the time, your IP address and your device, and make a signature certificate.
- You can ask your Landlord for a paper copy at no charge, and you can withdraw your consent to electronic records by telling your Landlord in writing. Withdrawing doesn't undo documents already signed.
- You need a device with a current web browser, an email address or mobile number, and a way to view PDF files.
7. Room listings and applications
- Listings are written by the Landlord. We don't verify them.
- When you apply, you confirm that what you give is true and complete and you allow the Landlord to verify it. Applications are reviewed by the Landlord, who alone decides whether to approve them, following the tenant selection criteria shown on the application.
- If the Landlord uses a tenant-screening service (for example TransUnion SmartMove or RentPrep), you will be asked for separate consent on that service's site before any report is run. Screening reports are governed by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and the screening company's terms.
- An application fee, if any, is shown before you submit and is handled as the selection criteria say.
- We never ask for your Social Security number on an application.
8. Text messages (SMS)
Program: RentYard rent and utility reminders, receipts, sign-in links and service-request updates from your Landlord.
- You only get texts if you opt in (for example by checking the text box or replying START). Consent to texts is not a condition of renting or of any purchase.
- Message frequency varies, usually about 2 to 6 messages a month. Message and data rates may apply.
- Reply STOP to opt out at any time; you'll get one confirmation and no more texts unless you reply START. Reply HELP for help, or email rent@housertx.com.
- Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
- If you change or give up your number, tell your Landlord or reply STOP from that number.
- Texts are sent through our texting provider. Your mobile number and opt-in are never sold or shared with anyone for their marketing. See the Privacy Policy.
9. Email
We send service email such as sign-in links, receipts, reminders and notices on your Landlord's behalf. Service email about your account, payments and lease isn't marketing and you can't opt out of it while you use the portal, but you can turn off optional reminder emails in the portal or by asking your Landlord. If we ever send marketing email, it will identify us, include our postal address and have a working unsubscribe link, as the CAN-SPAM Act requires.
10. AI features
Some features use an AI service (for example, reading a photo of a utility bill, or the "Ask AI" helper for Landlord staff). AI output can be wrong. Landlords must review AI-read amounts before they are posted and must not rely on AI answers as legal, tax or financial advice.
11. Acceptable use
Don't: break the law; harass, discriminate against or threaten anyone; upload malware or someone else's private information without the right to; try to get into accounts or data that aren't yours; probe, scan or overload the service; scrape it; copy or resell it; or use it to send messages people didn't agree to receive. We may suspend access to protect people or the service.
12. Fees for Landlords
RentYard is provided to Landlords under the plan they agreed to. If we start charging or change a fee, we'll tell Landlords in advance and they can stop using RentYard before the change applies. Processor fees (for example Stripe's) are separate.
13. Your content and our software
You keep ownership of the information and files you upload. You let us host, copy, process and display them only to run RentYard for you and your Landlord, keep it secure and meet legal duties. The software, design and name RentYard belong to [RentYard legal entity]. If you send us feedback, we may use it without owing you anything.
14. Ending use
Landlords can stop using RentYard at any time and ask for an export of their data. Tenants' portal access ends when the Landlord ends it, normally after move-out and once the balance is settled. We may suspend or end access for a breach of these Terms, non-payment by a Landlord, or to follow the law. Sections that by their nature should survive (payments owed, disclaimers, liability limits, governing law) survive.
15. Disclaimers
RentYard is provided "as is" and "as available." To the extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We don't promise that the service will be uninterrupted or error-free, that a message will be delivered, or that calculations (rent, utility shares, late fees, deposits) are right for your situation. Nothing in RentYard is legal, tax or financial advice.
16. Limitation of liability
To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, rent or data. Our total liability for any claim relating to RentYard is limited to the greater of (a) the fees the Landlord paid us for RentYard in the 12 months before the claim, or (b) $100. This doesn't limit liability that Texas law doesn't allow to be limited, and doesn't change what a tenant owes or is owed under a lease.
17. Indemnity
Landlords will defend and hold us harmless from claims arising from their leases, charges, notices, listings, tenant screening, messages they send and their use of tenant information, except to the extent caused by our own breach of these Terms.
18. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas and applicable federal law, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. Before filing a claim, please email us at rent@housertx.com so we can try to resolve it within 30 days. Any lawsuit must be brought in the state or federal courts serving Austin County, Texas, unless the law gives you the right to sue elsewhere (for example in a justice court where you live), and each side consents to those courts. Nothing here limits rights you have under the Texas Property Code or the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act that can't be waived.
19. Changes
We may update these Terms. We'll post the new version here with a new effective date and, for a material change, tell Landlords and signed-in users in the app or by email before it takes effect. Continuing to use RentYard after that means you accept the change.
20. Contact
[RentYard legal entity], 201 2nd St, Sealy, TX 77474 · rent@housertx.com