The Old Contract in Your Template Folder Is a Problem
Every couple of years TREC revises the contracts, and every time, someone sends an offer on the old version a month later because it was saved as a template. This round, the revised forms became mandatory July 1, 2026. If a file opened after that date has a 20-18 in it, that’s the first thing to fix.
This year also brought two brand-new forms, a new IABS that’s been required since January, and a water disclosure that will show up on more rural files than anyone expects. Here’s what changed, what the new forms do, and what we check on every file. Form numbers and dates below come from TREC’s own forms list and the forms themselves.
It’s a practical summary, not legal advice. Questions about how a form applies to a particular deal go to a Texas real estate attorney.
The New Form Numbers
TREC adopted the revisions at its May 4, 2026 meeting. That’s the date printed on the new forms (05-04-2026). TREC’s list shows these with a July 1, 2026 effective date:
| Form | New number |
|---|---|
| One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale) | 20-19 |
| Farm and Ranch Contract | 25-17 |
| Unimproved Property Contract | 9-18 |
| New Home Contract (Incomplete Construction) | 23-20 |
| New Home Contract (Completed Construction) | 24-20 |
| Residential Condominium Contract (Resale) | 30-18 |
| Amendment to Contract | 39-11 |
| Addendum for “Back-Up” Contract | 11-9 |
| Addendum for Property Subject to Mandatory Membership in a Property Owners Association | 36-11 |
| Seller’s Disclosure about Groundwater and Surface Water Rights (new) | 61-0 |
A few related forms show an earlier date, May 28, 2026: the new 62-0 back-up contingency notice, the Seller’s Disclosure Notice (55-1) and the lead-based paint addendum (56-0). And the IABS 1-2 has been required since January 1, 2026.
Don’t work from this table forever, either. Pull forms from TREC or your forms software, and check the version number in the footer before anything goes out for signature.
What Changed Inside the Contracts
We already walk through the resale contract in our paragraph-by-paragraph guide to the TREC 20-19, so this is the short version. Comparing 20-18 to 20-19, these are the changes agents notice first:
- Brokerage compensation (12B). It now opens with the statement that brokerage compensation is not set by law and is fully negotiable. Each party pays their own broker under separate written agreements, and any seller or buyer contribution toward the other side’s broker is filled in here. The same language is in the other 2026 contracts. Pair it with our guide to Texas buyer representation agreements in 2026.
- “Legal Holiday” is defined (5A). When an earnest money, option fee or additional earnest money deadline lands on a Saturday, Sunday or Legal Holiday, it moves to the end of the next day that isn’t one. The contract now defines Legal Holiday by reference to Sections 662.003(a) and 662.003(b)(4) and (6) of the Texas Government Code, instead of leaving it undefined.
- Generators (2B). Generators are now listed among the improvements that convey.
- The Seller’s Water Disclosure (Paragraph 7). The biggest new piece, covered next.
For the 2025 round of changes (geothermal leases, the T-47.1 declaration, and the survey options), see the earlier update.
Form 61-0: The Groundwater and Surface Water Disclosure
TREC 61-0, the Seller’s Disclosure about Groundwater and Surface Water Rights, is the seller’s disclosure of what they know about water wells, groundwater districts, groundwater rights and surface water rights on the property. It’s two pages and it isn’t a warranty.
It is not on every file
This is where people will get it wrong in both directions. The contracts walk through it in Paragraph 7, with three boxes:
- The buyer has already received the Seller’s Water Disclosure.
- The buyer hasn’t, and the seller will deliver it within a stated number of days.
- The seller isn’t required to deliver it, because all of these are true:
- the seller isn’t aware of a water well on the property, in use or not
- the seller isn’t aware of a pond, lake or water tank on the property
- the seller isn’t aware of any TCEQ certificate of adjudication, certified filing or permit for surface water rights
- the seller isn’t aware that any groundwater rights have been severed, sold or leased
- the property gets water only from a named city, MUD or other special district, water supply corporation or private water supply company
A typical subdivision home on city water with no pond checks box 3 and names the provider. A house on a well needs 61-0. So does a city-water house with a stock tank out back, because box 3 requires every condition to be true.
Where it is in each contract
| Contract | Paragraph |
|---|---|
| One to Four Family Residential (20-19) | 7I |
| Unimproved Property (9-18) | 7F |
| New Home, Completed Construction (24-20) | 7J |
| New Home, Incomplete Construction (23-20) | 7K |
| Farm and Ranch (25-17) | 7K |
The Residential Condominium Contract (30-18) doesn’t have the paragraph.
The 7-day window
If box 2 is checked, the timing works like the Seller’s Disclosure Notice. If the seller never delivers, the buyer can terminate any time before closing and get the earnest money back. If the seller delivers after the contract is signed, the buyer may terminate for any reason within 7 days after receiving it or before closing, whichever comes first, with the earnest money refunded.
That’s a deadline. It goes on the calendar the day the disclosure is delivered.
The form itself says that water rights questions can be complex and that parties who intend to reserve, except or separately convey water rights should consult an attorney before signing. We’d repeat that. For the practical side of rural files, see well and septic transactions in Texas and our farm and ranch checklist.
Form 62-0: Removing the Back-Up Contingency
The Addendum for “Back-Up” Contract (now 11-9) makes a back-up contract contingent on the first contract terminating. Under Paragraph H of that addendum, once the seller notifies the back-up buyer that the first contract has terminated, the back-up contract’s Effective Date, for performance purposes, changes to the date that notice is delivered: the Amended Effective Date.
Before 2026 there was no TREC form for that notice. TREC 62-0, the Seller’s Notice to Buyer of Removal of Contingency Under Addendum for “Back-Up” Contract, is it. The seller states that:
- the first contract is terminated,
- the back-up contract is no longer subject to the contingency, and
- the Amended Effective Date is the date the notice is delivered under Paragraph 21 of the contract.
It also has receipt blocks for the escrow agent to acknowledge any additional option fee and additional earnest money.
Why it matters on a file: every deadline that counts from the Effective Date (earnest money, option period, survey, title objections, financing) restarts from the Amended Effective Date. If the back-up contract has been sitting in the file with deadlines calendared from its original date, those dates are wrong the moment 62-0 is delivered.
IABS 1-2
TREC updated the Information About Brokerage Services form to match SB 1968, and IABS 1-2 has been required since January 1, 2026. The changes: it explains that a written agreement is required before showing residential property, describes showing property without representing the buyer, updates the contact information section, and removes subagency.
Two places to check: the IABS in each new file, and the IABS link on your website and in your email signature, if it still points at an old PDF.
What a TC Checks on Every Texas File Now
A TC doesn’t pick the form or fill in the terms on their own. Forms are filled out at the agent’s specific direction. What we do is check the file for completeness and keep it. Since July 1:
- Contract version. 20-19, 25-17, 9-18, 23-20, 24-20 or 30-18, by the footer, not the file name.
- Amendments on 39-11. Same check on every amendment.
- Water disclosure paragraph. One box checked. If box 3, the water provider is named. If box 1 or 2, 61-0 is in the file or calendared, with the 7-day window tracked from the day it’s delivered.
- Back-up files. The addendum is 11-9. When the first contract terminates, 62-0 is signed and delivered, the Amended Effective Date is recorded, and every deadline is recalculated from it.
- Weekend and holiday deadlines. Earnest money and option fee dates adjusted for Saturdays, Sundays and Legal Holidays as the contract now defines them.
- 12B. Any seller or buyer contribution toward broker compensation is filled in, and the agent has confirmed it matches what the client agreed to.
- IABS 1-2 in the file.
Anything missing or on an old version goes back to the agent, and the broker’s back office stays updated so the file review shows the same thing we see. Brokers: the Texas Broker Compliance Checklist lists the current form numbers alongside the rest of the 2026 file review.
The Bottom Line
Most of 2026 is housekeeping: new numbers, a defined holiday, generators in the improvements. Two parts aren’t. The water disclosure adds a 7-day termination window to a lot of rural and edge-of-town files, and a back-up contract that goes primary now resets its whole calendar on the day 62-0 is delivered. Miss either one and the deadlines on the file are wrong.
Agents: our TCs track these on every Texas file, from executed contract to closing, with a dedicated TC and a backup on each one. See our Texas TC services, pricing, or get in touch.
TCs: our TC Training Course covers the contract-to-close workflow these forms plug into.
