TREC 20-19 vs 20-18

How to tell which one is in front of you

Look at the footer of any page.

The TREC approval block at the end of the contract body states it outright on the newer form: TREC NO. 20-19. This form replaces TREC NO. 20-18.

Paragraph 5 barely moved, but the holiday definition is new

The 3-day delivery deadline, the 5:00 p.m. option notice, the 5A(2) extension for money only, and 5E time of the essence all read the same across both revisions. The deadline math does not change.

What is new: 5A(2) now defines its own term. Legal Holiday means a legal holiday described in Sections 662.003(a) and 662.003(b)(4) and (6), Texas Government Code. That is the national holiday list in subsection (a) plus two of the state holidays named in subsection (b); the remaining state holidays in 662.003(b) sit outside the definition. The 20-18 said "legal holiday" and left it undefined.

Naming them, because "two of the state holidays" is not something a reader can act on. The two that do count are Juneteenth (June 19) under 662.003(b)(4) and the Friday after Thanksgiving under 662.003(b)(6).

The six Texas state holidays that are not Legal Holidays under this contract, and therefore do not move a deadline: Confederate Heroes Day (January 19), Texas Independence Day (March 2), San Jacinto Day (April 21), Lyndon Baines Johnson Day (August 27), Christmas Eve (December 24), and the Day After Christmas (December 26). State offices may close on those days. The contract does not care.

The other Paragraph 5 change is cosmetic: the 20-18 capitalized Option Fee, the 20-19 writes option fee in lower case throughout, including on the receipts page.

New in Paragraph 7: the Seller's Water Disclosure

The 20-19 adds ¶7I, a disclosure about groundwater and surface water rights, using a Seller's Water Disclosure published by TREC. Three boxes, structured like 7B:

• Buyer has received it.
• Buyer has not received it, and the seller delivers it within a stated number of days after the Effective Date. If it never arrives, the buyer may terminate any time prior to closing. If it does arrive, the buyer may terminate for any reason within 7 days after receiving it or prior to closing, whichever first occurs. Earnest money refunded either way.
• The seller is not required to deliver it, which requires all five listed conditions to be true: no water well the seller is aware of, no pond, lake, or water tank, no TCEQ surface water right, no severed, sold, or leased groundwater rights, and water supplied only by the named city, district, water supply corporation, or private water company.

Practically, that middle box is a second delivery deadline on the file, counted from the Effective Date exactly like 7B(2).

Brokerage compensation moved into Paragraph 12

The 20-18 carried broker fees in ¶8B (BROKERS' FEES) and on the broker information page, which held a disclosure that the listing broker had agreed to pay the other broker a fee or a percentage. Both are gone from the 20-19. Paragraph 8 is now BROKER OR SALES AGENT DISCLOSURE and nothing else.

New ¶12B, BROKERAGE COMPENSATION, states that brokerage compensation is not set by law and is fully negotiable, that each party pays their own broker under separate written agreements, and adds two contribution checkboxes: the seller may pay a dollar amount or a percentage of the Sales Price toward the compensation the buyer owes the buyer's broker, and the buyer may do the same toward what the seller owes the seller's broker. New ¶12C, EXPENSE LIMITATION, handles governmental loan program rules that prohibit the buyer from paying certain charges.

Also removed: the 20-18 sentence letting a party terminate if an expense exceeded the amount expressly stated in the contract for that expense. It is not in the 20-19.

Paragraph 21 notices

Fax is out of the list, overnight courier is in, and agents are named on both the sending and receiving side. The block itself is rebuilt with separate Address, Phone(s), and Email(s) lines for the buyers, the sellers, and each side's agent, instead of the 20-18's "with a copy to" lines.

The rest of it

• ¶2 accessories now list generators.
• ¶7B calls it the Seller's Disclosure Notice throughout instead of "the Notice". The 7 days after receipt and the terminate-any-time-before-closing rules are unchanged.
• The 20-18's ¶7A(12) REQUIRED NOTICES list is gone. The district notices are now a fill-in line inside ¶22, followed by a printed warning that a seller's failure to provide applicable statutory disclosures and notices may give the buyer remedies or rights to terminate.
• ¶17 attorney's fees says Seller's broker and Buyer's broker where the 20-18 said Listing Broker and Other Broker.
• ¶20 is GOVERNMENTAL REQUIREMENTS, not FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS. The foreign-person withholding language stays as 20A; new 20B requires both parties to promptly execute and deliver statements, documents, and information the escrow agent needs for governmental reporting.
• ¶22 groups the addenda boxes as Financial, Leases, Additional Tests and Reports, Statutory Disclosures and Notices, and Other. Two boxes are new to the list: the Non-Realty Items Addendum, and the Addendum for Release of Liability on Assumed Loan and/or Restoration of Seller's VA Entitlement.
• The last page is BROKER CONTACT INFORMATION, rebuilt into three labeled blocks — seller's agent, buyer's agent, intermediary — each with firm, address, license numbers, associate, team, email, phone, and licensed supervisor.

Related forms carry the same date stamp

The amendment (TREC 39-11), the property owners association addendum (36-11), the lead-based paint addendum (56-0), and the Seller's Disclosure Notice (55-1) all print 05-04-2026 in the corner. The 39-11's boxes (4) and (5) reference Paragraph 12A(1)(b) and Paragraph 12B, which are the 20-19 paragraph numbers.

Stop counting days by hand

Drop your contract in at recontract.ai and every deadline computes itself: the Effective Date read off the execution block, the option period at 5:00 PM, the 3-day money window with the weekend rule already applied, the financing date off the 40-11, and the Closing Date. It is free, and the file is parsed in your browser.