The statute
Texas SB 17, in the order a closer needs it.
Effective September 1, 2025, Texas restricts acquisition of real property interests by certain foreign governments, entities, and individuals. The Attorney General proposed Chapter 67 rules on March 27, 2026 to implement it. Those rules are proposed, not adopted. They would define a facilitating entity's reasonable-diligence and complaint duties.
Texas SB 17 bars certain foreign governments, companies, and individuals from acquiring an interest in Texas real property. It took effect September 1, 2025 and sits at Property Code sections 5.251 to 5.259. It names no duty for the title agent, lender, or broker who works on the file.
This page covers SB 17 (89th Legislature, 2025): restrictions on real property acquisition by certain foreign persons and entities, Texas Property Code §§5.251 to 5.259. It does not cover SB 17 (88th Legislature, 2023) on DEI offices in public higher education.
Who does Texas SB 17 cover?
Section 5.253 names four groups. A governmental entity of a designated country. A company or organization headquartered in a designated country, held or controlled by that government, majority-held or controlled by individuals the section describes, or designated by the governor. A company owned or majority-held or controlled by one of those companies. And an individual in any of five described situations, starting with domicile in a designated country. Section 5.251(3) defines a designated country by reference to the Director of National Intelligence's Annual Threat Assessment and to the governor's designations under Section 5.254, so the bill prints no list of countries.
What property does it reach?
Section 5.251(6) defines real property to include agricultural land, an improvement on agricultural land, commercial property, industrial property, groundwater, residential property, a mine or quarry, a mineral in place, standing timber, and water rights. This is not a house statute. A mineral deed, a groundwater lease, and a ground lease of a year or more are all inside it.
When did Texas SB 17 take effect?
September 1, 2025. SECTION 6 of the Act applies the changes only to a purchase or acquisition on or after that date and leaves an earlier acquisition under the law in effect before it.
Who is outside the statute?
Section 5.252 excepts a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident, a company or organization owned or controlled by such individuals and by no individual the prohibition describes, and a leasehold of less than one year. The residence-homestead path is separate and sits inside the prohibition at Section 5.253(4)(A). Read every carve-out with its section number.
Do title companies have to report SB 17 violations?
Not today. The reporting duty appears in the Chapter 67 rules the Attorney General proposed on March 27, 2026, and those rules are not adopted. Treat it as a duty that is coming rather than one in force, and confirm the current status before you rely on this. The status page tracks it.
What counts as reasonable due diligence under SB 17?
Nobody has said yet. The proposed rules do not set a minimum standard and do not impose a record-keeping requirement. That is why offices keep their own record of what they asked and what they checked, dated at the time they checked it.
Is there a Texas REALTORS form for SB 17?
No. The January 2026 residential forms revisions added an informational notice about the statute to TXR 1501, the Buyer/Tenant Representation Agreement, and TXR 2003, the Residential Lease Application. There is no questionnaire, checklist, or documentation form. Confirm the current forms before you rely on this.
What do title underwriters ask for?
Requirements come from each underwriter's bulletin, not from ParcelClear. Underwriters have issued SB 17 bulletins; ask your underwriter for the current one. Bulletins get replaced, and the one you read when the statute took effect may not be the one in force on your file. What an affidavit records, and what it does not.
What should a closer put in the file?
The statute names nothing, so the answer is whatever your office and your counsel decide, recorded on the day you decided it. The title agent checklist is what ParcelClear records on a file, offered as a starting point rather than as a standard.
Does ParcelClear decide whether a buyer may purchase property?
No. It records the questionnaire answers, the control-person tree for entity and trust buyers, the OFAC screening results with the list versions used, and the reviewer's disposition of any hit. The decision rests with the licensed professional and their underwriter.
Sources
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Go deeper
SB 17 mineral and surface interests
SB 17 covers any interest in Texas real property, including minerals, water rights, timber, and leases of a year or more. This page is for landmen, lease assignments, and ranch counsel.
SB 17 leases
SB 17 reaches leases of a year or more, a line set in conference. A lease made in violation is not void by operation of law; Section 5.257 lets a court-appointed receiver terminate one. For property managers, brokers, and commercial landlords.
OFAC at closing
Every United States person is prohibited from dealing with persons on OFAC's sanctions lists, including title agents, brokers, and landlords. What a screen is, what a potential match means, and what a record shows.
What we will not say
These two lists are part of the rule set itself, not marketing copy. They are hashed into every evidence pack ParcelClear produces.
What ParcelClear does
- Records what a party attested and what the OFAC SDN and Consolidated lists said on the date of the screen.
- Evaluates those facts against a named, versioned Texas SB 17 rule set.
- Produces a time-stamped, hashed evidence pack.
- Screens parties and control persons against the OFAC SDN and Consolidated lists.
What ParcelClear will never claim
- Makes you SB 17 compliant.
- Guarantees no prohibited buyer.
- Certifies eligibility.
- Replaces underwriter or counsel review.
- Rule set
- tx-sb17
- Version
- 1.0.10
- SHA-256 of the rule set
- ef1258888f48d8bc578a355192c0a344336866f0c10136dec95ed45c3d18753d