Texas land due diligence.
Texas plays by its own rules: minerals severed from the surface, ag exemptions that snap back as rollback taxes, groundwater under the rule of capture, and counties with no zoning at all. Our completed reports are concentrated in Texas — this is the ground we know best.
Mineral rights and the surface estate
In Texas the mineral estate is dominant — whoever owns the minerals can generally use as much surface as is reasonably necessary to produce them, and on many rural tracts those minerals were reserved generations ago. We trace the deed records for severances, reservations, leases and royalty conveyances, and tell you exactly what does and does not come with the surface you're buying.
Ag exemption and rollback taxes
Land under a 1-d-1 agricultural or wildlife valuation is taxed on productive value, not market value — which is why listings advertise tiny tax bills. Change the use and the county can claw back up to five years of savings plus interest as a rollback tax. We confirm the parcel's appraisal status with the appraisal district and flag the rollback exposure so it gets negotiated in the contract, not discovered at closing.
Groundwater rights and rule of capture
Texas groundwater belongs to the landowner under the rule of capture, but it's a severable property right — it can be, and often has been, sold or reserved separately from the surface. Local groundwater conservation districts add pumping rules on top. If a well matters to your plans, we verify the groundwater rights convey and identify the district that regulates the tract.
Survey and boundary
Texas closes through title companies, but the survey does the real work on rural land. Boundary conflicts, encroachments and access gaps are common, and an old survey that passed on a prior sale may not satisfy a title company now. We check what survey exists, whether it's adequate, and where a new one should be a condition of your contract.
Deed restrictions, ETJ and 'no zoning'
Most unincorporated Texas counties have no zoning — but that doesn't mean no rules. Recorded deed restrictions and subdivision covenants bind the land, county septic (OSSF) permitting applies statewide, and a tract inside a city's extraterritorial jurisdiction can be annexed. We pull the recorded restrictions from the county clerk and check ETJ boundaries before you assume the land is unrestricted.
Access, easements and flood
Landlocked tracts, prescriptive ranch roads that were never recorded, and easements to utilities or neighbors are standard Texas findings. So is flood: we read FEMA mapping against the parcel and note where flash-flood-prone terrain — common across the Hill Country and Gulf Coast — cuts into usable area.
Want the full backstory? Read our guide to what's different about buying land in Texas, or start with the complete due diligence pillar.
County clerk — deed records
Texas records land instruments county by county — all 254 of them, and no two index quite the same way. We pull the recorded deeds, easements, restrictions, mineral conveyances and leases themselves and read each one in full, not just the index entry.
County appraisal district (CAD)
Each county's appraisal district holds the parcel's appraised value, acreage, exemptions and agricultural or wildlife valuation status. We confirm 1-d-1 status, estimate rollback exposure, and reconcile CAD acreage against the survey and deed.
Groundwater conservation districts
Nearly all of Texas is covered by a local groundwater district with its own permitting, spacing and pumping rules. We identify the district covering the tract and what its rules mean for the well you're counting on.
TCEQ and county septic (OSSF)
On-site sewage facilities are permitted under TCEQ rules, administered by counties or authorized agents. We confirm the permitting authority for the parcel, any existing system on record, and floodplain status that affects where a system can go.
We work from these records remotely — no site visits, no surveys, no brokerage. Every source is cited in the report so you can verify it yourself. See a sample report for the exact format.
Texas red flags we find most
The same handful of problems take out Texas deals over and over. Every one of them is visible in public records before you go under contract.
- Minerals or groundwater reserved in a deed decades before the current seller bought
- Ag valuation that triggers a five-year rollback tax the moment you change use
- Active oil or gas lease giving an operator surface access to your tract
- Access by unrecorded ranch road rather than a deeded easement
- Deed restrictions or subdivision covenants where the listing promised 'no restrictions'
- Tract inside a city's ETJ with annexation on the horizon
- Flash-flood terrain or mapped floodplain cutting the buildable area
Land consulting in Austin, TX
City and ETJ parcels where impervious-cover limits, watershed protection rules and heritage-tree ordinances decide what a lot can hold.
Land consulting in Dripping Springs, TX
Hill Country acreage on Trinity aquifer wells, with no county zoning, endangered-species habitat and flash-flood creeks doing the deciding.
Land consulting in the Texas Hill Country
Regional review for Hill Country acreage: Trinity and Edwards groundwater, karst soils, no county zoning, and ag valuations carrying rollback exposure.
Texas questions we get
Do mineral rights come with the land in Texas?
Not by default. Texas treats the mineral estate as a separate property interest that is frequently severed from the surface, and the mineral owner typically has the right to use the surface for production. Our report tells you what the deed records show — what was reserved, what's leased, and what actually conveys to you.
What is the ag exemption rollback tax?
When land under a 1-d-1 agricultural or wildlife valuation changes to a non-qualifying use, the county can recapture up to five years of the tax savings plus interest. On exempt land this can be a five-figure surprise. Whether buyer or seller pays is negotiable — we quantify the exposure so it gets addressed in the contract.
Do you do site visits in Texas?
No. Landisle is a records-based research practice — we work from county deed records, appraisal district data, groundwater district rules, FEMA mapping and other public records, remotely. Where a parcel needs field work, the report names the specialist to hire and the exact question to ask them.
What does a Texas parcel review cost?
Every report is quoted flat-fee per parcel before work begins — the quote doesn't change by county. Send us the parcel (address, APN or listing link) and you'll have a written fee within one business day.
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Land due diligence: the complete guide — our full hub of land research guides, from title and access to soils, zoning and cost.