Texas law exempts one single-family home on a tract of 10 acres or more from septic permitting, but only if every part of the system sits at least 100 feet from the property line, all effluent stays on the property, and that home is the only dwelling on the tract. The exemption skips the permit, not the rules: the system must still meet TCEQ’s construction standards in 30 TAC Chapter 285, and a growing list of counties, including Hays, Gillespie, Bastrop, Waller, Burnet, Wise, Comal, Kendall and Burleson, requires a permit regardless of acreage. Kerr County joined them on August 7, 2026.
Four conditions, one exemption, and a county veto. Those three facts, each verified against the statute, the rule text effective July 6, 2023, and the counties’ own adopted orders, are the whole story. Here is each one in detail, with the exact language.
The exemption comes from two places: a statute written by the Legislature and a TCEQ rule that implements it. The statute is Texas Health & Safety Code §366.052:
“Sections 366.051, 366.053, 366.054, and 366.057 do not apply to an on-site sewage disposal system of a single residence that is located on a land tract that is 10 acres or larger in which the field line or sewage disposal line is not closer than 100 feet of the property line.”
The four sections it switches off are the permit-and-approved-plan requirement, the permit application, the installer’s pre-construction notice, and permit issuance. Nothing else in Chapter 366 is switched off.
TCEQ’s implementing rule, 30 TAC §285.3(f)(2), is the version your county actually administers, and it is slightly stricter than the statute:
“No planning materials, permit, and inspections are required for an OSSF for a single family dwelling located on a tract of land that is ten acres or larger provided the OSSF complies with all other requirements of Chapter 285, Subchapter D … and: (A) the OSSF is not causing a nuisance or polluting groundwater; (B) all parts of the OSSF are at least 100 feet from the property line; (C) the effluent is disposed of on the property; and (D) the single family dwelling is the only dwelling located on that tract of land.”
Note the difference: the statute measures 100 feet from the field line or disposal line, while the rule requires all parts of the system, tank included, to keep that distance. Build to the rule’s reading. This is the current text, effective July 6, 2023; TCEQ’s own rule-history log shows no amendment since.
You qualify only while all four conditions hold at once.
| Condition | Rule text | What it means on the ground |
|---|---|---|
| One dwelling | “the single family dwelling is the only dwelling located on that tract” | A second home, a rented casita, or a barndominium with living quarters ends the exemption for the whole tract |
| 10 acres or larger | “a tract of land that is ten acres or larger” | The tract itself, as deeded. Selling off 3 acres later drops you below the line |
| 100-foot setback | “all parts of the OSSF are at least 100 feet from the property line” | Tank, lines and disposal area all count, not just the drain field |
| Effluent stays home | “the effluent is disposed of on the property” and no nuisance or groundwater pollution | Surface runoff crossing a fence line is the classic way exempt systems become enforcement cases |
TCEQ’s permitting page adds one more expectation that surprises people: the property still “receives a site evaluation conducted by a TCEQ licensed Site Evaluator or a Professional Engineer.” The exemption removes paperwork and inspections. It does not remove the soil science.
An exempt system is unpermitted, not unregulated. Three obligations survive in full:
First, construction standards. §285.3(f)(2) conditions the exemption on the system complying “with all other requirements of Chapter 285, Subchapter D,” which is the subchapter that sets tank standards, drain-field sizing, and separation distances. An undersized field on 40 acres is still an illegal system, just an uninspected one.
Second, the pollution and nuisance prohibitions. Health & Safety Code §366.004 bars constructing or operating a system that fails the chapter, and §366.017 lets the county or TCEQ order repairs to a malfunctioning system, with administrative or civil penalties under Water Code Chapter 7 accruing for each day it stays unrepaired. Complaints, usually from neighbors, are how exempt systems meet regulators.
Third, licensing for hired work. Under §366.071, anyone who constructs, installs or repairs OSSFs for compensation must hold a TCEQ license. The exemption changes what gets filed, not who may do the work.
The state exemption applies only where the local permitting authority has not overridden it, and overrides are spreading. Health & Safety Code §366.032(b) says a TCEQ-approved local order that is “more stringent” and provides “greater public health and safety protection” prevails over the state chapter, and 30 TAC §285.10(b)(4) sets the process: written justification, TCEQ executive-director review, published notice, public meeting, and TCEQ approval before any amendment takes effect.
Status of the counties we have verified against their own adopted orders and published policies:
| County | 10-acre exemption | Authority, in the county’s own words |
|---|---|---|
| Hays | Not honored | “A permit will be required for all On-Site Sewage Facilities, regardless of the size of the lot or acreage onto which it is installed” |
| Gillespie | Not honored | “Rules that require approved wastewater disposal in ALL areas of Gillespie County regardless of acreage size” (county brochure, revised September 2025) |
| Bastrop | Ended 2017 | Permit and fees required “regardless of the acreage of the subject property” (OSSF Rules §10.1(a), TCEQ-certified December 1, 2017) |
| Waller | Ended 2017 | “All On-Site sewage facilities, regardless of acreage, will be required to meet all State and County Standards and be permitted” (Order §10(A)) |
| Burnet | Ended | “Burnet County will permit and inspect all on-site systems regardless of the size of the tract” (Order §10(A); see our Burnet County permit guide) |
| Wise | Ended 2012 | Permit required “regardless of the size of the tract of land” (Order §10(D); see our Wise County permit guide) |
| Kerr | Ended 2026 | Permit required for “all On-Site Sewage Facilities within Kerr County area of jurisdiction regardless of acreage” (Order §9; effective August 7, 2026, see timeline below) |
| Comal | Not honored | “A permit shall be required for all On-Site Sewage Facilities within Comal County’s area of jurisdiction regardless of acreage” (Order §10.4, adopted October 24, 2013; see our Comal County permit guide) |
| Kendall | Not honored | “A permit shall be required for all On-Site Sewage Facilities within Kendall County’s area of jurisdiction regardless of acreage” (Order §10(C), headed “Tracts Greater Than Ten (10) Acres”, adopted March 13, 2006; see our Kendall County permit guide) |
| Burleson | Not honored | “A permit is required for all on-site sewage facilities within Burleson County’s area of jurisdiction regardless of acreage” (Order §9(A), adopted October 10, 2023; see our Burleson County permit guide) |
| Montgomery | Unclear, assume permit | Permit-first instructions published; exemption position not stated. Confirm with the county |
Everywhere else, the state default stands until the county’s order says otherwise, and the only way to know is to ask the permitting authority directly. TCEQ’s authorized-agent search finds yours, and our directory of every Texas permitting authority lists them with contacts.
Kerr County is the test case for how an exemption ends, and the full sequence is now on the public record. Notice of a public meeting was published July 8, 2026. The Commissioners Court held that meeting and adopted the order on July 13, 2026. TCEQ’s executive director approved the adopted order on August 7, 2026, and that approval date is the effective date, because the order’s own Section 16 says it takes effect “upon the approval of the TCEQ” and 30 TAC §285.10(c) says the same thing from the rule side. Kerr County’s Environmental Health page now carries the result in its own words: “Effective Aug. 7, 2026, the county now requires a permit for ALL new septic systems, regardless of tract size.”
The operative language is Section 9 of the order, headed More Stringent Requirements: “Tracts Greater Than Ten (10) Acres [30 TAC 285.3(f)(2)]: A permit shall be required for all On-Site Sewage Facilities within Kerr County area of jurisdiction regardless of acreage.” The ten-acre exemption no longer runs in Kerr County.
The practical translation: if you are building, altering, repairing or upgrading a system in Kerr County, you need a permit, whatever the tract size. The change is not retroactive. The county says existing systems are “fully grandfathered” if they were installed before the rules adopted September 1, 1989, or for as long as they keep meeting the state exception conditions, and that the permit fee “is only applied for OSSFs that are being altered, repaired, upgraded or are new installations.” One caution on that grandfathering summary: the county lists three continuing conditions and does not mention the rule’s 100-foot setback, so read §285.3(f)(2) itself before assuming an existing system qualifies. Our Texas septic rule-change tracker logs the Kerr County order alongside every other change in play.
The conditions are continuing requirements, so the exemption dies the moment any of the four stops being true. Add a second dwelling, and condition (D) fails. Subdivide below 10 acres, and the tract test fails. Let effluent surface and run toward a neighbor, and conditions (A) and (C) fail together, usually with a complaint attached.
Selling the property is not on that list. Neither §366.052 nor §285.3(f)(2) says anything about ownership, and Kerr County’s grandfathering language is built the same way, on continuing conditions rather than on who holds the deed. What a sale changes is scrutiny. The TXR 1407 septic addendum has sections for planning materials and for transferring the permit to the buyer, and an exempt system has neither, so expect to explain the exemption in writing and expect some buyers to price the missing file into their offer. Keep what documentation you do have: the site evaluation, the installer’s invoice, pumping receipts, and a sketch of where everything sits.
One more wrinkle for 2026: TCEQ is rewriting Chapter 285 to implement HB 4087, and its own project page still lists the proposal as anticipated rather than adopted, with nothing newer in the chapter’s rule history as of August 15, 2026. The exemption text in force today is the 2023 text quoted above; if the overhaul touches §285.3(f), this page updates the day the adopted text posts.
There is no statewide minimum acreage for having a septic system. The 10-acre figure is only about skipping the permit. Minimum lot sizes are a separate, county-level matter: Bastrop publishes a half-acre floor with public water and one acre without, Wise requires one and two acres, and your county’s order controls.
It is the exemption in Health & Safety Code §366.052 and 30 TAC §285.3(f)(2): one single-family dwelling on a tract of 10 acres or more needs no septic permit, planning materials or inspections if every part of the system sits 100 feet or more from the property lines, effluent stays on the property without nuisance or groundwater pollution, and the county has not adopted a stricter order. The system must still meet state construction standards.
Generally yes, on your own property, because the state licensing requirement in §366.071 applies to people doing OSSF work for compensation. Counties can be stricter: Bastrop, for example, allows owner installation only for an owner-occupied single-family residence, and permitting counties still require the permit, design and inspections around your labor. Aerobic systems add maintenance rules of their own.
Nothing in the statute or rule ends the exemption at sale; it continues as long as the four conditions keep being met. Kerr County’s grandfathering statement is written on continuing conditions too, not on ownership. The friction is practical rather than legal: no permit file exists to hand the buyer, so disclosure conversations and lender questions take longer.
No, and the list of counties that have set it aside keeps growing. Hays, Gillespie, Bastrop, Waller, Burnet, Wise and now Kerr all require permits regardless of acreage under their own TCEQ-approved orders; Kerr’s took effect August 7, 2026. Call your county’s permitting office before you rely on the exemption anywhere.
Statute text from Texas Health & Safety Code Chapter 366 at statutes.capitol.texas.gov; rule text from 30 TAC §285.3 (effective July 6, 2023), checked against TCEQ’s Chapter 285 rule-history log, with TCEQ’s OSSF permitting page for the agency’s own reading. County positions come from each county’s adopted order or published policy: Hays’ septic-permits page, Gillespie’s development brochure (revised September 2025), Bastrop’s TCEQ-certified 2017 OSSF Rules, Waller’s 2017 order, Burnet’s OSSF order, and Wise’s 2012 order via TCEQ OARS. Kerr County status comes from two primary documents read on August 23, 2026: the county’s Environmental Health OSSF page, now headed “Adopted Kerr County OSSF Order”, and the approved order it links, which contains both the TCEQ executive director’s August 7, 2026 approval and the county order as Exhibit A. An earlier version of this page reported the adoption as unconfirmed, which was correct on August 15 and is not correct now. Comal and Montgomery are marked unconfirmed because their order texts could not be read; the table says so rather than guessing. URLs and access dates are in the front matter, and every quotation was verified against its source document.
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