Texas · Appraisal Rules
Texas's SB 458 Appraisal Rules Missed Their Own September 1 Date
Three blank cells in TDI's rules index, and a compliance date that already passed.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Daderot
In short
Texas's SB 458 appraisal rules (28 TAC §§5.9800–5.9806) were proposed April 23, 2026 and published May 8, 2026, but TDI has filed no adoption, so the rules' own September 1, 2026 compliance date lapsed. The one-year demand window, 20-day appraiser naming, and 240-day award deadline are proposed text, not law. Insurance Code ch. 1813 itself sets no deadlines; the policy's appraisal clause and In re Universal Underwriters still control.
Run the Texas clocks on your file.
Enter the dates you know. Clocks without a date show what starts them.
- —Tex. Ins. Code § 542.055
Acknowledge, begin investigating, request itemsCarrier clock
15 calendar days from the date the carrier receives notice of the claim.
The trap is the request list: anything the carrier does not ask for here is contestable later as having been waived as a condition of payment.
- —Tex. Ins. Code § 542.056
Accept or reject the claim in writingCarrier clock
15 business days from the date the carrier has every item it reasonably required (not the date of notice).
A 45-day extension exists only if the carrier explains why in writing before this deadline expires; arson claims run a flat 30 days. A lapse with no written decision treats the file as fully documented and starts the payment clock.
- —Tex. Ins. Code § 542.058
Payment due in fullCarrier clock
60 days from acceptance, or from expiration of the § 542.056 decision deadline, whichever comes first.
Past the deadline: 18% per year simple statutory interest on the unpaid amount plus attorney fees. Strict liability; good faith is not a defense, and partial payments do not toll the clock on the unpaid balance.
- —Tex. Ins. Code § 542A.003
Pre-suit notice (force-of-nature claims)Hard deadline
Written notice to the insurer no later than the 61st day before filing suit.
Must state the acts or omissions, a specific amount owed, and attorney fees as hours worked times hourly rate with contemporaneous records. Serving only a third-party adjuster does not satisfy the statute; deficient notice is grounds for abatement under § 542A.005.
- —Tex. Ins. Code § 2301.010(b)
Suit-limitations floor: two years from the carrier decisionHard deadline
Two years from the date the carrier accepts or rejects the claim.
The contractual limitations period cannot end before the EARLIER of this date or three years from the date of loss. Appraisal demands, mediation, and carrier delay do not toll it absent a written tolling agreement.
- —Tex. Ins. Code § 2301.010(b)
Suit-limitations outer floor: three years from the date of lossHard deadline
Three years from the date of loss.
Applies with the two-year-from-decision floor: the period cannot end before the earlier of the two. Any tighter policy clause is void on its face.
- —SB 458 (89R) / Tex. Ins. Code ch. 1813
SB 458 mandatory binding appraisalContext
Policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2026, when the dispute is solely about the amount of loss.
The appraisal award is binding except for fraud, accident, or material mistake. Paying through appraisal does not insulate the carrier from § 542 prompt-payment damages; the 18% meter keeps running past the § 542.058 deadline.
Computed from the claimOS field guide for this state. Clocks the guide states as plain days are counted as calendar days; business days are counted as weekdays. Informational, not legal advice. Verify against the current statute and policy language.
TDI's 2026 rules index carries a row for 28 TAC §§5.9800–5.9806, the new appraisal division. Proposal filed 04/23/2026. Proposal publishes 05/08/2026. The next three cells, Adoption Filed, Adoption Publishes and Effective Date, are blank, and the only documents linked on the row are the proposal and its pre-proposal summary. 2 The proposed rule set its own compliance date at September 1, 2026. 1 September 1 came and went with no adoption on file.
What governs a demand you send this week
Ch. 1813, added by SB 458 in the 89th Regular Session, reaches personal auto and residential property policies delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed in Texas on or after January 1, 2026; the Act itself took effect September 1, 2025. 3 The chapter sets no deadlines at all. No demand window, no appraiser-naming period, no umpire-selection method, no award deadline, no appraiser qualifications, no consumer-notice duty. §1813.002(a) instructs the commissioner to adopt rules establishing those things. 3
So the mechanics still come from the contract.
§1813.004(a) says an award "must be made in substantial compliance with the appraisal clause of the insurance policy," and §1813.004(b) makes the amount of loss binding except for fraud, accident, material mistake, or an appraisal award made without authority. 3 Pull the clause on the actual policy and follow its notice, appraiser-naming and umpire steps literally.
Ch. 1813 does add obligations on a 2026-or-later policy. The policy must contain an appraisal provision that complies with the chapter, and that provision exists solely to determine the amount of loss. 3 A residential property policy renewed in March 2026 with no appraisal clause is out of compliance with §1813.003 right now, rule or no rule. The amount-of-loss limit is also the boundary a carrier will test when a panel's number appears to resolve more than quantum, which is what happened when the Eighth Circuit read a matching finding into an appraisal award.
Waiver analysis is unchanged. In re Universal Underwriters of Tex. Ins. Co., 345 S.W.3d 404 (Tex. 2011) requires impasse, a demand made outside a reasonable time after that impasse, and prejudice. 6 Delay alone is not waiver, and the reasonable-time clock starts at impasse rather than at the first disagreement. 6
None of it touches TWIA or commercial files. §1813.001(b) excludes both, so a windstorm association claim stays on its own statutory track. 3
Six months from May 8
Tex. Gov't Code §2001.027 withdraws a proposed rule six months after the date its notice publishes in the Texas Register, unless the agency has adopted it, adopted it as amended, or withdrawn it by then. 4 The §§5.9800–5.9806 notice published May 8, 2026. 5 Six months from there lands on or about November 8, 2026. That date is the statute's arithmetic, not an announcement; no TDI document and no Texas Register notice states it.
claimOS compared the Proposal Publishes and Adoption Filed columns across TDI's 2023 through 2026 rules indexes. Median days from publication to adoption filing ran 119 in 2023, 90 in 2024, 69 in 2025, and 63 so far in 2026. 2 The appraisal package has been waiting 128 days with no adoption filed, longer than the median rule in each of the last three years. Across the 45 packages adopted between 2023 and 2025 the pooled median was 104 days and the longest single wait was 179, so 128 sits inside the historical range rather than past its ceiling; 13 of those 45, or 29%, ran longer than 128 days. 2 Eleven of TDI's twelve 2026 proposals also remain unadopted. 2 The comparison shows an unusual wait. It does not show intent, internal trouble, or a decision to abandon the rule, and nothing in the index speaks to why.
If TDI files an adoption before the proposal dies, the deadlines arrive with whatever compliance date the adopted text carries: on residential claims, written demand not later than one year from the §542.056 acceptance-or-rejection letter, 20 days to name an appraiser, 15 days for the appraisers to select an umpire, 120 days to agree on the amount of loss, and an award due within 240 days of demand. 1 Calendar residential demands against that one-year window anyway. It costs nothing and the downside runs one direction.
Keep the rest off your client letters. Proposed §5.9803 would require a plain-language appraisal notice in 10-point type, delivered with the §542.056 letter, and that duty is not law today. 1 Proposed §5.9804(b) would require that an appraiser or umpire on a residential dwelling loss be an adjuster or public adjuster with experience or training in estimating residential property losses, an engineer or architect, or someone with occupational experience in the relevant trade. 1 That is your seat, and it is not yet reserved.
Is the one-year appraisal demand deadline Texas law yet?
No. The one-year window appears in proposed 28 TAC §5.9805(a)(1), which TDI published in the Texas Register on May 8, 2026 and has not adopted. Insurance Code ch. 1813 itself contains no demand deadline. Calendar residential demands against the one-year mark anyway, in case TDI adopts before the proposal lapses.
Does my client's 2026 residential policy have to contain an appraisal clause today?
Yes, if it was delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed in Texas on or after January 1, 2026. Insurance Code §1813.003 requires the policy to contain an appraisal provision complying with ch. 1813, and that obligation runs from the statute, not from the unadopted rules. The statute does not supply the clause's mechanics, so the contract language still controls how a demand proceeds.
Does any of this apply to a TWIA file?
No. Insurance Code §1813.001(b) excludes Texas Windstorm Insurance Association policies and commercial policies from ch. 1813 entirely. Proposed §§5.9800–5.9806 follow the statute's scope, so neither the chapter nor the proposed appraisal division reaches a windstorm association claim or a commercial file.
What happens if TDI does not adopt the rules by November?
Under Tex. Gov't Code §2001.027 a proposed rule is withdrawn six months after its notice publishes in the Texas Register, which puts the §§5.9800–5.9806 package at on or about November 8, 2026. Withdrawal is automatic and does not require any filing. TDI would be free to re-propose the package with a new compliance date, restarting the notice-and-comment cycle.
Sources cited
- Proposed 28 TAC §§5.9800–5.9806, appraisal requirements (preamble and rule text)— Texas Department of Insurance
- Proposed and Adopted Rules for 2026 (prior-year indexes at /rules/2023, /rules/2024 and /rules/2025)— Texas Department of Insurance
- SB 458, 89th Regular Session, enrolled text adding Insurance Code ch. 1813— Texas Legislature Online
- Tex. Gov't Code §2001.027, Withdrawal of Proposed Rule— Texas Statutes, Texas Legislative Council
- Texas Register, May 8, 2026, Title 28 Insurance proposed rules— Texas Secretary of State
- In re Universal Underwriters of Tex. Ins. Co., 345 S.W.3d 404 (Tex. 2011)— Supreme Court of Texas
Statutory clocks, tracked on every file.
claimOS calendars these deadlines automatically on each claim: acknowledgement, decision, payment, and the suit limitation, each with its code section attached and visible to the whole team.