No, signing a contract in front of a notary is not required. A notary's involvement does not make a contract somehow more binding or more enforceable than it otherwise would be. (To learn what makes a contract legally valid, see the "What makes a contract legally enforceable?" section in Understanding Contracts.)
Lease agreements are a contract. But you don't necessarily need to hire a lawyer to write good lease agreements, you can do it yourself. But you're a first-time landlord or simply don't have the time to write a lease, you can hire a property management company to do it for you.
Section 92.001 of the Texas Property Code defines a lease as “any written or oral agreement between a landlord and tenant that establishes or modifies the terms, conditions, rules, or other provisions regarding the use and occupancy of a dwelling.” This means that a spoken agreement is as valid as a written document ...
No. Texas does not legally require leases to be notarized, but landlords may want to do so to better protect themselves.
When should you notarize Lease Agreements? If the lease term is over a year, it needs to be notarized. On the other hand, if the lease term is less than a year, the lease may not have to be notarized. Still, most leases are over a year and go through the notarization process to ensure legal recognition.
Do lease agreements need to be notarized in Texas? No, a Texas Lease Agreement does not need to be notarized, it simply needs to be signed by both the landlord and the tenant.