How to Get Squatters Out… And Keep Them Out
A Practical Guide for Texas Homeowners, HOAs and Condo Board Members
Key Takeaways
Act fast. Have trespassers arrested and removed by law enforcement right away, before they can qualify as squatters. That way, the process gets handled as a criminal matter, rather than as an eviction in civil court.
HOAs and condo associations don’t have eviction powers. Your owner members must take the lead in moving squatters out.
Don’t do “self-help” evictions. You can’t just change the locks and shut off utilities or otherwise harass squatters to get them out of your house. Once they become squatters, rather than criminal trespassers, they are entitled to much more due process.
Insure your vacant properties. Regular landlord insurance isn’t enough; you should get a vacancy endorsement on any property you expect will be unoccupied for more than a month.
Install cameras and motion detectors to get early warning of intruders.
Hire a property manager. This is especially true for absentee landlords.
Stay on good terms with neighbors. They’re your eyes and ears when you can’t be at your property yourself.
Introduction
There’s an epidemic of squatting in residential rental homes and commercial properties, both in the U.S. and abroad. In Atlanta alone, squatters now occupy as many as 1,200 individual homes, according to the National Rental Home Council.
Part of the problem is a hangover from the COVID era. Some states passed laws during the Pandemic that made it much more difficult or impossible to evict tenants. Clogged-up court systems also led to delays in evictions that could drag on for months or years, giving squatters more time to become established.
But there are other reasons, too, having to do with the broader economy.
These include:
Restrictive zoning laws, which contribute to housing shortages in some areas;
Increasing poverty, coupled with rising housing and food costs, pricing increasing numbers of people out of the housing market;
Lack of affordable housing construction. Builders tend to prefer higher-end houses and luxury apartments and condos, which are more profitable.
Slow eviction processes and backed-up courts, which can drag the process on for months and even years.
Large numbers of institutional landlords like BlackRock and Starwood failing to monitor and secure their vacant homes.
The rise of “squatter culture:” informal networks and internet communities of people who share tips on how to squat, and make it difficult for landowners to evict.
According to a National Rental Home Council survey, Texas, Georgia, and Florida are the most heavily impacted by squatters. Atlanta is the most heavily impacted major metropolitan area in the country by a wide margin, with squatters inhabiting an estimated 1,200 homes.
Atlanta has also been a favored hunting ground for institutional investors for years, thanks to historically high cap rates.
But Atlanta rents have been soaring since the Pandemic, up 34% from just before the pandemic through December 2023, according to reporting from Bloomberg News, citing Zillow estimates.
The NRHC also estimated that about 475 homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are occupied by squatters, as are about 125 homes in Orange County, Florida, which contains Orlando.
Each of these markets have also been heavily invested in by giant institutional hedge funds.
What Are Squatters’ Rights?
“Squatter’s rights” is simply a parochial term for what lawyers call adverse possession, which is codified into law in some form in all 50 states.
Adverse possession is a legal concept that allows a person to gain legal ownership of property by occupying it openly, continuously, and adversely to the owner's interests for a certain period of time. The squatter does not need the owner's permission to occupy the property, and they may even be aware that the property is not theirs. However, if they meet the legal requirements for adverse possession, they may eventually be able to claim ownership of the property.
Meanwhile, squatters are generally afforded anti-eviction defenses in the courts that are very similar to or even identical to tenants being evicted for cause or who are “holding over,” overstaying their leases.
For example, property owners are forbidden from changing the locks, shutting off utilities, or removing possessions without a court order. Squatters and tenants are both afforded due process rights to raise a variety of defenses, and to delay the process for months or years.
The Origins of Squatter’s Rights
The concept of adverse possession dates back to English common law, and a medieval concept called seisin. This is the idea that a claim to a plot of land gains credibility over time simply by virtue of occupation and use.
This was important because it provided the common people a right to assert against nobles returning from afar after many years who would try to kick them off the land for their own purposes.
Squatting was common in England and Europe following World War II, with massive numbers of dwellings destroyed by bombing and shelling. In the UK, hundreds of thousands of returning servicemen came home to their wives and sweethearts, and quickly got busy creating the Baby Boom, which created further demand for housing.
These families often squatted in commercial space and abandoned military installations. There was no stigma associated with the practice. In the UK, the men of these families were widely regarded as returning patriots.
Later, in the 60s and 70s, squatting became associated with hippies, anarchists, and communists, and public sentiment gradually turned against them.
In the U.S., adverse possession laws historically existed to provide an incentive for absentee landowners to develop land and not neglect it.
To a large degree, today’s squatters in the U.S. are exploiting an opening left by hedge funds and institutional investors who have large numbers of properties sitting vacant and neglected.
The rise in post-pandemic rents and poverty rates created a perfect storm for an epidemic of squatters.
Public sentiment has rapidly turned against squatters, thanks to a number of notorious violent crimes committed by squatters. And perhaps most significantly, a video news segment on a New York homeowner bringing the police to confront a squatter who had illegally occupied her own home. But instead of arresting the trespasser, the police arrested the homeowner, on camera.
The story highlighted the obvious injustice to millions of people, and resulted in a national outcry that quickly resulted in multiple states passing laws making it easier for homeowners to evict trespassers.
For instance, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed new legislation in April 2024 that allows homeowners to ask police to immediately remove squatters and creates criminal penalties for presenting a falsified lease or causing significant damage.
Georgia Governor Kemp recently signed a new law that makes squatting a criminal offense, and lays out a process to have them removed as trespassers. The law also puts the burden of proof on the tenant to show they have a right to occupy the property, such as producing a signed, valid lease or rental agreement.
Additionally, if the tenant presents a lease to prove they are entitled to occupy the property, the Georgia law routes the case to a non-jury magistrate to expedite the assessment of the claim. The court has seven days to determine if the lease is fake, for example.
This process short-circuits the formal eviction process, which can take months to get a squatter out.
Similar legislation is pending in Texas, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.
Adverse Possession Requirements – What Does It Take for a Squatter to Seize Your Home?
The specific requirements for adverse possession vary from state to state. But here are the requirements in general terms:
Open and continuous possession of the property for a certain period of time, which can range from 5 to 20 years depending on the state.
Actual use and occupation of the property. Just maintaining the property without occupying it is not normally sufficient to successfully push an adverse possession claim.
Exclusive possession of the property. That is, there is no one else who is legally entitled to occupy the property during the time period in question.
A lack of knowledge or consent by the owner that the property is being occupied
In some states, squatters can claim property after living on it continuously for as little as 5 to 7 years. They would generally have to show that they meet certain conditions such as paying property taxes and making improvements.
In other states, squatters have to live openly on the property for 20 years or more before they can sue to claim ownership under adverse possession.
Legal Concepts: Squatting vs. Trespassing
Landlords and property managers should understand the difference between squatting and trespassing.
It comes down to the illegal occupier’s intent, how long they’ve been on the property, and whether they’ve been paying property taxes, utilities, etc.
Trespassers
A trespasser is someone who enters or occupies property without permission but does not claim any right to remain there. Trespassing is a criminal matter, not a civil one. Trespassers can be criminally charged and sentenced to jail.
They can also generally be immediately removed from the property by law enforcement, and arrested.
Trespassers also don’t normally attempt to establish residency or ownership. and are usually on the property for a shorter duration compared to squatters. They also have no legal path to claiming rights to the property through the legal doctrine of adverse possession, described below.
Squatters
A squatter is someone who unlawfully occupies an uninhabited property without the owner's permission but claims some right to be there.
Squatters often assert that they have a right to the property by performing acts such as receiving mail or utilities at the address.
Over time, if they meet certain conditions, squatters may attempt to gain legal ownership of the property. This is done via a legal concept called adverse possession.
The best strategy to deal with squatters is to prevent them from qualifying as squatters in the first place. That way, law enforcement can arrest them for trespassing right away, and they can’t throw the process into backlogged eviction courts and gum up the works with legal delay tactics.
This also helps keep them isolated from assistance from squatters rights organizations and their attorneys. They can still get a public defender, but their focus and expertise will be on criminal law, not landlord-tenant law. So they’ll have a harder time delaying being removed from the property.
The Cost of Eviction
It’s important to try to remove intruders while they are still considered trespassers, and before they achieve squatter status, because it is much faster, easier, and less costly to remove trespassers under criminal law than it is to have to remove squatters through the civil court (eviction) system.
Taking Texas as an example, the cost of an eviction varies depending on several factors, including court fees, service fees, and potential legal representation. It also includes both direct and indirect costs – with potential indirect costs being higher by far. Here's a breakdown of the range of costs in Texas
1. Court and Filing Fees
The initial court filing fee can range from $54 to $204 depending on the county.
Service fees for delivering the eviction notice by a constable or sheriff can vary, typically around $80 to $150, depending on the county and the number of defendants.
2. Additional Costs
If a writ of possession is necessary, it can cost around $5 to $130.
Optional jury trial fees can be around $22
3. Legal Representation and Eviction Services
Hiring an attorney or using eviction services can significantly increase the cost. Legal fees for handling an eviction can range from $300 to $2,500 depending on the complexity of the case and whether the tenant decides to appeal.
Some firms offer flat-fee services for various stages of the eviction process, such as issuing a notice to vacate or representing the landlord in court. These fees can range from $250 for a notice to vacate to $1,500 and more for handling an eviction appeal.
Total Estimated Direct Costs
The total cost of an eviction, including all court, service, and legal fees, can range from a few hundred dollars to over $3,000 depending on the specifics of the case and the need for additional legal services.
These costs do not include indirect expenses such as lost rent, property damage, or costs associated with finding a new tenant. Therefore, landlords should consider both the direct and indirect costs when deciding to proceed with an eviction.
Indirect Costs
In most cases, the biggest indirect cost of a squatter or eviction of a squatter is weeks or months of lost rent. If the property rents for $2,000 per month, and the eviction takes three months (a very typical timeline in Texas), your lost rent cost is at least $6,000.
Another indirect cost in all too many cases is property damage. Ordinary wear and tear is one thing. But evicted tenants often wreak revenge by vandalizing the dwelling on the way out.
Note: Landlord insurance typically does not cover malicious vandalism from evicted tenants.
Squatters’ Rights in Texas Law
Texas requirements to claim adverse possession are laid out in Texas. Prop. Code 16.024-16.026.
The person making the claim must meet one of the following criteria:
Occupy the property with color of title (e.g., with an irregular or defective claim to the property) for three straight years or more.
Occupy the property, have a recorded deed, pay property taxes, and cultivate the land for five straight years.
Occupy the property and improve the land for at least ten consecutive years. (note: the land must be less than 160 acres unless it is enclosed).
Additionally, to seize title under adverse possession, they must also meet these criteria:
There is no valid lease or rental agreement in place with the owner.
They must be actively living in the property during the time period in question.
Open and Notorious Possession: Squatters aren’t attempting to conceal their presence.
Exclusive Possession: No one other than the squatters are occupying the property. They aren’t sharing, and are preventing others from occupying the property.
Continuous Possession: Must hold continuous possession of the property for three to ten straight years.
HOAs, Condo Associations, and Squatters
Normally, there isn’t much HOAs and condominium association board members can do about existing squatters directly.
Unless the squatters are occupying an HOA-owned dwelling or common area, associations have no role in evicting squatters. The most they can do is alert the actual member homeowner about any suspected squatters. It is the homeowner’s responsibility to pursue eviction.
However, boards can and do play a significant role in deterring and preventing squatters from targeting dwellings in their developments.
Here are some measures association boards can take to help prevent squatters from becoming a problem in the first place.
1.) Make it clear on your website that you take security seriously, and have an active Neighborhood Watch program. Squatters don’t want to be discovered. If they research your property on the Internet before breaking in, they may be dissuaded entirely.
2.) Control access areas with electronic gate cards or keyfobs. Make it very difficult to live in the area without an official access card that they can only get in person from the owner or from the management office.
3.) Post no-trespassing signs.” Get the ones that say, “violators will be prosecuted.”
4.) Conduct frequent checks on all dwellings.
5.) Have member-owners inform the management office/HOA board of any anticipated lengthy absences. Arrange for frequent checks on the property. The idea is to detect possible intruders as early as possible, before they have the opportunity to transition from trespassers to squatters.
6.) Forge close relationships with law enforcement.
7.) Advise homeowners to get a vacancy rider on their homeowners’ or landlords’ insurance policies.
8.) Conduct a thorough security audit with a qualified security consultant.
Note: Neither HOA Boards, members, security staff, or owners themselves should attempt any kind of “self-help eviction.”
These include measures like changing the locks, shutting off utilities, harassing or threatening the suspected trespassers or squatters.
Self-help evictions are illegal in Texas, and can result in severe penalties for the homeowner. It can also set the legal eviction process back weeks or months, and actually strengthen the squatters’ case.
Squatters’ Defenses
Once a squatter is established in a property, they may make it as difficult, time consuming, and expensive as possible to force them out.
They may muster legal arguments, such as a defective title in their possession, forged lease documents, or a variety of other ruses. They may try a number of delaying tactics, as well, such as requesting extensions and continuances.
Here are some of the common legal defenses to evictions squatters may make as they attempt to fight or delay their removal:
Claiming tenancy. Squatters may claim that they have a valid lease. In some cases, squatters may actually believe they leased the property - from another squatter fraudulently subletting to them. This can complicate the eviction process, because as soon as the landlord thinks an eviction is underway on one squatter, they may find out that there are a number of other squatters on the premises - each of which needs a separate eviction process and timeline - and requires additional money in court fees and attorneys fees – and time – to get them out.
Adverse possession. In Texas, a squatter who has possession of a defective title or other formal claim to the property may claim adverse possession after as little as three years, provided certain other conditions are met (see above).
Improper notice. Squatters are often quite expert on the minutiae of landlord-tenant law and eviction procedures themselves. The professional tenants and serial squatters certainly know more than most Mom and Pop rental property landlords. They will seize on every minor mistake landlords make in the eviction process to obtain a continuance or delay proceedings, resulting in costly delays and additional attorneys’ fees, court costs, and lost rent.
This is why it’s important for landlords to work through an experienced attorney with expertise in landlord-tenant law who does evictions all the time. Chances are the squatter is a more experienced eviction litigant than you are.
Challenges to landlords’ authority. Squatters may attempt to flip the script on landlords, claiming the plaintiff has no right to evict them, because they are not the true owner of the property. They may cite title irregularities or defects, requiring further court continuances and delays while the landlord has to fix these defects or come up with paperwork verifying their ownership.
What Landlords Can Do
While trespassers can invade any vacant property, there are plenty of things homeowners can do to mitigate the risk.
Get vacant home insurance.
You should have a landlord insurance policy for investment properties. If you expect the property to be vacant for more than a few weeks, you should also get a vacancy rider from your insurance company. This provides additional protection against extra hazards that arise from houses sitting vacant for extended periods of time.
Without purchasing this rider, your regular homeowners policy may not cover you. They aren’t designed to cover vacant dwellings, and you may lose coverage if it turns out your home has been vacant longer than 30 to 60 days.
It’s also a good idea to carry extra liability insurance, either via your home insurance policy or via an excess liability (“umbrella”) insurance policy.
Prevention is key.
It’s a lot easier and cheaper to discourage and deter trespassers in the first place than it is to evict someone once they qualify for squatter status.
Make vacant properties look as lived-in as possible. Keep the lawn mowed, the hedge trimmed, and make sure mail and newspapers aren’t piling up out front.
Visit your property frequently, or have someone you trust keep an eye on it if you can’t be there yourself.
Put up clear “no trespassing” signs. Even if they don’t deter squatters, prominently displayed signage can strengthen your case if you need to get a trespasser removed.
Put interior lights on a timer.
Install good exterior lighting.
Have someone park a car in the driveway periodically.
Practice positive key control. Ensure only trusted individuals have keys to the property. Ensure former tenants return all keys. Change locks if a key goes unaccounted for.
Have a radio playing constantly when no one is there. That way trespassers will hear it when they come in and possibly think the home is occupied already.
Get early warning.
Early warning of the presence of intruders can make a huge difference in how long it takes to get them out of your property. For absentee landlords especially, an alarm and alert system or eyes on your property can make the difference between being able to remove them immediately as trespassers, or having to go through the entire lengthy eviction process.
Otherwise, 30 days could elapse before you even realize they’re there––and all of a sudden, they have squatters’ rights, and it’s a civil matter, not a criminal matter.
Install an alarm system with motion detectors.
Install multiple surveillance cameras that you can monitor remotely.
Monitor your utility bills each month. If there’s a spike, you could have trespassers.
Get on good terms with neighbors. They can be your eyes and ears when you can’t be there yourself.
Hire a property manager. Especially if you’re not local.
Let your HOA or condo board and property management firm know your property is vacant, and ask them to monitor your home for signs of occupancy.
Sign up with your local police departments’ trespass affidavit program, if they have one. Here is an example from the Dallas Police Department.
Contact law enforcement immediately.
If trespassers do move in, contact law enforcement right away, and get legal counsel.
You want to move immediately to assert your rights as a landlord and to establish it on record that the occupants are trespassers, not tenants.
A current trespass affidavit can help establish any new occupants as trespassers.
Don’t attempt a “self-help” eviction.
Don’t change the locks, shut off utilities, or do anything else to make your property uninhabitable yourself without a court order, or without law enforcement first removing trespassers. This is called a “self-help eviction and is prohibited by law in every state.
Attempting to do so could result in fines, jail time, and give the trespassers/squatters cause to sue you.
It can also set back your eviction timeline, costing even more money and aggravation, and give vindictive squatters more time to potentially damage your property.
Work the Process.
It’s important to work with the system, not against it. Get an experienced attorney, or a solid property management firm that has its own legal counsel, and engage law enforcement and the judicial system early.
Work with your attorneys to have all your ducks in a row at every step in the process, from initial notice to vacate and through every hearing. If you aren’t organized, experienced squatters will pull on every possible thread to delay your case.
By having your act together at every step, you make it much more difficult for squatters opportunities to appeal or file stays or continuances. They’ll quickly see the writing on the wall, and potentially start looking for an easier mark. Then they’ll be out of your hair.
Consider settlement possibilities.
Depending on the situation, it might make sense to strike a deal outside of court. The most common deal is a “cash for keys” settlement: You offer cash to the squatters in exchange for their immediate departure. They hand over the keys, and you hand over the cash.
It’s a good idea to make the offer contingent on the property being handed over in good repair. This way it’s in their interests not to damage the property.
Vandalism is common in forcible evictions. Evicted squatters sometimes use their last few days in a property destroying the place to take vengeance on the landlord. And homeowner’s insurance typically doesn’t cover it.
Use Caution.
Most squatters are not violent. A few are. You don’t know who’s who in advance.
Make your initial contact with law enforcement present. Don’t go to the property alone.
Some squatters also manufacture methamphetamine in occupied homes. If they do, your home could be contaminated with toxic chemicals, requiring an expensive decontamination and remediation process.
If there are signs your squatters have been cooking meth, have your home inspected, and if contaminated, cleaned by a professional hazardous materials remediation contractor before re-occupying it or renting it out again.