Squatters' Rights Law

Property, for commercial and personal use, is a great investment. It can help you generate an income or simply cut down on your living costs once your mortgage is paid off. After spending lots of money on your dream home, it is normal to want to protect it. 

People invest in expensive security systems to keep their homes safe. Unfortunately, such measures are most effective when a person is living in or checking up on the property regularly. An empty house can become a playground for trespassers and squatters.

To protect your property, you must familiarize yourself with squatters’ rights. In this guide, we will discuss the differences between squatters and trespassers, their rights and how you can protect yourself from them.

Squatters are also known as adverse possessors. They live on property that they have no legal claim over. Usually, squatters come to occupy a house nobody lives in without reason to believe they’re allowed to be there. Sometimes people can end up in that situation because of a fraudulent rental agreement.

Squatters’ rights can be quite complex, so it’s not always easy to evict a squatter, even though they have no legal right to your property. According to the law for squatters’ rights, a procedure needs to occur if you want a squatter to vacate your property.

Squatters’ rights, or adverse possession, are a set of legalities designed when homesteading was popular. The government wrote the Homestead Act of 1862, specifying rights to provide legal support for pioneers who moved onto land they perceived as vacant, built a home, and started raising livestock or growing crops. This was a way for pioneers to expand the land under the U.S. government at the time.

Even though times have changed, and squatters’ rights laws may no longer be relevant, this legislation remains on the books. The idea of moving onto vacant land or an empty home and making it your own still exists, meaning the laws still protect squatters’ rights.

The critical point you should remember about squatters’ rights is that they are eligible to stay on your property unless you have reported them within a specific period. In New York, for example, the law is on their side if they’ve been occupying your property for ten years or more. They have the legal right to stay on your property if they pay back taxes, if any, and other necessary fees for the property in your absence. 

The relations between squatters and property owners are different from a landlord/owner and a renter. Renting a house or apartment always requires documentation, for example, a basic lease agreement. Squatters act independently and may pretend to have legal documents that “confirm” their legal occupation of a specific place or land. Still, these documents certainly do not ensure law enforcement is on their side.

Nevertheless, you cannot remove squatters without a formal eviction notice and the police. You cannot use violence against adverse possessors, either. Otherwise, they can file a lawsuit against you. A court may not consider your statements that you were protecting your property valid.

Since living in the U.S. can cost a fortune, seeking abandoned homes is much more affordable. Squatters are not necessarily homeless people; they can be law-abiding citizens with a decent annual income that enables them to pay taxes and other essential fees for the property.

Plus, if squatters do not damage anything in your home or do not steal your assets, they cannot necessarily be arrested for living on your property. Unless you send a letter of eviction to the unwanted guests, their squatters’ rights to claim to own your property will remain. 

Remember that landlord-tenancy regulations do not apply to squatters’ rights law. To learn more about landlord-tenancy relations, read about landlord-tenant dispute resolution.

Trespassing is a criminal offense, and the law can arrest someone who trespasses on land. Squatting, however, is regarded as a civil matter, and squatters’ rights law protects squatters. The law can still arrest people squatting if they never paid utility bills, ignored the landlord’s eviction notices, or constituted a nuisance.

The most significant difference in legal terms is that a trespasser violates your property to gain access, so they break in. But a squatter uses an unlocked door, an open, sliding glass window, or an already broken window to get in.

All states have squatters’ rights, but they vary regarding how long someone has to live on the property and what qualifies. The average period of occupying land or home uninterruptedly to be protected by squatters’ rights law ranges from five to 30 years.

In Alabama, squatters can take possession if they pay taxes for ten years, according to Title 6, Chapter 5, Section 200 of the Code of Alabama. But in Alaska, a squatter can get the property with a deed if they live there for seven years and paid taxes for ten years.

Below see the table of other US states and the period when squatters become legally protected after ocuupying the property.

In Arizona, a squatter must have a deed and pay property taxes for three or more years. If the land is part of a city lot, they must have a deed and pay for it for five years. If a neighbor accidentally or intentionally builds on nearby property, if no owner objects, the neighbor gets the land after two years.

California requires tax payment on land for only five years to gain adverse possession and squatters’ rights. But in Colorado, squatters can take possession of land if they have a deed, have paid property taxes for seven years, or have lived there for 18 years.

Below see the table of other US states and the period when squatters become legally protected after occupying the property.

A person can gain possession of your property, but only under certain circumstances. The law for squatters’ rights can protect the person only if the following is fulfilled:

If all the statements above apply, the person can be protected by squatters’ rights law. It doesn’t matter if the squatter came to occupy the property intentionally or accidentally. If your neighbor builds a fence that occupies a part of your land and you don’t notice or object, they may become the lawful owner of that land in 5 to 30 years.

You have the right to evict squatters from your property as a property owner. You can call the police. If adverse possessors refuse to leave and start claiming squatters’ rights upfront, you can evict them. The law for squatters’ rights states that there is a time during which you must start the eviction process by sending an eviction notice. This timeframe is called the statutory period.

Considering the complexity of the process required to remove squatters and deprive them of squatters’ rights, you should protect your property from them ahead of time. Consider these tips for preventing a squatters’ invasion.

Property owners can post “no trespassing” signs to avoid adverse possession. They will indicate the owners did not abandon the property but frequently visit it.

As the rightful owner of any land owned, you should safeguard the perimeter of your real estate. You don’t want to deal with the law for squatters’ rights, a false lease agreement where a squatter allegedly made rent payments or a hostile claim where they believe they have legal possession. Equip your perimeter with lights, alarms that make noise, and individual alarms on your windows. If you have fences, reinforce them and the locks.

Consider installing alarms, especially those with cameras that can send real-time information to your smartphone. You can view what is happening on your property, take immediate action, or call the police and provide them with surveillance evidence. Squatters’ rights strengthen with time, so intervene while you still can.

Be sure to secure all windows and doors with steel enforcement. The difference between squatting and trespassing is that squatters can enter through a broken window or unlocked door and be entitled to squatters’ rights. If you don’t want your property to be a shelter for strangers, take care of its security, and no one will come in without your permission.

Visit your property regularly. The more often you or someone else visits your home, the sooner you can catch broken windows or doors that can grant unwanted visitors squatters’ rights.

If you find out that squatters have been living on your property for some time, here are the main steps you should take.

Depending on the state, squatters should pay property taxes in addition to other required property fees. Suppose adverse possessors offer financing for the home they occupy and pay all the amounts on time. In that case, they can count on obtaining the property ownership after a specific period that varies across the U.S.

Squatters can be annoying, especially when you realize they have lived at your place for years and there is a law for squatters rights that works in their favor. However, if you do not use your place anymore and have not sold it yet, you could provide it for those who seek shelter and legal protection. To make it happen and prevent dealing with squatters’ rights, you can try to negotiate with adverse possessors and decide for yourself – let other people occupy your property or keep it for your needs.