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Squatters and vacant property in Arkansas: what the law says

Since March 2025 living in an Arkansas building you have no right to be in is a crime in its own right, and the statute asks the person inside to produce a deed, a lease, or a recent rent receipt. Getting the building back is a separate job: you file a case, and the writ that puts the sheriff at the door issues on the order of a court. Nobody is removed from an Arkansas house on your sworn word alone, and you may not remove them yourself. Every answer below is quoted from the statute it came from.

Every answer on this page is quoted from the statute it came from and linked to the source, so you can read the law yourself. Last checked against the statutes on 2026-07-14.

What to do now — this part is ours, not the law

There is no 30-day rule. Nobody becomes a tenant by standing in your house long enough — not in thirty days, not in ninety. They are not a tenant on day one and they are not a tenant on day ninety. What time does change is how hard they are to remove, and how much of your money it takes. That is a reason to move today, not a deadline you have already missed.

If someone is in the property right now

  1. Do not go in, and do not change the locks. It is the first thing everyone wants to do and it is how the owner becomes the defendant. Read that question above before you touch anything.
  2. Call the police non-emergency line. Ask them to look at it as a criminal trespass rather than a landlord–tenant dispute. Those are different outcomes and the words matter.
  3. Have your proof of ownership in your hand when they arrive — the deed, a recent tax bill, your ID. The officer's whole decision turns on whether he believes you own it.
  4. Photograph everything, and write down every date. When you last saw it empty. When you found them. What was said. Who you called, and when.
  5. Call a lawyer the same day. Not next week. The clock on every route above has already started.
The full checklist — what to record and what to ask →

If it has not happened yet

Everything on this page gets easier the earlier you do it. Photograph the property empty, keep the utility bills, and write down who is allowed inside — before you lock up and walk away. None of that is expensive. All of it is worth more than it looks at 2am.

The checklist for leaving a property vacant →

Is a squatter a tenant — and what rights do they have?

No. Arkansas's 2025 squatting law is written to reach exactly the person who is not a tenant — no current tenancy, no agreement to occupy, not family — and none of a tenant's protections come with him.

›Read the law — 3 provisions

If a trespasser counts as a tenant, the owner is routed into housing court and every fast option closes.

1 · Ark. Code § 5-39-215(a)(3) — "unlawful squatting" defined, added by Act 238 of 2025 (HB1049), approved 2025-03-04

“(3)(A) "Unlawful squatting" means entering and residing unlawfully in a premises when the person entering and residing in the premises is not privileged or licensed to do so. (B) "Unlawful squatting" includes without limitation taking up residence in a premises a person does not own if he or she: (i) Is not a current tenant at the premises; (ii) Does not have a valid agreement to occupy the premises; and (iii) Is not an immediate family member of the owner of the premises.”

Quoted from the enrolled Act as engrossed and approved, fetched from the Arkansas General Assembly's own server. "Premises" is defined for this section alone, at § 5-39-215(a)(2), as "a dwelling, commercial building, or vacant or unimproved real property" — and Act 238 amended the general definition at § 5-39-101(8) to say "except as provided in § 5-39-215". A vacant lot is inside this section.

Read it at the source →

2 · Ark. Code § 18-16-101(a), (b)(1) — failure to pay rent, refusal to vacate upon notice, as amended by Act 159 of 2017 (SB25), approved 2017-02-13

“(a) Any person who shall rent any dwelling house or other building or any land situated in the State of Arkansas and who shall refuse or fail to pay the rent therefor when due according to contract shall at once forfeit all right to longer occupy the dwelling house or other building or land. (b)(1) If, after ten (10) days' notice in writing shall have been given by the landlord or the landlord's agent or attorney to the tenant to vacate the dwelling house or other building or land, the tenant shall willfully refuse to vacate and surrender the possession of the premises to the landlord or the landlord's agent or attorney, the tenant shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”

READ THE FIRST SIX WORDS. This section is about a person "who shall rent" — a tenant, under a contract, who stops paying. A person who broke into an empty house never rented it and never owed rent, so nothing in this section touches them. It is also the most litigated statute in Arkansas landlord-tenant law: the same Act's uncodified findings section records that "In January 2015, the Circuit Court of Pulaski County, in State of Arkansas v. Artoria Smith, Case No. CR 2014-2707, ruled that Ark. Code § 18-16-101, as amended, is unconstitutional", and says the General Assembly's purpose was to restore "exactly" the wording upheld in Munson v. Gilliam and Duhon v. State. Whether the restored wording survives challenge is not ours to say.

Read it at the source →

3 · Ark. Code § 18-60-304(1)–(2) — actions constituting unlawful detainer · secondhand source

“A person shall be guilty of an unlawful detainer within the meaning of this subchapter if the person shall, willfully and without right: (1) Hold over any land, tenement, or possession after the determination of the time for which it was demised or let to him or her, or the person under whom he or she claims; (2) Peaceably and lawfully obtain possession of any land, tenement, or possession and hold it willfully and unlawfully after demand made in writing for the delivery or surrender of possession of the land, tenement, or possession by the person having the right to possession or his or her agent or attorney;”

SECONDARY: Arkansas's official code is published by LexisNexis, which blocks automated retrieval, and Justia returned 403 on 2026-07-14; this was read on FindLaw, printed "current as of March 28, 2024", and should be confirmed against the official code. Note what the two paragraphs assume — a former tenancy in (1), and possession "peaceably and lawfully" obtained in (2). Someone who broke in fits neither, which is why the next chapter over, forcible entry and detainer, is where a squatter case actually lives. Both are brought under the same procedure.

Read it at the source →

These are the provisions, in order. We have not drawn a conclusion from them — that is not ours to draw.

Can I just change the locks?

No. Arkansas names the person who is allowed to force the locks, and it is the sheriff, carrying a writ from a court. Breaking in, putting their belongings out, or frightening them out is itself something the person inside can sue you for — and if they win, the court puts them back in the building.

›Read the law — 4 provisions

Lawful in a handful of states, a crime in most. Getting this wrong turns the victim into the defendant.

1 · Ark. Code § 18-60-303 — actions constituting forcible entry and detainer · secondhand source

“A person shall be guilty of a forcible entry and detainer within the meaning of this subchapter if the person shall: (1) Enter into or upon any lands, tenements, or other possessions and detain or hold them without right or claim to title; (2) Enter by breaking open the doors and windows or other parts of the house, whether any person is in it or not; (3) Threaten to kill, maim, or beat the party in possession or use words and actions as have a natural tendency to excite fear or apprehension of danger; (4) Put out of doors or carry away the goods of the party in possession; or (5) Enter peaceably and then turning out by force or frightening by threats or other circumstances of terror the party to yield possession.”

SECONDARY: read on FindLaw ("current as of March 28, 2024"); the official Arkansas Code is behind LexisNexis and Justia returned 403 on 2026-07-14. Read paragraphs (2), (4) and (5) as a description of the things an owner is most tempted to do, and note the phrase they all turn on: "the party in possession". The statute does not ask whether that party is a tenant.

Read it at the source →

2 · Ark. Code § 18-60-310(d) — writs of possession · secondhand source

“In executing the writ of possession, the sheriff shall have the right forcibly to remove all locks or other barriers erected to prevent entry upon the premises in any manner which he or she deems appropriate or convenient and, if necessary, physically to restrain the defendants from interfering with the removal of the defendants' property and possessions from the property described in the writ of possession.”

SECONDARY: read on FindLaw. The power to remove the locks is granted, by name, to the sheriff, and it is granted for the execution of a writ that a court has ordered. The section grants the owner no such power anywhere in it. Storage of the belongings, under subsection (c), also happens under the sheriff's direction and only twenty-four hours after the writ is served — and if the case then goes the other way, subsection (c)(2) restores the belongings "with the cost of storage assessed against the plaintiff."

Read it at the source →

3 · Ark. Code § 18-60-309(d) — damages · secondhand source

“(d)(1) In case the finding or verdict is for the defendant, the court shall give judgment thereon with costs and for any damages that may be assessed in favor of the defendant. (2) If the property described in the complaint has been turned over to the possession of the plaintiff, the court shall also issue a writ of restitution directed to the sheriff to cause the defendant to be repossessed of the property.”

SECONDARY: read on FindLaw. This is written about a plaintiff who went through the court and lost, and the writ of restitution is the court undoing what it did. We looked for an Arkansas appellate decision applying the forcible-entry sections to an owner who locked out a person who had never been his tenant, and we could not fetch one. UNTESTED IS NOT THE SAME AS PERMITTED, and the person who finds out which it is will be the defendant. DeedProof does not advise on this and never will.

Read it at the source →

4 · Legal Aid of Arkansas — "Lock Outs and Self-Help Evictions", read 2026-07-14 · secondhand source

“Landlords cannot 'self-help' evict tenants outside of the court system by changing the locks, removing the doors, shutting off utilities are illegal.”

SECONDARY, and note its limits: this is a legal-aid help page, not the operative law, it cites no statute, and it is written about landlords and tenants. It is quoted here as printed, typo and all. It is not the authority for the answer — §§ 18-60-303, 18-60-309 and 18-60-310 above are.

Read it at the source →

These are the provisions, in order. We have not drawn a conclusion from them — that is not ours to draw.

If police do act, what is the charge — and can they arrest for it?

Depends on what the officer sees. Since March 2025 squatting is a crime in Arkansas, and so is trespassing in a building — but the first time, both are only a misdemeanor, and Arkansas lets an officer arrest without a warrant for a misdemeanor that is committed in front of him. A third squatting offence, and a fake lease handed to the officer, are felonies.

›Read the law — 4 provisions

A charge that only supports a citation does not remove anyone from a house. This is the link that killed the previous market.

1 · Ark. Code § 5-39-215(b) — the elements of unlawful squatting, added by Act 238 of 2025

“A person commits the offense of unlawful squatting if: (1) The person: (A) Knowingly enters upon the premises of another person; (B) Knowingly resides on the premises of the other person under subdivision (b)(1)(A) of this section for any period of time; (C) Knowingly acts without lawful authority under subdivisions (b)(1)(A) and (B) of this section; and (D) Cannot produce at least one (1) of the following documents: (i) A deed or mortgage statement in his or her name for the premises; (ii) A lease agreement that includes the name and signature of the other person or an authorized representative of the other person; (iii) A valid written or electronic agreement or communication authorizing the person to enter upon the premises; or (iv) A receipt or other reliable evidence of a rent payment made to the other person or an authorized representative of the other person dated within the last sixty (60) days; (2) The premises the person enters upon is not open to the public at the time of entry; (3) The owner of the premises has directed the person entering upon the premises to leave the premises or has contacted law enforcement to make a report of unlawful squatting; and (4) No pending litigation exists between the owner of the premises and the person entering upon the premises.”

TWO THINGS IN THIS TEXT ARE ROUTINELY MISREPORTED. First, the sixty days is the maximum AGE OF AN ACCEPTABLE RENT RECEIPT — "dated within the last sixty (60) days". It is not, as many summaries say, a sixty-day grace period for the occupant to go and find paperwork; the statute gives no grace period at all. Second, read element (4): the offence requires that "No pending litigation exists between the owner of the premises and the person entering upon the premises." An owner who has already filed his possession case has, on the face of the text, pending litigation with that person. What that does to a squatting charge filed afterwards is not a question we answer.

Read it at the source →

2 · Ark. Code § 5-39-215(e), (f) — grading, and the false-document felony

“(e)(1) Unlawful squatting is a Class B misdemeanor. (2) A second offense of unlawful squatting is a Class A misdemeanor. (3) A third offense of unlawful squatting is a Class D felony. (f) If a person who has entered upon the premises of another person knowingly provides a false document in response to a request to produce a document under subdivision (b)(1)(D) of this section or otherwise produces a false document as justification for his or her presence on the premises, the person is guilty upon conviction of a Class D felony.”

THIS IS THE LINK THAT KILLED A PREVIOUS MARKET ELSEWHERE — an offence graded so low that an officer may only write a citation removes nobody from a house. Read subsection (f) beside it: the forged lease is not merely disbelieved, it is a separate Class D felony in its own right. Whether the officer at the door can establish that the lease is forged is the next question on this page.

Read it at the source →

3 · Ark. Code § 5-39-203(a), (b)(3)–(4) — criminal trespass and its grading · secondhand source

“A person commits criminal trespass if he or she purposely enters or remains unlawfully in or upon: (1) A vehicle of another person; (2) The premises owned or leased by another person; or (3) Critical infrastructure. … Criminal trespass is a: … (3) Class B misdemeanor if: (A) The vehicle or premises involved is an occupiable structure; or (B) The conduct involves the removal of a posted sign, a fence, or a portion of a fence as defined in § 2-39-102; or (4) Class C misdemeanor if otherwise committed.”

SECONDARY: read on FindLaw ("current as of March 28, 2024"); the official code is behind LexisNexis. The ellipses cut the opening of subsection (b) and its felony and Class A paragraphs, which turn on prior convictions, on critical infrastructure, and on the person carrying a bolt cutter or similar tool — § 5-39-203(b)(2)(A)(iv) reaches "A tool designed to gain entry into a structure by breaking a lock or breaking through a fence, including without limitation a boltcutter."

Read it at the source →

4 · Ark. Code § 16-81-106(b) — authority to arrest · secondhand source

“(b) A certified law enforcement officer may make an arrest: (1) In obedience to a warrant of arrest delivered to him or her; and (2)(A) Without a warrant, where a public offense is committed in his or her presence or where he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that the person arrested has committed a felony. (B) In addition to any other warrantless arrest authority granted by law or court rule, a certified law enforcement officer may arrest a person for a misdemeanor without a warrant if the officer has probable cause to believe that the person has committed battery upon another person, the officer finds evidence of bodily harm, and the officer reasonably believes that there is danger of violence unless the person alleged to have committed the battery is arrested without delay.”

SECONDARY, AND INCOMPLETE, AND WE SAY SO. This was read on FindLaw; the official code is behind LexisNexis. Subsection (b) is quoted in full, including paragraph (2)(B) — which is the one misdemeanor for which the statute drops the in-presence requirement, and it is BATTERY, not trespass or squatting. It does not reach these facts, and we print it so that nobody has to take our word for what we left out. Warrantless arrest in Arkansas is also governed by Rule 4.1 of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure — note that (2)(B) itself says "In addition to any other warrantless arrest authority granted by law or court rule" — and we could not fetch the official text of that rule from the Arkansas Judiciary on 2026-07-14, so we do not quote it, we do not lean on it, and we do not tell you that this statute is the whole of the law on the point. Read what the statute does and does not give: "reasonable grounds for believing" reaches a FELONY. For a misdemeanor — which is what a first squatting offence and an ordinary criminal trespass both are — the words are "committed in his or her presence". Whether an officer who finds a person living in a vacant house is watching an offence "committed in his presence", when § 5-39-215(b)(1)(B) makes the offence one of RESIDING "for any period of time", is the question the whole encounter turns on, and it is not ours to answer. These are the provisions, in order. We have drawn no conclusion from them.

Read it at the source →

These are the provisions, in order. We have not drawn a conclusion from them — that is not ours to draw.

What decides whether police arrest or walk away?

Paperwork — but only the occupant's. The 2025 law tells the officer to ask the person inside for a deed, a lease, or a recent rent receipt. It also says police may not even take your report unless you are the owner — and then gives the officer no way to check that you are.

DeedProof solves this

We verify you own the property and file your notarized statement where police can check it. How it works →

›Read the law — 2 provisions

Every other question here is downstream of this one. The whole encounter, in one decision, made in a doorway in the dark.

1 · Ark. Code § 5-39-215(b)(1)(D) — what the occupant may produce, added by Act 238 of 2025

“Cannot produce at least one (1) of the following documents: (i) A deed or mortgage statement in his or her name for the premises; (ii) A lease agreement that includes the name and signature of the other person or an authorized representative of the other person; (iii) A valid written or electronic agreement or communication authorizing the person to enter upon the premises; or (iv) A receipt or other reliable evidence of a rent payment made to the other person or an authorized representative of the other person dated within the last sixty (60) days;”

A forged lease "includes the name and signature" of the owner — that is what forging it means. Producing one is itself a Class D felony under § 5-39-215(f), but somebody has to establish that it is forged first, and the statute names no one whose job that is at the door.

Read it at the source →

2 · Ark. Code § 5-39-215(c), (d) — who may report, and the officer's immunity

“(c) A law enforcement agency shall not accept a report of unlawful squatting unless the report is by an: (1) Owner of the premises upon which the unlawful squatting occurred; or (2) Authorized representative of the owner of the premises upon which the unlawful squatting occurred. (d) A law enforcement officer acting in good faith in response to a report of a violation of this section is immune from criminal and civil liability.”

A CLAIM ABOUT OUR OWN SEARCH, NOT ABOUT THE LAW: on 2026-07-14 we read Act 238 of 2025 in full, as enrolled, on the Arkansas General Assembly's own server. We looked for any provision telling a law enforcement agency how to establish that the person making the report is in fact the owner — a deed check, a recorder's lookup, an assessor's record, a registry, anything at all. We found no such provision. Note what Arkansas DID legislate on this point: Act 238 also amended § 5-54-122(c)(1) so that a false report is a Class D felony where "The false report alleges the offense of unlawful squatting." The State's answer to a lying owner is to punish him afterwards, not to check him at the door. Confirm against the official code before relying on it.

Read it at the source →

These are the provisions, in order. We have not drawn a conclusion from them — that is not ours to draw.

What is the lawful way to get them out?

A case in court: a complaint, a sworn affidavit, and a notice served on them. If they file nothing within five days — Sundays and holidays do not count, but Saturdays do — the court orders the sheriff to put them out, and he does it. If they file a written objection — one page — the court holds a hearing first.

›Read the law — 3 provisions

The route sets the real cost. A summary track is weeks; a full civil suit is months.

1 · Ark. Code § 18-60-307(a) — proceedings in court; the complaint and affidavit · secondhand source

“When any person to whom any cause of action shall accrue under this subchapter shall file in the office of the clerk of the court a complaint signed by him or her, his or her agent or attorney, specifying the lands, tenements, or other possessions so forcibly entered and detained, or unlawfully detained over, and by whom and when done, and shall also file the affidavit of himself or herself or some other credible person for him or her, stating that the plaintiff is lawfully entitled to the possession of the lands, tenements, or other possessions mentioned in the complaint and that the defendant forcibly entered upon and detained them or unlawfully detains them, after lawful demand therefor made in the manner described in this subchapter, the clerk of the court shall thereupon issue a summons upon the complaint.”

SECONDARY: read on FindLaw ("current as of March 28, 2024"); the official code is behind LexisNexis and Justia returned 403 on 2026-07-14. Note that the affidavit is required, that it is sworn to by the plaintiff "or some other credible person", and that it swears the plaintiff "is lawfully entitled to the possession" — it is filed with a COURT CLERK, not handed to a deputy. Note also the words "after lawful demand": a written demand for possession is an element of the cause of action in § 18-60-304(2), and § 18-60-303 is the paragraph that reaches someone who got in by force or without any claim of title.

Read it at the source →

2 · Ark. Code § 18-60-307(b) — the writ where no objection is filed · secondhand source

“If, within five (5) days, excluding Sundays and legal holidays, following service of this summons, complaint, and notice seeking a writ of possession against the defendants named therein, the defendant or defendants have not filed a written objection to the claim for possession made by the plaintiff in his or her complaint, the clerk of the court, upon order of the court, shall immediately issue a writ of possession directed to the sheriff commanding him or her to cause the possession of the property described in the complaint to be delivered to the plaintiff without delay, which the sheriff shall thereupon execute in the manner described in § 18-60-310.”

SECONDARY: read on FindLaw. Read the four words in the middle — "upon order of the court". Even on the uncontested path, the clerk issues the writ on the court's order, not on the strength of the affidavit alone.

Read it at the source →

3 · Ark. Code § 18-60-307(d)(1) — the hearing on the demand for an immediate writ · secondhand source

“If a hearing is required to be held on the demand of the plaintiff for an immediate writ of possession, the plaintiff shall present evidence sufficient to make a prima facie case of entitlement to possession of the property described in the complaint. The defendant or defendants shall be entitled to present evidence in rebuttal thereof. (B)(i) If the court decides upon all the evidence that the plaintiff is likely to succeed on the merits at a full hearing, then the court shall order the clerk forthwith to issue a writ of possession to the sheriff to place the plaintiff in possession of the property described in the complaint, subject to the provisions of subsection (e) of this section. (ii) No such action by the court shall be final adjudication of the parties' rights in the action.”

SECONDARY: read on FindLaw. Two things worth reading twice. "No such action by the court shall be final adjudication" — the immediate writ is a provisional order, and the case goes on. And subsection (e), quoted as printed: "If the defendant desires to retain possession of the property, the court may upon motion and good cause shown allow the retention of the premises only if the defendant provides, within five (5) days of issuance of the writ of possession, adequate security as determined by the court in any event not less than the amount of any delinquent rent and rent to accrue while the defendant is allowed to retain possession of the premises." So even after the writ issues, the person inside has a motion they can make.

Read it at the source →

These are the provisions, in order. We have not drawn a conclusion from them — that is not ours to draw.

How long does it take, and what does it cost?

Five days if they file nothing — Sundays and holidays do not count, but Saturdays do — and a written objection is one page, which buys a hearing that Arkansas sets no deadline for, after which the case still is not over. It costs you a filing fee and a lawyer, and Arkansas sets those court by court, so we do not print a number. If you win at trial, the statute lets the court award you the rental value for every month they were in the building — three times that for a commercial one — though collecting it from a squatter is its own problem.

›Read the law — 3 provisions

The two numbers every owner wants, and the one nobody warns them about: you do not get it back.

1 · Ark. Code § 18-60-307(b) — the five-day clock · secondhand source

“If, within five (5) days, excluding Sundays and legal holidays, following service of this summons, complaint, and notice seeking a writ of possession against the defendants named therein, the defendant or defendants have not filed a written objection to the claim for possession made by the plaintiff in his or her complaint, the clerk of the court, upon order of the court, shall immediately issue a writ of possession”

SECONDARY: read on FindLaw. THIS IS THE CLOCK THAT DOES NOT RUN FOR OUR READER. It runs only where the person inside files nothing. The form the statute asks them for is "a written objection" — the notice printed in subsection (a) tells them so in terms — and a person holding a lease they intend to rely on will file it. After the writ, § 18-60-310 adds a further twenty-four hours from service before the sheriff removes the belongings.

Read it at the source →

2 · Ark. Code § 18-60-307(d)(2) — the one expedited hearing Arkansas grants · secondhand source

“A plaintiff demanding an immediate writ of possession who is a housing authority and who claims in its complaint that the defendant or defendants are being asked to surrender possession as a result of the defendant's or defendants' having been convicted of a criminal violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, § 5-64-101 et seq., shall be entitled to receive an expedited hearing before the court within ten (10) days of the filing of the objection by the defendant or defendants.”

SECONDARY: read on FindLaw. A CLAIM ABOUT OUR SEARCH, NOT ABOUT THE LAW: on 2026-07-14 we read § 18-60-307 in full and found a hearing deadline for exactly one kind of plaintiff — a housing authority, in a drug case. We found none for anyone else. What that means for how long an ordinary owner waits is a question about court calendars, and a court calendar is not in a statute, so we do not put a number on it.

Read it at the source →

3 · Ark. Code § 18-60-309(a)–(b) — damages · secondhand source

“(a) If upon the trial of any action brought under this subchapter the finding or verdict is for the plaintiff, the court or jury trying it shall assess the amount to be recovered by the plaintiff for the rent due and agreed upon at the time of the commencement of the action and up to the time of rendering judgment or, in the absence of an agreement, the fair rental value. (b) In addition thereto in all cases the court shall assess the following as liquidated damages: (1) When the property sought to be recovered is used for residential purposes only, the plaintiff shall receive an amount equal to the rental value for each month, or portion thereof, that the defendant has forcibly entered and detained or unlawfully detained the property; and (2) When the property sought to be recovered is used for commercial or mixed residential and commercial purposes, the plaintiff shall receive liquidated damages at the rate of three (3) times the rental value per month for the time that the defendant has unlawfully detained the property.”

SECONDARY: read on FindLaw. Note that these are damages assessed AFTER a trial in the owner's favour, and that collecting a judgment from a squatter is a separate problem the statute does not solve. NO DOLLAR FIGURE APPEARS ON THIS PAGE, and that is deliberate: Arkansas court filing fees and sheriff service fees are set outside this subchapter, we fetched no published schedule for them, and every fee figure on this site appears verbatim in a document we fetched or it does not appear. Act 238 of 2025 separately grants "a private cause of action against the person who violated this section" with "damages, including without limitation restitution, and reasonable attorney's fees" (Ark. Code § 5-39-215(g)).

Read it at the source →

These are the provisions, in order. We have not drawn a conclusion from them — that is not ours to draw.

Can a sheriff remove them on the owner's affidavit alone, with no court?

No — nobody is removed on your affidavit alone. Arkansas does make you swear one, and it says you are entitled to possession. But you file it in court as part of a lawsuit, and it is a judge who orders the sheriff to the door.

›Read the law — 2 provisions

Where a state has passed this, it hands the owner the whole mechanism for free. This field tracks the existential risk.

1 · Ark. Code § 18-60-307(a) — the affidavit, and where it goes · secondhand source

“shall file in the office of the clerk of the court a complaint signed by him or her, his or her agent or attorney … and shall also file the affidavit of himself or herself or some other credible person for him or her, stating that the plaintiff is lawfully entitled to the possession of the lands, tenements, or other possessions mentioned in the complaint and that the defendant forcibly entered upon and detained them or unlawfully detains them, after lawful demand therefor made in the manner described in this subchapter, the clerk of the court shall thereupon issue a summons upon the complaint.”

SECONDARY: read on FindLaw ("current as of March 28, 2024"); the official code is behind LexisNexis. THE WORD "AFFIDAVIT" IN A SQUATTER STATUTE MEANS NOTHING ON ITS OWN — ask who receives it. This one goes to the clerk of a court, with a complaint and a summons, which is a lawsuit. The ellipsis omits the clause describing the property and the manner of the entry.

Read it at the source →

2 · Ark. Code § 18-60-307(b) — "upon order of the court" · secondhand source

“the clerk of the court, upon order of the court, shall immediately issue a writ of possession directed to the sheriff commanding him or her to cause the possession of the property described in the complaint to be delivered to the plaintiff without delay, which the sheriff shall thereupon execute in the manner described in § 18-60-310.”

SECONDARY: read on FindLaw. A CLAIM ABOUT OUR OWN SEARCH, NOT ABOUT THE LAW: on 2026-07-14 we read Act 238 of 2025 in full on the legislature's own server, and §§ 18-60-301, 18-60-303, 18-60-304, 18-60-307, 18-60-309 and 18-60-310 in full on FindLaw. We looked for any Arkansas provision under which a sheriff removes an occupant on an owner's sworn statement with no court order — the mechanism Florida, Texas and Georgia have enacted. We found none. Act 238, the state's 2025 squatter law, creates a CRIME and creates no removal procedure at all. Confirm against the official code, and against the current session's bills, before relying on it.

Read it at the source →

These are the provisions, in order. We have not drawn a conclusion from them — that is not ours to draw.

How long before they can claim they own it?

Seven years — but almost nobody can do it. Arkansas also makes the claimant hold a piece of paper that looks like title AND pay the property taxes for all seven of those years. A person who broke in and paid nothing has neither, and the courts require more besides.

›Read the law — 2 provisions

The thing an owner of an empty building actually fears. Pure state statute.

1 · Ark. Code § 18-11-106(a), (c), (d)(1) — adverse possession, additional requirements · secondhand source

“(a) To establish adverse possession of real property, the person and those under whom the person claims must have actual or constructive possession of the real property being claimed and have either: (1)(A) Held color of title to the real property for a period of at least seven (7) years and during that time paid ad valorem taxes on the real property. … (2) Held color of title to real property contiguous to the real property being claimed by adverse possession for a period of at least seven (7) years and during that time paid ad valorem taxes on the contiguous real property to which the person has color of title. … (c) The requirements of this section are in addition to all other requirements for establishing adverse possession. (d)(1) This section shall not repeal any requirement under existing case law for establishing adverse possession but shall be supplemental to existing case law.”

SECONDARY: read on FindLaw ("current as of March 28, 2024"); the official code is behind LexisNexis and Justia returned 403 on 2026-07-14. The ellipses cut § 18-11-106(a)(1)(B), which allows colour of title to be established by paying the taxes for seven years on unimproved and unenclosed land or fifteen on wild and unimproved land, and § 18-11-106(b), which excuses the tax payments for a person or entity exempt from paying them. Read subsections (c) and (d)(1) carefully: this section is IN ADDITION to what Arkansas courts already require, and those judicial elements are not in the statute. We do not list them here, because we could not fetch an Arkansas appellate decision on 2026-07-14 and we do not put words in a court's mouth. Do not read the bare seven years as the whole rule; ask an Arkansas lawyer what the elements are.

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2 · Ark. Code § 18-61-101(a) — limitation of actions for the recovery of land · secondhand source

“(a)(1) No person or his or her heirs shall have, sue, or maintain any action or suit, either in law or equity, for any lands, tenements, or hereditaments after seven (7) years once his or her right to commence, have, or maintain the suit shall have come, fallen, or accrued. (2) All suits, either in law or equity, for the recovery of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments shall be had and sued within seven (7) years next after the title or cause of action accrued and no time after the seven (7) years shall have passed.”

SECONDARY: read on FindLaw. Note the direction the sentence faces — it is a bar on the OWNER's own action, not a grant to the occupier, and subsection (b) suspends it for a person who was under twenty-one or non compos mentis when the right accrued. The seven years and § 18-11-106's colour-of-title-and-taxes requirements are separate provisions, and this page does not tell you how a court would fit them together. That is an Arkansas lawyer's question.

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These are the provisions, in order. We have not drawn a conclusion from them — that is not ours to draw.

This page is the law. What it costs you in Arkansas — the filing fee, the sheriff’s bill, the months, and whether you ever see the money again.

Your deed proves you own it. It does not prove you never rented it.

That is the officer’s real question, and the lease in their hand does not contradict your deed. You can swear it is a forgery — but a statement you write the morning after, against a lease dated last year, is worth very little. The version that counts has to already exist.

How DeedProof verifies owners and files the affidavit in advance →

› Every source on this page (12)

Ark. Code § 5-39-215(c), (d) — who may report, and the officer's immunityArk. Code § 18-16-101(a), (b)(1) — failure to pay rent, refusal to vacate upon notice, as amended by Act 159 of 2017 (SB25), approved 2017-02-13Ark. Code § 18-60-304(1)–(2) — actions constituting unlawful detainerArk. Code § 18-60-303 — actions constituting forcible entry and detainerArk. Code § 18-60-310(d) — writs of possessionArk. Code § 18-60-309(a)–(b) — damagesLegal Aid of Arkansas — "Lock Outs and Self-Help Evictions", read 2026-07-14Ark. Code § 5-39-203(a), (b)(3)–(4) — criminal trespass and its gradingArk. Code § 16-81-106(b) — authority to arrestArk. Code § 18-60-307(b) — "upon order of the court"Ark. Code § 18-11-106(a), (c), (d)(1) — adverse possession, additional requirementsArk. Code § 18-61-101(a) — limitation of actions for the recovery of land

DeedProof is not a law firm and this page is not legal advice. We cite primary sources; we do not interpret them for your situation. Laws change — confirm current requirements with the relevant government office or a licensed attorney.