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Squatters and vacant property in Connecticut: what the law says

Connecticut does not let anyone be put out of a building on an owner's sworn word. A squatter is not a tenant here — the eviction statute has a line written for a person who never had any right to be in the building at all — but it is still the eviction statute, so you still go to housing court: a written notice giving at least three days, a complaint, a judgment, and then a court order that a state marshal carries out. A judge can hold that order back for months. Doing it yourself is the worst move available: the person you put out can sue you for double damages and be restored to the house, and the statute says the judgment in that case does not turn on who holds title. 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. In Connecticut a tenant is someone with a rental agreement, and the eviction law has a line written specifically for a person who never had any right to be in the building. But it is still the eviction law — so you still go to housing court.

›Read the law — 2 provisions

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

1 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-1(l) — "tenant" defined (2025 revision)

““Tenant” means the lessee, sublessee or person entitled under a rental agreement to occupy a dwelling unit or premises to the exclusion of others or as is otherwise defined by law.”

The same section defines "rental agreement" at subsection (i) as "all agreements, written or oral, and valid rules and regulations adopted under section 47a-9 or subsection (d) of section 21-70 embodying the terms and conditions concerning the use and occupancy of a dwelling unit or premises." A forged lease is a written agreement until somebody establishes that it is not.

Read it at the source →

2 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-23(a)(2)–(3) — grounds for a notice to quit (2025 revision)

“(2) when such premises, or any part thereof, is occupied by one who never had a right or privilege to occupy such premises; or (3) when one originally had the right or privilege to occupy such premises but such right or privilege has terminated;”

Read where this line lives. It is subdivision (2) of the SUMMARY PROCESS statute — the eviction statute — which is why a Connecticut squatter is not a tenant and is still evicted like one. The Revisor's annotation to this section records an appellate holding to the same effect: "Property owner may bring summary process action against one who has no right or privilege to occupy the premises without having to allege that the occupier is a tenant". That is the Revisor's summary of 88 CA 661, not the opinion itself; we did not read the opinion and do not quote 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.

Can I just change the locks?

No — and Connecticut writes the price of getting it wrong into the statute. The person you put out can bring their own action, be restored to the building, and collect double damages and costs from you. The statute says that case does not turn on who holds the title: owning the house is not a defence to forcing someone out of it.

›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 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-43 — the law that lets a person you put out sue to be let back in (2025 revision)

“When any person (1) makes forcible entry into any land, tenement or dwelling unit and with a strong hand detains the same, or (2) having made a peaceable entry, without the consent of the actual possessor, holds and detains the same with force and strong hand, or (3) enters into any land, tenement or dwelling unit and causes damage to the premises or damage to or removal of or detention of the personal property of the possessor, or (4) when the party put out of possession would be required to cause damage to the premises or commit a breach of the peace in order to regain possession, the party thus ejected, held out of possession, or suffering damage may exhibit his complaint to any judge of the Superior Court.”

Connecticut's books call this section "forcible entry and detainer" — the name describes what the person who was put out is complaining ABOUT, not something they are accused of. Read who it protects: "the actual possessor" and "the party thus ejected". It is not written about tenants, and it is not written about people with good title. It is written about whoever was actually in the building.

Read it at the source →

2 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-45a(a), (c) — finding, judgment, title not affected (2025 revision)

“the judge shall render judgment that the complainant be restored to, and reseized of, the premises or that the personal property removed or detained be returned to the complainant, and shall award a writ of restitution accordingly. The complainant shall recover costs from the person complained of. … (c) The judgment rendered in such proceeding shall not affect or be evidence of the title to such land, tenement or dwelling unit.”

The ellipsis skips subsection (b), which taxes costs the other way if the person complained of is found not guilty. Subsection (c) is the sentence to sit with: the proceeding does not decide title, so a deed is not an answer to it.

Read it at the source →

3 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-46 — when double damages allowable (2025 revision)

“The party aggrieved may recover in a civil action double damages and his costs against the defendant, if it is found on the trial of a complaint brought under section 47a-43 that he entered into the land, tenement or dwelling unit by force or after entry held the same by force or otherwise injured the party aggrieved in the manner described in section 47a-43.”

Read it at the source →

4 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-214 — criminal lockout: class C misdemeanor (2025 revision)

“A landlord or lessor of a residential or nonresidential unit subject to the provisions of chapter 830 or 832, or an owner of such a unit, or the agent of such landlord, lessor or owner is guilty of criminal lockout when, without benefit of a court order, he or she deprives a tenant, as defined in subsection (l) of section 47a-1, or a lessee of a nonresidential unit, of access to his or her residential or nonresidential unit or his or her possessions. (b) Criminal lockout is a class C misdemeanor.”

A CLAIM ABOUT OUR OWN SEARCH, NOT ABOUT THE LAW: this section is scoped to a "tenant, as defined in subsection (l) of section 47a-1", and a squatter does not meet that definition. We looked for a Connecticut appellate decision resolving whether the criminal-lockout section reaches a person who was never a tenant, and did not find one we could fetch. It does not matter much: § 47a-43 above is not scoped to tenants at all, and it is the one that costs money. 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 →

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 the charge. Being inside a building you know you have no right to be in is a misdemeanor; the felony — burglary — needs proof they entered to commit a crime inside. Connecticut's arrest statute commands an arrest for any offense when the person is "taken or apprehended in the act or on the speedy information of others," and separately permits arrest on "reasonable grounds" for a felony.

›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 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-108 — criminal trespass in the second degree: class B misdemeanor (2025 revision)

“A person is guilty of criminal trespass in the second degree when, knowing that such person is not licensed or privileged to do so, (1) such person enters or remains in a building, or (2) such person enters or remains on public land. (b) Criminal trespass in the second degree is a class B misdemeanor.”

Read it at the source →

2 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-107(a)(1), (b) — criminal trespass in the first degree: class A misdemeanor (2025 revision)

“A person is guilty of criminal trespass in the first degree when: (1) Knowing that such person is not licensed or privileged to do so, such person enters or remains in a building or any other premises after an order to leave or not to enter personally communicated to such person by the owner of the premises or other authorized person … (b) Criminal trespass in the first degree is a class A misdemeanor.”

The ellipsis drops subdivisions (2) to (4), which cover restraining orders, foreign protective orders and public land — none of them reach a vacant house. Note that the higher grade turns on an order given by "the owner of the premises or other authorized person," which is a fact the officer at the door has no way to check. That is the next question.

Read it at the source →

3 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-103 — burglary in the third degree: class D felony (2025 revision)

“A person is guilty of burglary in the third degree when he enters or remains unlawfully in a building with intent to commit a crime therein. (b) Burglary in the third degree is a class D felony.”

"Enters or remains unlawfully" is defined for this part at § 53a-100(b): "A person ‘enters or remains unlawfully' in or upon premises when the premises, at the time of such entry or remaining, are not open to the public and when the actor is not otherwise licensed or privileged to do so." The extra element the felony needs is the intent to commit a crime inside, and that is not established by the occupation itself.

Read it at the source →

4 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 54-1f(a)–(b) — arrest without warrant (2025 revision)

“Peace officers, as defined in subdivision (9) of section 53a-3, in their respective precincts, shall arrest, without previous complaint and warrant, any person for any offense in their jurisdiction, when the person is taken or apprehended in the act or on the speedy information of others, provided that no constable elected pursuant to the provisions of section 9-200 shall be considered a peace officer for the purposes of this subsection, unless the town in which such constable holds office provides, by ordinance, that constables shall be considered peace officers for the purposes of this subsection. (b) Members of the Division of State Police within the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection or of any local police department or any chief inspector or inspector in the Division of Criminal Justice shall arrest, without previous complaint and warrant, any person who the officer has reasonable grounds to believe has committed or is committing a felony.”

Read subsections (a) and (b) against each other. For a felony the standard is "reasonable grounds to believe". For everything else — including both grades of criminal trespass — it is "taken or apprehended in the act or on the speedy information of others", which is a narrower thing, and whether a person found living in a vacant building meets it is not ours to say. 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?

Permission. Whether the officer believes the person inside had the owner's permission to be there — that is the whole decision, and Connecticut's statutes call it being "licensed or privileged". The more serious charge only exists if the OWNER personally ordered them out, so the officer also has to satisfy himself who the owner is. Connecticut tells him what he needs to know and never tells him how to find it out.

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 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-108(a) — the words the offence hinges on (2025 revision)

“A person is guilty of criminal trespass in the second degree when, knowing that such person is not licensed or privileged to do so, (1) such person enters or remains in a building, or (2) such person enters or remains on public land.”

The first-degree section, § 53a-107(a)(1), stacks a second permission question on top of it: the order to leave must have been "personally communicated to such person by the owner of the premises or other authorized person." So the officer has to weigh not only whether the occupant had permission, but whether the person who withdrew it had the standing to.

Read it at the source →

2 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-23(a) — who may serve a notice to quit (2025 revision)

“When the owner or lessor, or the owner's or lessor's legal representative, or the owner's or lessor's attorney-at-law, or in-fact, desires to obtain possession or occupancy of any land or building, any apartment in any building, any dwelling unit, any trailer, or any land upon which a trailer is used or stands”

A CLAIM ABOUT OUR OWN SEARCH, NOT ABOUT THE LAW: on 2026-07-14 we read Conn. Gen. Stat. chapters 830, 832 and 833 in full, and §§ 53a-100 to 53a-109 and 53a-214 and 54-1f in full, on the General Assembly's own server. We looked for any provision telling an officer, a marshal, a clerk or a judge how to establish that the person claiming to be the owner is the owner — a deed check, a land-records lookup, a registry, anything. We found no such provision. Confirm it against the official statutes 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?

Housing court. Connecticut puts a squatter on the same eviction track a tenant goes on: a written notice giving at least three days, then a complaint, then a judgment — and only a state marshal, acting on the court's order, actually puts anyone out.

›Read the law — 3 provisions

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

1 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-23(a), (b) — notice to quit possession (2025 revision)

“such owner or lessor, or such owner's or lessor's legal representative, or such owner's or lessor's attorney-at-law, or in-fact, shall give notice to each lessee or occupant to quit possession or occupancy of such land, building, apartment or dwelling unit, at least three days before the termination of the rental agreement or lease, if any, or before the time specified in the notice for the lessee or occupant to quit possession or occupancy. … If the owner or lessor, or the owner's or lessor's legal representative, attorney-at-law or attorney-in-fact knows of the presence of an occupant but does not know the name of such occupant, the notice for such occupant may be addressed to such occupant as “John Doe”, “Jane Doe” or some other alias which reasonably characterizes the person to be served.”

The ellipsis joins the end of subsection (a) to the last sentence of subsection (b); the form of the notice, which subsection (b) prescribes, sits between them. Subsection (c) requires the notice to be delivered "by a proper officer or indifferent person" — not by the owner personally.

Read it at the source →

2 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-23a(a) — complaint (2025 revision)

“If, at the expiration of the three days prescribed in section 47a-23, the lessee or occupant neglects or refuses to quit possession or occupancy of the premises, any commissioner of the Superior Court may issue a writ, summons and complaint which shall be in the form and nature of an ordinary writ, summons and complaint in a civil process, but which shall set forth facts justifying a judgment for immediate possession or occupancy of the premises and make a claim for possession or occupancy of the premises.”

Read it at the source →

3 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-42(a) — eviction of tenant and occupants (2025 revision)

“If the defendant or occupant has not so removed himself or herself upon entry of a judgment pursuant to section 47a-26, 47a-26a, 47a-26b or 47a-26d, and upon expiration of any stay of execution, the plaintiff may obtain an execution upon such summary process judgment, and the defendant or other occupant bound by the judgment by subsection (a) of section 47a-26h and the possessions and personal effects of such defendant or other occupant may be removed by a state marshal, pursuant to such execution, and delivered to the place of storage designated by the chief executive officer for such purposes.”

Read the actors in that sentence. The removal is done by a STATE MARSHAL, acting on an EXECUTION — Connecticut's word for the order that carries a judgment out — which exists only after a JUDGMENT. There is no step in it the owner performs himself.

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?

Months, once they fight. Even after you win, the court cannot issue the order that removes them for another five days; if they appeal, that order is frozen until the appeal is over; and a judge can give them up to six more months in the house on top of that. We give no dollar figure, because we could not read a Connecticut filing or marshal fee in the statute.

›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 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-35(a)–(b) — stay of execution; appeal (2025 revision)

“Execution shall be stayed for five days from the date judgment has been rendered, provided any Sunday or legal holiday intervening shall be excluded in computing such five days. (b) No appeal shall be taken except within such five-day period. If an appeal is taken within such period, execution shall be stayed until the final determination of the cause, unless it appears to the judge who tried the case that the appeal was taken solely for the purpose of delay or unless the defendant fails to give bond, as provided in section 47a-35a.”

Read it at the source →

2 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-39 — court may grant stay of execution (2025 revision)

“the court may grant a stay of execution for a period or for periods in the aggregate not exceeding six months from the date of the judgment in the summary process action upon such conditions and terms as appear fair and equitable, except that such stay of execution shall not exceed three months in the aggregate if the reason for the judgment against the defendant was nonpayment of rent”

This stay is not automatic and it is not unconditional — § 47a-39 requires the applicant to show, among other things, that the premises are used for dwelling purposes, that they cannot secure suitable premises elsewhere, that they used due diligence to try, and that the application is made in good faith; the court "shall consider all the circumstances of the case, the equities involved and whether any undue hardship would result to either party." Section 47a-36 excludes some premises from the stay provisions entirely. We do not predict how a judge will exercise it.

Read it at the source →

3 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-26 — failure to appear; judgment; costs (2025 revision)

“the court shall, not later than the first court day after the filing of such motion, enter judgment that the complainant recover possession or occupancy of the premises with the complainant's costs, and execution shall issue subject to the provisions of sections 47a-35 to 47a-41, inclusive.”

NO DOLLAR FIGURE APPEARS ON THIS PAGE, and that is deliberate. The statute says the winner recovers "costs" and never says what they are: Connecticut sets its Superior Court entry fee and its state marshals' fees outside chapter 832, and we did not fetch either. Every fee figure on this site appears verbatim in a document we fetched, or it does not appear. We also did not establish whether a winning owner recovers attorney's fees under this section, and we do not say.

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 put out of a Connecticut house on your sworn word — a judge has to sign, and a state marshal carries the order out. A 2025 bill that would have created an affidavit route went to a committee and never came out.

›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 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-42(a) — removal on execution by a state marshal (2025 revision)

“the plaintiff may obtain an execution upon such summary process judgment, and the defendant or other occupant bound by the judgment by subsection (a) of section 47a-26h and the possessions and personal effects of such defendant or other occupant may be removed by a state marshal, pursuant to such execution”

A CLAIM ABOUT OUR OWN SEARCH, NOT ABOUT THE LAW: we read chapter 832 (summary process) and chapter 833 (entry and detainer) in full on 2026-07-14 and looked for any provision by which a sheriff, a state marshal or a police officer may remove an occupant on the strength of an owner's affidavit, with no judge involved. We found no such provision. Every removal route in those chapters runs through a judgment.

Read it at the source →

2 · Connecticut General Assembly — Bill Status, Proposed H.B. No. 6116 (2025), read 2026-07-14

“AN ACT DEFINING SQUATTER AND ESTABLISHING A PROCESS TO EVICT A SQUATTER.”

The CGA's own Bill History for this bill records exactly one action: "1/22/2025 — Referred to Joint Committee on Housing". Nothing after it. A SECOND CLAIM ABOUT OUR SEARCH: press reporting says the Housing Committee voted on 2026-02-19 to raise a new squatters bill concept, and the 2026 regular session adjourned in May 2026. We could not identify that bill on the General Assembly's own bill-status pages, so we say nothing about what it contains or where it ended up. Check the legislature's status pages before relying on this answer.

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?

Fifteen years. Connecticut's statute also contains something most states do not: a written notice, served on the occupant and recorded in the land records, that the statute treats as interrupting the period — with a one-year deadline to sue attached to it. It is a formal step with conditions; a Connecticut lawyer does it, not you.

›Read the law

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

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-575(a) — entry upon land to be made within fifteen years (2025 revision)

“No person shall make entry into any lands or tenements but within fifteen years next after his right or title to the same first descends or accrues or within fifteen years next after such person or persons have been ousted from possession of such land or tenements; and every person, not entering as aforesaid, and his heirs, shall be utterly disabled to make such entry afterwards; and no such entry shall be sufficient, unless within such fifteen-year period, any person or persons claiming ownership of such lands and tenements and the right of entry and possession thereof against any person or persons who are in actual possession of such lands or tenements, gives notice in writing to the person or persons in possession of the land or tenements of the intention of the person giving the notice to dispute the right of possession of the person or persons to whom such notice is given and to prevent the other party or parties from acquiring such right, and the notice being served and recorded as provided in sections 47-39 and 47-40 shall be deemed an interruption of the use and possession and shall prevent the acquiring of a right thereto by the continuance of the use and possession for any length of time thereafter, provided an action is commenced thereupon within one year next after the recording of such notice.”

READ THE WORDS, NOT THE YEARS, AND NOTE WHAT THE STATUTE DOES NOT SAY. It states the fifteen years and the notice mechanism; it does not state what kind of possession starts the clock. Connecticut courts require the possession to be open, visible, exclusive and under a claim of right, and to have ousted the owner — those elements are judicial, we did not read the opinions, and we do not put words in a court's mouth. Do not read the bare fifteen years as the whole rule; ask a Connecticut lawyer what the elements are. Subsection (b) extends the period for an owner who was a minor, non compos mentis or imprisoned when the right accrued.

Read it at the source →

This page is the law. What it costs you in Connecticut — 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 (7)

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-1(l) — "tenant" defined (2025 revision)Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-42(a) — removal on execution by a state marshal (2025 revision)Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-46 — when double damages allowable (2025 revision)Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-108(a) — the words the offence hinges on (2025 revision)Conn. Gen. Stat. § 54-1f(a)–(b) — arrest without warrant (2025 revision)Connecticut General Assembly — Bill Status, Proposed H.B. No. 6116 (2025), read 2026-07-14Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-575(a) — entry upon land to be made within fifteen years (2025 revision)

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.