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Squatters and vacant property in Kansas: what the law says

Kansas passed the removal of squatters act in 2026. An owner swears a notarized affidavit, hands it to a law enforcement agency, and once the agency has verified it an officer serves the person inside with notice to vacate immediately. No judge signs anything in that route. But read what the act does not do: it gives you no power to remove anyone yourself, it says nothing about locks, and it never says who puts out a person who ignores the notice. If you do use the affidavit route and the removal turns out to be wrongful, the person you put out can take the house back and collect triple the fair market rent plus your legal bill. 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. Kansas's 2026 law defines a squatter as somebody with no lease and no permission from a tenant, and says their occupancy is outside the landlord-tenant act altogether — so you are not required to run an eviction case against them. A tenant who simply stays past the end of their term is not a squatter, and that route is closed against them.

›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 · HB 2378 § 7(b)(4) (removal of squatters act), enrolled text, approved by the Governor 2026-04-06

“"Squatter" means a person occupying a dwelling who is not entitled to occupy the dwelling under a lease or rental agreement nor authorized by a tenant to occupy the dwelling. "Squatter" does not include a tenant who holds over in periodic tenancy.”

Read the second sentence. A tenant who holds over is NOT a squatter in Kansas, and § 2(a)(4) separately requires the owner to swear that "the person is not a tenant or a holdover tenant." A former tenant who will not leave is an ordinary eviction, and the affidavit route is not available against them.

Read it at the source →

2 · HB 2378 § 7(c) — relationship to the landlord-tenant act

“Occupancy by a squatter is excluded from the residential landlord tenant act and the removal of a squatter shall not require the use of an eviction action under such act.”

Quoted from the enrolled bill. § 8 provides that the act "shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the statute book," so a reader should confirm the section numbers it is codified under before citing them.

Read it at the source →

3 · K.S.A. 58-2543(o) — definitions, Kansas Residential Landlord and Tenant Act

“"Tenant" means a person entitled under a rental agreement to occupy a dwelling unit to the exclusion of others.”

Read on the Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes' own site. This is the definition HB 2378 § 7(b)(5) adopts by reference, and it is why the whole scheme turns on whether a rental agreement exists.

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. Kansas's new law gives every step to a law enforcement officer and gives you none: you swear an affidavit, the agency checks it, an officer serves the notice. Nothing in it lets you put anyone out yourself, and nothing in it says a word about locks. The rules that plainly forbid locking a person out are written about landlords and tenants — and the same new law pushes a squatter outside that act entirely, so no Kansas court we could read has decided what happens to an owner who does it anyway. Untested is not the same as permitted, and the person who finds out which it is will be the defendant.

›Read the law — 3 provisions

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

1 · HB 2378 § 3(a)–(b) — what the agency and the officer do, enrolled text

“Upon receipt of the affidavit, the applicable law enforcement agency shall verify that the affiant is the record owner of the dwelling unit or the authorized agent of the owner of the dwelling unit and appears otherwise entitled to relief. Upon verification and after at least 24 hours from receipt of the affidavit, a law enforcement officer shall serve a notice on the unauthorized person to vacate immediately the dwelling unit. (b) Service may be accomplished by hand delivery of the notice to any unauthorized person occupying the dwelling or by posting notice on the front door or entrance of the dwelling unit.”

A CLAIM ABOUT OUR OWN SEARCH, NOT ABOUT THE LAW: on 2026-07-14 we read the enrolled text of HB 2378 in full, all eight sections, on the Kansas Legislature's own server. We looked for any provision authorising the owner to change the locks, shut off a utility, set belongings out, or ask an officer to stand by while he does — the language Oklahoma and Missouri both print in their removal statutes. We found no such provision in the Kansas act. Confirm it against the published statute before relying on it.

Read it at the source →

2 · HB 2378 § 6 — civil cause of action for wrongful removal, enrolled text

“A person may bring a civil cause of action for wrongful removal under this act against the affiant owner of the dwelling unit or agent of the owner of the dwelling unit. An person harmed by a wrongful removal under this act may have the possession of the dwelling unit restored and may recover actual costs and damages, as well as punitive damages of triple the fair market rent of the dwelling, plus court costs and reasonable attorney fees.”

Quoted as printed in the enrolled bill, including "An person". READ ITS SCOPE, IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. It runs against the OWNER and his agent — not the officer, who § 5 immunises for anything done in good faith. And it reaches a wrongful removal "under this act", brought against "the affiant owner": on its own words it prices the AFFIDAVIT ROUTE, and it does not tell you what an owner who never swore one and simply put somebody out is exposed to. Note also § 2(b): an owner who knowingly swears a false affidavit "may be charged with a class A nonperson misdemeanor."

Read it at the source →

3 · K.S.A. 58-2563 — unlawful removal or exclusion of tenant; diminished services; damages

“If the landlord unlawfully removes or excludes the tenant from the premises or willfully diminishes services to the tenant by interrupting or causing the interruption of electric, gas, water or other essential service to the tenant, the tenant may recover possession or terminate the rental agreement and, in either case, recover an amount not more than one and one-half (1½) months' periodic rent or the damages sustained by the tenant, whichever is greater.”

READ THE SCOPE, AND READ WHAT WE COULD NOT ESTABLISH. This section speaks of a LANDLORD and a TENANT, and HB 2378 § 7(c) says a squatter's occupancy is "excluded from the residential landlord tenant act." We looked for a Kansas appellate decision resolving whether an owner may lawfully put out a person who was never a tenant without process, and found none we could fetch. So do not read the § 6 damages above as the price of a lockout: § 6 is written about a wrongful removal "under this act" by "the affiant owner", and an owner who never swore an affidavit is outside it. Nothing we found tells you what he IS exposed to. Untested is not the same as permitted — the person who finds out which it is will be the defendant, in an argument nobody in Kansas has had yet. 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. Kansas's new squatter law creates no crime for the person in your house — the only crime in it is for an owner who lies on the affidavit. So the charge is ordinary criminal trespass, which is a low-grade misdemeanor, and at that grade a Kansas officer can arrest without a warrant only if the crime is committed in front of him, or if he has one of three specific reasons the statute lists.

›Read the law — 3 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 · K.S.A. 21-5808(a)(1) — criminal trespass

“(a) Criminal trespass is entering or remaining upon or in any: (1) Land, nonnavigable body of water, structure, vehicle, aircraft or watercraft by a person who knows such person is not authorized or privileged to do so, and: (A) Such person enters or remains therein in defiance of an order not to enter or to leave such premises or property personally communicated to such person by the owner thereof or other authorized person; (B) such premises or property are posted as provided in K.S.A. 32-1013, and amendments thereto, or in any other manner reasonably likely to come to the attention of intruders, or are locked or fenced or otherwise enclosed, or shut or secured against passage or entry;”

Read what the offence hangs on: the person must KNOW they are "not authorized or privileged" to be there, and then either defy an order to leave that came from the owner, or be in a place that was locked, fenced or posted. Somebody holding a lease says they were authorised, and says the owner who ordered them out is not the owner.

Read it at the source →

2 · K.S.A. 21-5808(b) — grading

“Criminal trespass is a class B nonperson misdemeanor. Upon a conviction of a violation of subsection (a)(1)(C), a person shall be sentenced to not less than 48 consecutive hours of imprisonment which shall be served either before or as a condition of any grant of probation or suspension, reduction of sentence or parole.”

This is the link that killed the previous market elsewhere — a grade so low that the arrest power may not reach it. The next link is the Kansas arrest statute at that grade. Read them in order. Note also that HB 2378 creates no offence for the occupant at all: its only criminal provision, § 2(b), is aimed at an owner who knowingly swears a false affidavit.

Read it at the source →

3 · K.S.A. 22-2401(c)–(d) — arrest by law enforcement officer

“(c) The officer has probable cause to believe that the person is committing or has committed: (1) A felony; or (2) a misdemeanor, and the law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe that: (A) The person will not be apprehended or evidence of the crime will be irretrievably lost unless the person is immediately arrested; (B) the person may cause injury to self or others or damage to property unless immediately arrested; or (C) the person has intentionally inflicted bodily harm to another person. (d) Any crime, except a traffic infraction or a cigarette or tobacco infraction, has been or is being committed by the person in the officer's view.”

Read the list carefully. Kansas does NOT give a general power to arrest on probable cause for a misdemeanor the way it does for a felony. Whether a person found living in a vacant house is committing the offence "in the officer's view", and whether any of (c)(2)'s three findings can be made, is the question the whole encounter turns on. 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?

Permission — whether the officer at the door believes the person inside had it, which he cannot weigh without knowing who could have given it. Kansas's new law orders the agency to verify that you are the record owner. It does not say how, and it names no document you could show.

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 · K.S.A. 21-5808(a)(1)(A) — the words the offence hinges on

“Land, nonnavigable body of water, structure, vehicle, aircraft or watercraft by a person who knows such person is not authorized or privileged to do so, and: (A) Such person enters or remains therein in defiance of an order not to enter or to leave such premises or property personally communicated to such person by the owner thereof or other authorized person;”

The order to leave has to come from "the owner thereof or other authorized person." If the officer cannot tell who the owner is, he cannot tell whether the order was one the statute recognises.

Read it at the source →

2 · HB 2378 § 3(a)–(b) — the verification duty, enrolled text

“Upon receipt of the affidavit, the applicable law enforcement agency shall verify that the affiant is the record owner of the dwelling unit or the authorized agent of the owner of the dwelling unit and appears otherwise entitled to relief. … The law enforcement agency shall also attempt to verify the identities of all persons occupying the dwelling and note the identities on the return of service.”

A CLAIM ABOUT OUR OWN SEARCH, NOT ABOUT THE LAW: on 2026-07-14 we read the enrolled text of HB 2378 in full on the Kansas Legislature's own server. We looked for any provision telling the agency HOW to verify that the affiant is the record owner — a deed check, a register of deeds lookup, a document the owner must attach, any standard at all. We found no such provision; the ellipsis above skips § 3(a)'s 24-hour clock and the first sentence of § 3(b), neither of which supplies one. Confirm it against the published statute 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?

Two routes now. The new one is a notarized affidavit handed to a law enforcement agency, and once the agency has verified it an officer serves the person inside with notice to vacate. The old one is an eviction case: a three-day written notice to leave, then a lawsuit in the county court that handles smaller civil claims, then a court order that an officer or process server carries out — that order is what actually puts you back in the building.

›Read the law — 3 provisions

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

1 · HB 2378 § 2(a) — what the owner must swear, enrolled text

“The owner of a dwelling unit or the agent of the owner of a dwelling unit may request the removal of an unauthorized person from the dwelling unit by submitting a notarized affidavit to a law enforcement agency in the county where the dwelling unit is located containing the following elements: (1) The affiant is the owner of the dwelling unit or the agent of the owner of the dwelling unit; (2) a person has entered and is remaining unlawfully in the dwelling unit; (3) the person was not authorized to enter the dwelling unit; (4) the person is not a tenant or a holdover tenant; (5) the affiant has requested the unauthorized person to vacate the dwelling unit and the person has not done so; and (6) the unauthorized person is not an immediate family member of the property owner.”

Element (5) has work to do before any of this starts: § 4 requires the owner to post a notice at the dwelling telling the occupant they must vacate immediately, to put the street address of the law enforcement agency on it, and to attach a copy with the date and time of delivery to the affidavit.

Read it at the source →

2 · K.S.A. 61-3803 — notice to leave premises

“Before a lawsuit to evict a person pursuant to K.S.A. 61-3801 through 61-3808, and amendments thereto, is filed, the party desiring to file such lawsuit shall deliver to the other party a notice to leave the premises for which possession is sought. The notice shall be delivered at least three days before commencing the lawsuit, by leaving a written copy with the other party or by leaving a copy thereof with any person over the age of 12 years residing on the premises described in such notice, or if no such person is found upon the premises, by posting a copy of such notice in a conspicuous place thereon, or by mailing a copy of the notice to the other party at the address of the premises described in the notice.”

K.S.A. 61-3801 sets the scope of this article: it "shall govern lawsuits brought to evict a person from possession of real property or of an interest in real property" — it is not written only about tenants.

Read it at the source →

3 · K.S.A. 61-3808(a)–(b) — writ of restitution

“(a) If judgment is entered against the defendant for possession of the subject premises, the court shall issue, at the request of the plaintiff, a writ of restitution which shall direct anyone who is authorized to serve process and who is named in the writ to place the plaintiff in possession of the premises described in the writ. (b) The writ of restitution shall be executed within 14 days after the person named in the writ receives it, and that person shall file a return as with other writs under the code of civil procedure for limited actions. The person serving the writ may use such reasonable force as is necessary to execute the writ.”

Note who uses force and on whose authority: the person named in the WRIT, after a judgment. Note also subsection (c) — if an appeal stays the proceedings after the premises have been restored, that person "shall immediately place the defendant in the possession thereof."

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?

The affidavit route has one clock in it and it is a minimum, not a deadline: an officer serves the notice no sooner than 24 hours after the agency receives your affidavit, and only once the agency has verified it — and the act sets no deadline at all for that verification. If it ends up in court instead, the statute sets the clocks: three days notice, an appearance date 3 to 14 days after the summons issues, and a trial within 14 days of that. The law caps what an agency may charge to process your affidavit at fifty dollars.

›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 · HB 2378 § 3(a), (c) — the 24-hour clock and the fee cap

“Upon verification and after at least 24 hours from receipt of the affidavit, a law enforcement officer shall serve a notice on the unauthorized person to vacate immediately the dwelling unit. … (c) The law enforcement officer may charge a fee of not more than $50 to process an affidavit filed pursuant to this act.”

The 24 hours runs from RECEIPT, but it is gated on the agency having verified the affidavit first, and the act sets no deadline for that verification. The $50 is a cap printed in the act itself and is the only dollar figure on this page.

Read it at the source →

2 · K.S.A. 61-3805 — summons; time for appearance

“The time stated in the summons requiring the defendant to appear in response to the petition shall be determined by the court. Such time shall be not less than three nor more than 14 days after the date the summons is issued.”

Read it at the source →

3 · K.S.A. 61-3807 — trial

“(a) If a trial is necessary, the trial shall be conducted within 14 days after the appearance date stated in the summons. (b) No continuance shall be granted unless the defendant requesting a continuance shall file a bond with good and sufficient security approved by the court, conditioned for the payment of all damages and rent that may accrue if judgment is entered against the defendant.”

NO COURT FEE FIGURE APPEARS ON THIS PAGE, and that is deliberate. Kansas filing fees for a limited actions case and the cost of serving process are set outside these sections and we did not fetch a published schedule, so we print no number. Every dollar figure on this site appears verbatim in a document we fetched, or it does not appear. Note also that the statutory clocks above are what the code REQUIRES; a docket is not a promise, and an appeal stays the writ (K.S.A. 61-3808(c)).

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?

Yes — since 2026, and no judge is involved at any point. You swear a notarized affidavit, hand it to a law enforcement agency in the county, and once the agency has verified it an officer serves the person inside with notice to vacate immediately. The person inside is given nothing to sign back; their remedy is to sue you afterwards. But read where the act stops: it tells an officer to serve a notice, and it never says who puts out somebody who ignores it.

›Read the law — 3 provisions

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

1 · HB 2378 §§ 2(a), 3(a) — the removal of squatters act, enrolled text

“The owner of a dwelling unit or the agent of the owner of a dwelling unit may request the removal of an unauthorized person from the dwelling unit by submitting a notarized affidavit to a law enforcement agency in the county where the dwelling unit is located … Upon receipt of the affidavit, the applicable law enforcement agency shall verify that the affiant is the record owner of the dwelling unit or the authorized agent of the owner of the dwelling unit and appears otherwise entitled to relief. Upon verification and after at least 24 hours from receipt of the affidavit, a law enforcement officer shall serve a notice on the unauthorized person to vacate immediately the dwelling unit.”

A CLAIM ABOUT OUR OWN SEARCH: we read all eight sections of the enrolled act on 2026-07-14 and found no counter-affidavit, no objection, no hearing and no judicial officer anywhere in it — nothing the occupant may sign or file to move the matter to a court, as Georgia's § 44-11-30 lets them. We also note what the act does NOT say: it directs an officer to SERVE A NOTICE to vacate, and it does not, in terms, say who physically removes a person who ignores it. Confirm against the published statute.

Read it at the source →

2 · HB 2378 §§ 5, 6 — immunity for the agency, liability for the owner

“No law enforcement agency or such agency's deputies or employees or political subdivision of the state may be held liable for any action or omission made in good faith pursuant to this act. … A person may bring a civil cause of action for wrongful removal under this act against the affiant owner of the dwelling unit or agent of the owner of the dwelling unit.”

Read the two together. The agency that verified your affidavit is immune if it acted in good faith; you are not. The whole risk of the sworn word being wrong sits on the owner, and § 6 measures it in triple the fair market rent plus attorney fees.

Read it at the source →

3 · Kansas Legislature, official bill-status record for HB 2378 (2025–2026 biennium), read 2026-07-14

“Approved by Governor on Monday, April 6, 2026”

The same record shows "Final Action - Passed; Yea: 39 Nay: 1" in the Senate on 2026-03-19 and "Final Action - Passed as amended; Yea: 114 Nay: 8" in the House on 2025-03-06. The act's own § 8 provides that it "shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the statute book," so check the published statute for the section numbers it is codified under.

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 — and note how Kansas writes it: as a bar on YOUR lawsuit. After fifteen years of possession that is open, exclusive and continuous, you can no longer bring an action to recover the property.

›Read the law

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

K.S.A. 60-503 — adverse possession

“No action shall be maintained against any person for the recovery of real property who has been in open, exclusive and continuous possession of such real property, either under a claim knowingly adverse or under a belief of ownership, for a period of fifteen (15) years. This section shall not apply to any action commenced within one (1) year after the effective date of this act.”

Read the words rather than the years. The clock does not start because a building sat empty: the possession must be open, exclusive and continuous for the whole fifteen years. Kansas is unusual in stating the alternative mental states in the statute itself — "either under a claim knowingly adverse or under a belief of ownership" — and how those are applied is a question for the Kansas courts, whose decisions we have not read and do not quote here.

Read it at the source →

This page is the law. What it costs you in Kansas — 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 (11)

HB 2378 §§ 5, 6 — immunity for the agency, liability for the ownerK.S.A. 58-2543(o) — definitions, Kansas Residential Landlord and Tenant ActK.S.A. 58-2563 — unlawful removal or exclusion of tenant; diminished services; damagesK.S.A. 21-5808(a)(1)(A) — the words the offence hinges onK.S.A. 22-2401(c)–(d) — arrest by law enforcement officerK.S.A. 61-3803 — notice to leave premisesK.S.A. 61-3808(a)–(b) — writ of restitutionK.S.A. 61-3805 — summons; time for appearanceK.S.A. 61-3807 — trialKansas Legislature, official bill-status record for HB 2378 (2025–2026 biennium), read 2026-07-14K.S.A. 60-503 — adverse possession

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.