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Squatters and vacant property in New York: what the law says

New York changed the law in 2024 and changed almost nothing about what an owner can do. 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 — and New York says so outright, in the statute itself. Since April 2024 the statute reads: “A tenant shall not include a squatter.” It changed nothing about how you get them out.

›Read the law

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

N.Y. RPAPL § 711, as amended L. 2024, ch. 56

“A tenant shall not include a squatter. For the purposes of this section, a squatter is a person who enters onto or intrudes upon real property without the permission of the person entitled to possession, and continues to occupy the property without title, right or permission of the owner or owner's agent or a person entitled to possession.”

And it changed almost nothing about removal. The same section still says: 'No tenant or lawful occupant of a dwelling or housing accommodation shall be removed from possession except in a special proceeding.' § 713 — which the amendment says controls in any conflict — still requires a court proceeding after a ten-day notice to quit. New York named the problem and left the remedy where it was.

Read it at the source →

Can I just change the locks?

Never. In New York a self-help eviction is a crime — a Class A misdemeanor — and the statute is aimed at the owner, not the squatter.

›Read the law — 2 provisions

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

1 · N.Y. RPAPL § 768(1)(a) — Unlawful eviction

“It shall be unlawful for any person to evict or attempt to evict an occupant of a dwelling unit who has lawfully occupied the dwelling unit for thirty consecutive days or longer or who has entered into a lease with respect to such dwelling except to the extent permitted by law pursuant to a warrant of eviction or other order of a court… by: (i) using or threatening the use of force… or (iii) engaging or threatening to engage in any other conduct which prevents or is intended to prevent such occupant from the lawful occupancy of such dwelling unit… including… removing, plugging or otherwise rendering the lock on such entrance door inoperable, or changing the lock on such entrance door without supplying the occupant with a key.”

Read who it protects: an occupant who has 'entered into a lease.' The forged lease in the intruder's hand is the exact document that clause names. An owner who changes the locks on a person holding a lease — forged or not — is exposed to a criminal charge. This is the thirty-day rule people fear, and it is narrower than folklore says: it is not a grant of tenancy, it is a criminal statute pointed at the owner.

Read it at the source →

2 · N.Y. RPAPL § 768(2)

“(a) Any person who intentionally violates or assists in the violation of any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor. Each such violation shall be a separate and distinct offense. (b) Such person shall also be subject to a civil penalty of not less than one thousand nor more than ten thousand dollars for each violation.”

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?

Yes. Trespass in a dwelling is a Class A misdemeanor, and New York lets an officer arrest for a misdemeanor even if he did not see it — no in-presence requirement.

›Read the law — 2 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 · N.Y. Penal Law § 140.15 — Criminal trespass, 2nd degree

“A person is guilty of criminal trespass in the second degree when: 1. he or she knowingly enters or remains unlawfully in a dwelling… Criminal trespass in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor.”

'Dwelling' means 'a building which is usually occupied by a person lodging therein at night.' Whether a VACANT house is a dwelling is the contested question — and there is an irony in it: a squatter sleeping there may himself supply the fact that makes it one. Below § 140.15 the ladder drops to a Class B misdemeanor, and below that to a mere violation.

Read it at the source →

2 · N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law § 140.10(1)

“1. … a police officer may arrest a person for: (a) Any offense when he or she has reasonable cause to believe that such person has committed such offense in his or her presence; and (b) A crime when he or she has reasonable cause to believe that such person has committed such crime, whether in his or her presence or otherwise.”

A 'crime' in New York means a misdemeanor or a felony. So a Class A misdemeanor is arrestable on reasonable cause whether or not the officer saw it — no presence requirement, and no citation-only bar of the kind that traps Ohio's cities. But drop one rung to the mere 'violation' of § 140.05 and the presence requirement returns.

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?

Whether the occupant was “licensed or privileged” to be there. And New York's presumptions of license run in the occupant's favour, not the owner's.

DeedProof solves this

We verify you own the property and file your notarized statement — that no lease exists and nobody may enter — where police can check it. How it works →

›Read the law

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

1 · N.Y. Penal Law § 140.00(5) — 'Enter or remain unlawfully'

“5. 'Enter or remain unlawfully.' A person 'enters or remains unlawfully' in or upon premises when he is not licensed or privileged to do so.”

Note what New York does NOT have: any mechanism by which an owner's sworn statement rebuts a claimed license. The statutory presumptions of license run the occupant's way. Everything turns on the officer's read of 'licensed or privileged' at the door — and the offense requires the occupant to have acted 'knowingly', so someone waving a lease can say he believed he was privileged.

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 special proceeding in court, after a ten-day notice to quit. There is no shortcut, and the 2024 amendment did not create one.

›Read the law

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

N.Y. RPAPL § 713(3)

“A special proceeding may be maintained under this article after a ten-day notice to quit has been served upon the respondent… 3. He or the person to whom he has succeeded has intruded into or squatted upon the property without the permission of the person entitled to possession and the occupancy has continued without permission or permission has been revoked and notice of the revocation given to the person to be removed.”

Read it at the source →

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

Months, through the courts, and there is no faster path. New York is the hardest state in the country for an owner in this position.

›Read the law

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

N.Y. RPAPL § 711

“No tenant or lawful occupant of a dwelling or housing accommodation shall be removed from possession except in a special proceeding.”

Court filing and marshal fees vary by county and by court; confirm with the clerk of the court where the property sits. We do not print a figure we have not read from that county's own schedule.

Read it at the source →

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

No. New York has no affidavit route and no bill that would create one. Every removal runs through a court.

›Read the law

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

What we looked for: any New York procedure letting a sheriff remove an occupant on the owner's sworn affidavit alone, without a court proceeding

N.Y. RPAPL §§ 711, 713 — searched in full

“A special proceeding may be maintained under this article after a ten-day notice to quit has been served upon the respondent…”

S2366 (2025-26) would extend the tenancy threshold from thirty days to sixty and add squatting to criminal trespass in the third degree. It has sat in Senate Housing since January 2026, and it creates no affidavit route. New York is the inverse of the Sun Belt: no shortcut for owners, no arrest bar for police, and the whole outcome resting on an officer's read of 'licensed or privileged' at the door.

Read it at the source →

How long before they can claim they own it?

Ten years — but New York tightened the rules in 2008, and a squatter's occupation no longer counts as “hostile” merely because they were there.

›Read the law

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

N.Y. RPAPL § 501 — Adverse possession; defined

“Adverse possessor. A person or entity is an 'adverse possessor' of real property when the person or entity occupies real property of another person or entity with or without knowledge of the other's superior ownership right, in a manner that would give the owner a cause of action for ejectment.”

This is the one number in New York that is reassuring, and it should not be used to frighten anyone. The squatter's weapon here is a claimed tenancy tonight, not a ten-year title claim.

Read it at the source →

This page is the law. What it costs you in New York — 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)

N.Y. RPAPL § 711N.Y. RPAPL § 768(2)N.Y. Penal Law § 140.15 — Criminal trespass, 2nd degreeN.Y. Crim. Proc. Law § 140.10(1)N.Y. Penal Law § 140.00(5) — 'Enter or remain unlawfully'N.Y. RPAPL §§ 711, 713 — searched in fullN.Y. RPAPL § 501 — Adverse possession; defined

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.