DeedProof

Protect a property
← All states

Law library

Squatters and vacant property in Texas: what the law says

Texas is one of the fastest states in the country for an owner — and the speed is bought by putting the risk on you. 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 — though Texas never says it outright. Its removal law simply excludes anyone who is or was a renter, which leaves a squatter outside the definition rather than named in it.

›Read the law

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

Tex. Prop. Code § 24B.001

“…an owner of residential real property or the owner's agent may request that the sheriff or constable… immediately remove a person who unlawfully entered and is occupying a dwelling on the property without the owner's consent if: … (3) the person is not: (A) a current or former tenant of the owner under an oral or written lease; or (B) an immediate family member of the owner.”

Compare Philadelphia, which says outright that a criminal trespasser is not a tenant and has none of a tenant's rights. Texas has no such sentence — a squatter is simply outside the eviction track, not statutorily branded a non-tenant. The mechanism is negative, not declaratory.

Read it at the source →

Can I just change the locks?

Not on your own — and never in another state. Texas allows it only after a sheriff has served a removal notice under its own procedure, and only with him standing there. Doing it any other way, or anywhere else, is how the victim becomes the defendant.

›Read the law

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

Tex. Prop. Code § 24B.003(g)

“…the property owner or owner's agent may request that the sheriff or constable remain on the property to keep the peace while the owner or owner's agent: (1) changes any locks; and (2) removes any personal property of an occupant from the dwelling…”

THIS IS LAWFUL IN TEXAS AND A CRIME IN MOST STATES. It is lawful only through the ch. 24B channel, with the sheriff present. Separately, § 92.0081 forbids a landlord locking out a TENANT — and if the occupant turns out to have any colorable tenancy, the owner who changed the locks is now the defendant. Never carry this answer across a state line.

Read it at the source →

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

Only if he catches them there. Texas lets an officer arrest for anything he sees happening — but for this charge, he has to see it. Turning up after the fact is not the same thing.

›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 · Tex. Penal Code § 30.05(d) — the grading

“(d) … an offense under this section is: (1) a Class B misdemeanor, except as provided by Subdivisions (2), (3), and (4); … (3) a Class A misdemeanor… if: (A) the offense is committed: (i) in a habitation or a shelter center;”

Whether a vacant, under-renovation house is 'adapted for the overnight accommodation of persons' — and therefore a habitation, and therefore Class A — is a fact question we did not verify against case law. Either way it is an arrestable class; the grade affects severity, not arrestability.

Read it at the source →

2 · Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 14.01(b)

“(b) A peace officer may arrest an offender without a warrant for any offense committed in his presence or within his view.”

It is a PRESENCE rule, not a probable-cause rule. § 30.05 is a 'remains on or in' offense, so an occupant still inside when the officer arrives is arguably committing it in his view — but we found no Texas statute creating a trespass-specific exception, and did not verify the case law.

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?

Consent — whether the owner gave it. And Texas has already decided the crucial part: consent obtained by fraud is not consent at all.

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 — 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 · Tex. Penal Code § 30.05(a) — Criminal trespass

“(a) A person commits an offense if the person enters or remains on or in property of another… without effective consent and the person: (1) had notice that the entry was forbidden; or (2) received notice to depart but failed to do so.”

Read it at the source →

2 · Tex. Penal Code § 1.07(a)(19) — 'Effective consent'

“'Effective consent' includes consent by a person legally authorized to act for the owner. Consent is not effective if: (A) induced by force, threat, or fraud; (B) given by a person the actor knows is not legally authorized to act for the owner;”

This is exactly the fact the officer cannot test at the door. The occupant's move is not a statutory defense — it is the lease in his hand, which goes to whether the owner's consent existed at all. Texas says a fraudulent consent is no consent. Somebody still has to establish that it was fraudulent.

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?

The sheriff, on your sworn complaint — no court, no hearing. Since September 2025 Texas has one of the fastest removal procedures in the country.

›Read the law

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

Tex. Prop. Code § 24B.003(a)–(b)

“(a) A sheriff or constable who receives a complaint under Section 24B.002 shall verify that the complainant is: (1) the record owner of the property that is the subject of the complaint or the owner's agent; and (2) otherwise entitled to the relief sought in the complaint. (b) On verifying the complaint under Subsection (a), the sheriff or constable shall without delay: (1) serve notice to immediately vacate on the person occupying the dwelling without the owner's consent; and (2) put the owner in possession of the dwelling.”

Read the first sentence. The sheriff 'shall verify that the complainant is the record owner' — and the statute specifies no method, no standard, and no timeline. The only ownership evidence the complaint asks for is 'a copy of my valid government-issued identification'. Texas removed the court. It did not remove the verification problem.

Read it at the source →

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

Days, not months, if you use the sheriff. And the price of that speed is that the risk moves onto you.

›Read the law

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

1 · Tex. Prop. Code § 24B.005 — wrongful removal

“(a) A person who is wrongfully removed… may bring an action under this section to: (1) recover possession of the real property; and (2) recover from the person who requested the wrongful removal: (A) actual damages; (B) exemplary damages equal to three times the fair market rent of the dwelling; (C) court costs; and (D) reasonable attorney's fees.”

This is what the speed costs. § 24B.002 makes you swear, under penalty of perjury and before anyone has checked, that 'any lease produced by the person is fraudulent'. If you are wrong, § 24B.005 charges you three times the rent plus their lawyer.

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 1 September 2025. And like Florida, the statute orders the sheriff to verify you are the record owner while giving him no way to do it.

›Read the law

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

Tex. Prop. Code § 24B.001 (SB 1333, eff. 1 Sep 2025)

“Notwithstanding any other law, an owner of residential real property or the owner's agent may request that the sheriff or constable of the county in which the property is located immediately remove a person who unlawfully entered and is occupying a dwelling on the property without the owner's consent…”

The complaint requires the owner to initial a box swearing 'any lease produced by the person is fraudulent', and to attach 'a copy of my valid government-issued identification' — which proves who you are, not that you own the building. § 24B.003(a) then tells the sheriff to 'verify that the complainant is the record owner', with no method specified. It is the same gap Philadelphia leaves open, assigned to a sheriff instead of left unassigned.

Read it at the source →

How long before they can claim they own it?

10 years for someone with no deed. The 3- and 5-year shortcuts are closed to a squatter — they need a registered deed and paid taxes, and a forged deed starts no clock.

›Read the law — 2 provisions

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

1 · Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.026 — Ten years

“(a) A person must bring suit not later than 10 years after the day the cause of action accrues to recover real property held in peaceable and adverse possession by another who cultivates, uses, or enjoys the property.”

Read it at the source →

2 · Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.025 — Five years

“(a) A person must bring suit not later than five years after the day the cause of action accrues to recover real property held in peaceable and adverse possession by another who: (1) cultivates, uses, or enjoys the property; (2) pays applicable taxes on the property; and (3) claims the property under a duly registered deed. (b) This section does not apply to a claim based on a quitclaim deed, a forged deed, or a deed executed under a forged power of attorney.”

Subsection (b) is the anti-fraud clause and it is doing real work: a forged deed cannot start the five-year clock. Do not let anyone tell you a squatter can take a Texas property in three or five years — on the statute, he cannot.

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.

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 (5)

Tex. Prop. Code § 24B.001 (SB 1333, eff. 1 Sep 2025)Tex. Penal Code § 30.05(a) — Criminal trespassTex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 14.01(b)Tex. Penal Code § 1.07(a)(19) — 'Effective consent'Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.025 — Five years

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.