Texas Squatters Rights: Adverse Possession and How Removal Actually Works
How long adverse possession takes in Texas, whether there is a fast-track removal law, and what you legally can and cannot do about an unauthorized occupant. Last reviewed August 2026.
The question that decides everything: is the occupant a squatter or a tenant? Anyone who ever had permission to be there — a former tenant, someone who paid you rent even once, an ex-partner of your tenant on the lease — is generally a tenant in the law's eyes and must go through the eviction process. Texas's squatter rules below apply to true trespassers only.
How long does adverse possession take in Texas?
Texas uses a ladder of limitations periods in Civil Practice and Remedies Code chapter 16: three years for a claimant holding title or color of title (section 16.024), five years for one who cultivates the land, pays taxes, and claims under a duly registered deed (section 16.025), ten years for bare possession (section 16.026), and twenty-five years that runs even against owners under a disability (sections 16.027 and 16.028). Possession must be an actual and visible appropriation of the land, commenced and continued under a claim of right hostile to the owner (section 16.021). The bare ten-year claim is capped at 160 acres unless the claim rests on a recorded memorandum of title, and a residential squatter almost never satisfies the hostile, continuous, exclusive occupation these statutes demand.
How to remove a squatter in Texas
Since September 1, 2025, Texas Property Code chapter 24B (added by SB 1333) lets the owner of a residential dwelling, or the owner's authorized agent, file a sworn complaint with the sheriff or constable requesting immediate removal of an unauthorized occupant. The complaint must attest that the occupant unlawfully entered and remains, that the property was not open to the public, that the occupant has been directed to leave and refused, that there is no pending litigation between the parties, and that the occupant is not and has never been a tenant or co-owner. The officer verifies the complaint, serves notice, and may remove the occupant without a full eviction suit; a service fee is authorized, and a wrongfully removed person keeps civil remedies against a false complainant. Anyone who does not fit chapter 24B's conditions must be removed through a forcible detainer suit in justice court under Property Code chapter 24.
Squatter or tenant? Why it matters
Chapter 24B is expressly unavailable against anyone who is or ever was a tenant of the property under a written or oral lease, or who is a co-owner. Those occupants — including holdover tenants, roommates who paid rent informally, and occupants a prior owner authorized — can only be removed by a chapter 24 forcible detainer case in justice court, which from January 1, 2026 follows the reworked SB 38 procedures. Using the squatter track against a tenant exposes the owner to liability for the sworn false statement.
What you absolutely cannot do
Texas allows a narrow, lease-authorized lockout of a delinquent tenant under Property Code section 92.0081, but only after strict advance notice and with a 24-hour right to a new key whether or not rent is paid. Shutting off utilities, removing doors or windows, or hauling out belongings remains flatly illegal, and a violation costs the owner a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $1,000, actual damages, costs, and attorney's fees. Against a true squatter the lawful shortcuts are the chapter 24B complaint or a forcible detainer judgment — not force.
Recent changes to the law
SB 1333 (89th Legislature), effective September 1, 2025, created Property Code chapter 24B's sheriff-removal procedure and added Penal Code sections 32.56 and 32.57, making it a felony to present false deeds or leases or to fraudulently sell, rent, or advertise property without title; it also raised criminal mischief penalties for damage squatters cause to a habitation. Separately, SB 38 overhauled general eviction procedure for petitions filed on or after January 1, 2026, adding a sworn-petition requirement, mandatory venue, and a summary disposition track, with Rule 510 rewritten to match.
What Texas property owners get wrong
Owners most often get two things wrong: assuming police can never act — since September 2025 the sworn chapter 24B complaint gives sheriffs clear authority against genuine trespassers — and conversely trying to use the new procedure against a holdover tenant or ex-partner, which it expressly forbids. The 10-year 'squatter's rights' figure also causes needless panic: adverse possession requires open, hostile, continuous possession that a discovered and confronted squatter cannot maintain, and filing suit stops the clock.
The law itself
Frequently asked questions
How long does a squatter have to stay in Texas to claim ownership?
The baseline is 10 years of actual, visible, hostile, continuous possession under Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.026, and without recorded title that claim is capped at 160 acres. Shorter 3- and 5-year periods exist only for claimants holding title, color of title, or a registered deed plus tax payments, and a 25-year period applies against owners under a disability. A residential squatter who is discovered and sued within the period cannot ripen any claim.
How do I remove a squatter in Texas?
If the occupant broke into a residential dwelling and was never a tenant or co-owner, file a sworn complaint with the sheriff or constable under Property Code chapter 24B (in effect since September 1, 2025) and the officer can remove them without a full eviction. If the occupant was ever a tenant, or the facts are disputed, file a forcible detainer suit in the justice court for the precinct where the property sits and let a constable execute the writ of possession.
What happens if a squatter shows police a fake lease in Texas?
Since SB 1333, presenting a false, fraudulent, or fictitious lease or deed is a felony under Penal Code sections 32.56 and 32.57, so a forged document now creates criminal exposure rather than a shield. Practically, if the officer cannot determine on the spot that the document is fake, the dispute moves to justice court, where the forgery becomes evidence for the owner.
Can a squatter really claim 160 acres of Texas land under the 10-year rule?
That is the statutory maximum for a bare 10-year claim without recorded title under section 16.026, not a giveaway — the claimant still must prove a decade of actual, visible, exclusive, hostile possession of every acre claimed. Peaceable possession under a recorded, registered deed can extend further, but suits filed within the limitations period defeat the claim entirely.
Keep reading
Vacant units attract squatters. Documented ones repel them.
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Start Free TrialThis page is general information, not legal advice. Squatter, trespass, and adverse possession law turns on specific facts — verify against the official statute text linked above, and talk to a local attorney or law enforcement before acting.