If you discover someone living in your house without permission, do not go inside. Step back, get somewhere safe, and call 911. What happens next depends on how the person got in and how long they’ve been there: a plain trespasser can often be removed by police the same day, while anyone who has established even a thin appearance of residency usually has to be removed through a formal court eviction that takes weeks or months. Getting that distinction right early is what saves you from the two worst outcomes — acting too aggressively and facing liability, or waiting too long and letting the problem harden.
Stay Out and Call the Police
The instinct is to walk in and confront whoever is there. Don’t. Someone who has been using your property as a hiding spot or knows they’re breaking the law may become violent when cornered. Move to a place where you can’t easily be seen from the house and call 911.
Tell the dispatcher you’ve found evidence someone is living in your property without permission. Give them what you know: signs of forced entry, unfamiliar vehicles, lights on when the house should be dark, belongings you don’t recognize. Mention any security camera footage. Even if you’ve been aware of the situation for days and don’t think the person is dangerous, let officers make first contact.
Who Is Actually in Your House
The legal tools available to you depend on which category the occupant falls into, and getting this wrong wastes time.
Trespassers
A trespasser entered without permission and has no colorable claim to be there. Trespass is both a civil wrong and a criminal offense in every state, and the key element is the intent to enter or remain on someone else’s property without authorization. Someone who broke into a vacant house to sleep there is trespassing. Police can arrest or remove trespassers, and no eviction process is required.
Squatters
A squatter has no legal right to the property either, but has typically been there long enough to look like a resident. They might have mail delivered to the address, utilities in their name, or furniture set up. In many jurisdictions, once someone can show even minimal evidence of living at a property, police treat the situation as a civil dispute rather than a criminal one and tell you to go to court.
Holdover Occupants
Sometimes the person once had permission. A former tenant whose lease expired, a houseguest who was supposed to stay a week and is now on month three, or a relative you let stay temporarily all fit here. The law calls this a tenancy at sufferance. Because the person originally entered lawfully, you generally cannot have them removed by police and have to go through formal eviction.
When Police Will Remove Them and When They Won’t
Law enforcement will typically remove someone on the spot when the situation is clearly criminal trespass: forced entry, no belongings suggesting residency, no documentation tying the person to the address, no plausible story about having permission. A stranger who broke a window to get into your vacation home last night is a police matter.
The frustrating part is that the line between “police will handle it” and “you need to go to court” often comes down to what the occupant says when officers arrive. If the person claims they have a lease, were invited by someone, or have been living there for months, many departments will decline to make an arrest. Officers don’t want to wrongfully remove someone who might have legitimate tenant rights, so they err toward telling you to sort it out in civil court. This happens even when the occupant is clearly lying.
File a police report either way. That report becomes important evidence later, whether for an eviction case, an insurance claim, or to establish a timeline of when you discovered the occupancy.
Do Not Try to Remove Them Yourself
This is where homeowners get into the most trouble. Self-help eviction — removing an occupant without going through the courts — is illegal in virtually every jurisdiction. That covers changing the locks, shutting off utilities, removing the person’s belongings, taking doors off their hinges, or any other action designed to force someone out.
The penalties are real. Depending on the jurisdiction, a homeowner who resorts to these tactics can face daily monetary penalties for each day the violation continues, liability for the occupant’s actual damages, and in some states misdemeanor charges. Courts in several states have awarded damages well beyond what the occupant actually lost. Some jurisdictions require the homeowner to let the occupant back in and start the eviction process from scratch.
Someone who is illegally occupying your home still has legal protections against being illegally removed. The system doesn’t reward their behavior; it penalizes you for taking shortcuts.
Don’t Accept Any Money From Them
While you’re sorting out what to do, do not take any payment from the occupant. In many jurisdictions, accepting rent or anything that looks like rent can create an implied landlord-tenant relationship, which makes eviction significantly harder. If someone offers to pay you to stay, or offers “for the time they’ve been there,” refuse and document that you refused.
The Eviction Process
If the occupant claims any right to be there or has established signs of residency, most jurisdictions require you to follow the same eviction process a landlord would use with a non-paying tenant. It feels unfair, but the legal system prioritizes preventing wrongful removals over speed. Specific timelines and requirements vary; skipping or botching a step usually means starting over.
Serve a Written Notice to Quit
Deliver a written “notice to quit” or “notice to vacate” that tells the occupant they must leave by a specific date. Required notice periods vary widely, from as little as 3 days in some jurisdictions to 30 days or more in others. The notice has to be delivered in a specific way: personal hand delivery, posting on the door combined with mailing, or delivery through a process server. A text message doesn’t satisfy the legal requirement.
Content matters too. Many jurisdictions require the notice to include specific language, the reason for the eviction, and the exact deadline. A notice missing required information can be thrown out, forcing you to restart the clock.
File an Unlawful Detainer Lawsuit
If the occupant doesn’t leave by the notice deadline, file an eviction lawsuit, usually called an unlawful detainer action. You’ll file a complaint with your local court and pay a filing fee, generally between $50 and $500 depending on the jurisdiction. The occupant then has to be formally served with a summons and a copy of the complaint. Service rules are strict: personal delivery, substitute service with another adult at the property plus mailing, or in some cases posting on the door and mailing.
If you don’t know the occupant’s name, ask the court clerk about procedures for naming unknown occupants. That typically involves listing “all occupants” or “John Doe” designations in the complaint.
Go to the Hearing
If the occupant responds to the lawsuit, the court will schedule a hearing. If they don’t respond, you can often request a default judgment. At the hearing you need to show that you own the property, the occupant has no legal right to be there, and you followed all required notice procedures. Bring your deed, any police reports, photographs of the property, your notice to quit with proof of delivery, and any communications with the occupant.
Have the Sheriff Enforce the Order
Winning the case doesn’t mean you can change the locks that afternoon. The court issues a writ of possession authorizing law enforcement to physically remove the occupant. A sheriff, marshal, or constable will typically post a final notice giving the occupant a short window to leave voluntarily, then return to carry out the removal if they haven’t left. Enforcement fees commonly run between $30 and $150.
Adverse Possession Is Rare, but It’s a Reason Not to Wait
Adverse possession gets the alarming headlines. Successful claims are rare, but the doctrine is real: someone who occupies another person’s property long enough and meets several strict requirements can eventually claim legal ownership. Required occupation periods range from as few as 2 years in limited circumstances in some states to 30 years in others, with most states falling in the 7 to 20 year range.
To succeed, the occupant has to show possession that was continuous, hostile (without the owner’s permission), open and obvious, actual (physically using the property), and exclusive. Missing any one element defeats the claim. Some states also require paying property taxes on the land throughout the occupation period.
For most homeowners who just discovered an unauthorized occupant, adverse possession isn’t an immediate threat. But every day you ignore the problem is a day that could theoretically count toward a future claim. Taking documented action to assert your ownership, even just sending a written demand to leave, interrupts the continuity requirement and resets the clock.
Insurance, Damage, and Belongings Left Behind
Standard homeowners policies typically cover vandalism, but most include a vacancy clause that limits or eliminates coverage when a home has been unoccupied for 30 to 60 consecutive days. If a squatter moved into your vacant property and caused damage during a stretch when the house was technically unoccupied, your claim may be denied under that exclusion. If you own property that sits empty for any extended period, ask your insurer about vacant property coverage or an endorsement that removes the vacancy exclusion.
Before you begin the removal process, document everything. Date-stamped photos and video of damage, missing items, and the general condition of the property support both an insurance claim and any civil suit you file against the occupant for damages. Courts in unlawful detainer cases can award the fair market rental value of the property for the period the occupant stayed, plus compensation for physical damage beyond normal wear. The practical catch is collection: many unauthorized occupants have no assets to satisfy a judgment, so weigh legal costs against what you can realistically recover.
After an eviction is enforced, you’ll often find the former occupant’s belongings still there. Don’t throw everything in a dumpster. Most states have specific rules on how property owners must handle abandoned personal property, including notice requirements and waiting periods. The general framework requires storing items for a set period, sending written notice that the former occupant can reclaim them, and following specific procedures if nothing is claimed. Some states allow quicker disposal of low-value items while requiring a public auction for higher-value property. Violating these rules can expose you to liability for the value of the items, even if the person had no right to be in your home. A call to your county courthouse or a local attorney before you touch anything is worth it.
Keeping It From Happening to a Vacant Property
Prevention is dramatically cheaper than eviction. If you own a seasonal home, an inherited house you haven’t sold, or a rental between tenants, take steps that make unauthorized occupancy harder and easier to catch early.
- Visit the property at least weekly, or hire a property management service to check in. Regular foot traffic signals attention and catches problems before an occupant can establish residency.
- Fix broken windows, reinforce door frames, and close gaps in fencing. A property that looks maintained and locked is a harder target than one that looks forgotten.
- Install a basic security camera system with remote alerts, or at minimum a doorbell camera. The footage also provides evidence of when an occupant first appeared.
- Maintain the lawn, collect mail, and don’t let newspapers or flyers pile up. An obviously vacant property attracts squatters.
- Keep insurance active and add a vacancy endorsement if the home will be empty more than 30 days. Letting coverage lapse on a vacant property is one of the costliest gambles a homeowner can take.
The common thread is visibility. Squatters target places where no one appears to be watching, and the more evidence of active ownership you project, the less likely you are to end up in eviction court fighting to reclaim your own home.