Bill to criminalize unlawful squatting moves through Arkansas committee

Rep. Dwight Tosh, R-Jonesboro, presents a bill to criminalize unlawful squatting to the Arkansas House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 6, 2025. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate)

The Arkansas House Judiciary Committee on Thursday unanimously passed a bill that would criminalize unlawful squatting, aligning with a priority that Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders laid out at the beginning of the 95th General Assembly.

Republican Rep. Dwight Tosh of Jonesboro told the committee he filed House Bill 1049 soon after learning about a constituent of his who he said returned to their house to find the locks had been changed and someone else was living there.

Arkansas law addresses trespassing and criminal trespassing, but Tosh said squatting is a civil matter plagued by a long process of court hearings, writs of possession and lengthy removals. HB 1049 would change the law to allow law enforcement to remove suspected squatters from the premises immediately, he said.

“Law enforcement — and this is the key — cannot automatically help a property owner remove squatters,” he said. “Even though you look at it like a trespasser and a squatter — both of them enter the property without permission — only squatters are entitled to squatters rights.”

If the bill becomes law, the offenses would begin at a Class B misdemeanor and escalate to a Class D felony.

The bill describes unlawful squatting as “entering and residing unlawfully in a premises when the person entering and residing in the premises is not privileged or licensed to do so.” A squatter would violate the law if they could not provide a deed, mortgage statement, lease agreement, electronic agreement or communication allowing entrance to the property or a receipt of rent within 60 days, according to the bill.

The bill does not establish a minimum amount of time that someone would knowingly be on another person’s property before it is considered unlawful squatting.

Committee members seemed amenable to Tosh’s bill from the start Thursday, but they still asked questions about language granting law enforcement officers immunity in unlawful squatting cases and similarities to landlord-tenant law.

Jeff Rosenzweig, a Little Rock attorney, spoke against the bill, stating that he supported its intent but recommended the bill should include a minimum period of time on the premises and language from existing criminal trespass statutes regarding defenses for guests or invitees.

Rosenzweig said he was concerned the bill’s current language would include people who sublease a property if the person they’re paying rent to doesn’t transfer it to the property owner.

“It catches people that I don’t think Mr. Tosh was trying to catch, but because it’s a criminal statute I think we need to fix that and it can be fixed with just dropping the relevant criminal trespass defenses into the bill,” Rosenzweig said.

A handful of people signed up to speak in favor of the bill, including Gary Sipes, executive director of the Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police, and Scott Bradley with the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Association.

Sipes said he appreciated how the bill explicitly stated law enforcement officers wouldn’t be liable if they incorrectly removed someone or allowed them to stay when presented with conflicting property documentation.

Regarding concerns about guests at properties being grouped in as unlawful squatters, Bradley said law enforcement officers already operate with flexibility when writing citations and a decision will be made based on the facts they gather.

Before committee members voted on his bill, Tosh reiterated that he believed the proposed legislation prioritized property rights.

“If we didn’t have [property rights], then we would actually live in a system of might — who’s the mightiest?” Tosh said. “But thank goodness that we don’t. We don’t live in a system of might. We live in a system of right.”