Squatters Rights Tennessee and Adverse Possession Law (2024)

Protecting your rental property from squatters is an essential part of property ownership for landlords in Tennessee. Dealing with squatters is frustrating, but the situation can become far more stressful if they attempt to claim your property through adverse possession.

Understanding squatters rights and Landlord-Tenant laws in Tennessee is crucial to safeguarding your property. Recent changes to Tennessee squatter laws have created new tools for landlords seeking a remedy.

Here’s our comprehensive guide to these changes, understanding Tennessee squatters rights, and steps to insulate yourself from adverse possession claims.

Key Takeaways

• Follow best practices to prevent squatters. Once established, squatters result in most landlords facing loss of rental income, court fees, and maintenance costs.
• Squatters may be able to make an adverse claim on a landlord’s property after 7 or 20 years, depending on color of title, tax payments, and other Tennessee requirements.
• Tennessee enacted new legislation in 2024, giving landlords powerful tools to deal with squatters outside the court system quickly. If all conditions are met, landlords may be able to have squatters removed by the local sheriff’s office within 72 hours.
• Self-help evictions are illegal in Tennessee. If a landlord doesn’t qualify for the new expedited removal program, they must take the squatter to court.
• Use TurboTenant’s tools, like our lawyer-approved Tennessee lease agreement, to speed up the leasing process. Reduced vacancy periods help stop squatters in the first place.

Squatter Rights vs. Adverse Possession in Tennessee

Adverse possession has a long history, dating back to an era when productively working land was prized above all. However, the modern iteration of adverse possession creates a conundrum for landlords — they must navigate a complex and often archaic legal system while protecting their property.

In short, squatters may claim a landlord’s land through adverse possession if they meet stringent requirements. Each state has different squatter and adverse possession laws, making it important for landlords in Tennessee to understand state-specific guidelines.

Squatter vs. Trespasser

While all squatters are trespassers, not all trespassers are squatters. This distinction becomes important when deciding on a course of action as a landlord.

• Trespassers enter a property without an owner’s permission but have no intention of residing there long term.
• Squatters enter a property (usually empty or abandoned) without an owner’s permission with the explicit intention of residing there for an extended time.

Landlords must notify law enforcement immediately if they spot a trespasser. Doing so allows for quick removal, criminal punishment, and avoiding the potential headache and expense of civil litigation.

Note: Tenants with a valid Tennessee lease agreement who overstay their lease term are considered holdover tenants, not squatters.

Tennessee Squatter Laws

Squatting (a form of trespassing) is illegal in Tennessee. 

Trespassers can be punished with misdemeanor charges, fines up to $2,500, and jail time up to one year.

Removing trespassers is usually far more manageable for landlords before they establish a presence at the property. If trespassers are detected, contact law enforcement as soon as possible.

Historically, squatters were unlikely to face criminal charges and had to be removed via the judicial eviction process. Fortunately for landlords, Tennessee enacted new legislation in 2024, creating an expedited removal process through local sheriffs.

How Squatters Can Legally Claim Property in Tennessee

In Tennessee, like many other states, squatters may have a claim to your property through adverse possession. Luckily, the standards and timelines for such claims give landlords a large window to fix the situation.

A squatter must meet all of the following five conditions before they can claim adverse possession of your property:

• Actual: Squatters must exercise control over the property.
• Adverse/Hostile: Possession must be against the owner’s wishes.
• Continuous: Squatters must retain possession for the entire statutory period (seven or 20 years).
• Exclusive: Multiple squatters cannot share the property during the statutory period.
• Open and Notorious: The owner must be aware of the squatter.

Additional Requirements

In addition to meeting these five standards, the squatter must continuously pay all state and county taxes on the land for the entire statutory period.

The statutory period for making an adverse claim is determined by whether the squatter has a color of title. In simple terms, a color of title is a legally filed document deemed invalid but not fraudulent (such as an improperly filed deed).

With a color of title, a squatter can claim your property after seven years of possession, but without one, the statutory period is twenty years.

In summary, the following two Tennessee laws are the guidelines through which a squatter can make an adverse possession claim on your property:

• If a squatter occupies the property while maintaining all five conditions, has a color of title, and pays all state and county taxes, they can claim your property after seven years (TCA 28-2-101).
• If a squatter occupies the property while maintaining all five conditions and pays all state and county taxes, they can claim your property after 20 years (TCA 28-2-109).

Landlord Rights and Responsibilities

In Tennessee, property owners have several channels through which they can evict squatters.

The best way to evict squatters is through a new expedited removal process that took effect on July 1, 2024. If all conditions are met, landlords may be able to have a sheriff remove the squatter within 72 hours. We’ll discuss how to go through this process below.

Though Tennessee has made it much easier for landlords to deal with squatters, self-help evictions are still banned, and landlords must resort to judicial evictions if they don’t qualify for expedited removal. Tennessee has two sets of regulations based on county population.

• Counties > 75,000 are subject to the Uniform Residential Landlord Tenant Act.
• Counties < 75,000 are subject to Tennessee Lease Eviction Codes.

Landlords may want to consider a “cash-for-keys” settlement as an alternative and potentially cheaper route than judicial eviction.

While having squatters is frustrating, landlords still have a legal requirement to maintain their property’s habitability. It is illegal for landlords in Tennessee to attempt self-help evictions by changing locks or turning off amenities such as heat or light.

Tenant Rights and Responsibilities

Tenants with a valid lease are not considered squatters, even those who overstay their lease term. Such individuals are considered holdover tenants, and landlords must follow different regulations when dealing with them.

If tenants suspect squatters are present on the property (most likely to happen in multi-unit developments), they should immediately notify their landlord.

Only law enforcement has the legal authority to remove squatters — landlords or tenants should not attempt to remove squatters.

How to Evict Squatters in Tennessee

New squatter legislation was enacted on July 1, 2024, making Tennessee one of the most landlord-friendly states for removing squatters.

Landlords who meet all criteria can file a verified Complaint to Remove Persons Unlawfully Occupying Residential Real Property with the county sheriff where the property is located.

The seven conditions to file a complaint are established in TCA 29-18-135:

• The landlord or their agent must file the complaint.
• Squatters must be occupying a residential building.
• Entry was illegal, and the occupation is ongoing.
• The property must have been closed to the public at the time of entry.
• Squatters have received a notice to vacate.
• The complaint can’t be filed against a current or former tenant or an immediate family member of the landlord.
• There’s no pending litigation between the landlord and the squatter.

Once the landlord formally files the complaint, expedited removal can happen within 72 hours. The sheriff will verify the complaint, and they’ll serve a notice to vacate immediately. Landlords may have to pay a fee equivalent to having a sheriff serve a Writ of Possession.

Landlords may request that the sheriff stand by and maintain the peace while the landlord changes the property’s locks and removes the squatter’s possessions. At the sheriff’s discretion, the squatter may be arrested for trespassing, outstanding warrants, or any other legal cause.

Eviction Steps

If a landlord cannot remove the squatters under the new expedited system, they must resort to a judicial eviction. In Tennessee, a court eviction generally requires these steps:

• Serve Notice to Quit: In Tennessee, landlords can file for eviction for five reasons — failure to pay, lease violation, end of lease, and safety or health violations.
• File Eviction Lawsuit: If squatters refuse to move out, the landlord must file a lawsuit and attend the court hearing and judgment.
• Execute Writ of Possession: The court will issue a Writ of Possession 10 days after a landlord wins their case. Law enforcement officials must execute the writ immediately and are responsible for forcibly removing a squatter if necessary.

Legal Help for Landlords in Tennessee

Tennessee landlords looking for additional resources, legal advice, or attorney services can find all of the above through the following services:

• TN Alliance For Legal Services: Resources for Tennesseans seeking legal advice, featuring videos, booklets, and blogs by Help4TN staff attorneys.
• TN Free Legal Answers: Free service for those unable to afford legal services. Those who qualify have access to a volunteer attorney who can answer questions about your specific civil legal issue.
• Tennessee Bar Association: Referral service offering low-cost consultations to help determine whether you need to hire a lawyer and the expected costs and timeline of the legal issues you’re facing.
• EZ Evict USA: To get started evicting somebody, squatter or not, consider contacting our trusted partner, EZ Evict USA, and get started immediately.

Preventing Squatter Situations

Several easy ways to prevent squatters include:

• Pay your taxes: If a landlord makes timely state and county tax payments, a squatter can never claim adverse possession. 

• Check your property: Make periodic visits or have a neighbor check-in, allowing quick action if squatters appear.

• Routine maintenance: Keeping property well-maintained and appearing “lived-in” can help dissuade squatters.

• Additional security: Invest in simple improvements to safeguard your home. Security cameras, alarms, and reinforced doors and windows can be enough to stop squatters from entering.
• Turn off utilities: If a property will be vacant for an extended period of time, consider turning off utilities preemptively. While it’s illegal to do so with an established squatter, landlords are free to do it as a safety measure while the property is empty. Just make sure doing so won’t result in property damage.

How TurboTenant Can Help

One of the simplest and best solutions to squatters is to reduce vacancies and time between tenants. TurboTenant can help in several ways:

• Find reliable tenants with our online Tennessee rental application.
• Complete background checks for tenants in as little as five minutes.
• Create customized Tennessee lease agreements protecting you from unexpected vacancies.
• Manage multiple properties with TurboTenant’s property management software.

Keep squatters away by signing up for TurboTenant today. It’s free to sign up — and has all the tools you need to screen applicants, create leases, and keep vacancies to a minimum.