How long is squatters' rights in Kentucky?
Fifteen years under KRS 413.010 for a squatter with no paper. Since 2025 an owner can also petition law enforcement to remove a squatter, without a court order, when the statute's conditions are met.
If someone is living in your home now, the clock matters far less than getting them out lawfully, and that is where we can help.
- Statutory period
- 15 years
- What's different here
- since 2025 police can remove a squatter on the owner's petition
- Statute
- KRS 413.010, 413.060
Someone living in your home in Kentucky? Dardaris helps you get them out.
Changing the locks or cutting the power turns the law against you. We hand it to people who remove squatters lawfully, for a living.
If they are moving in right now, call the police first. Once they have settled in, it takes a formal process, and that is where we come in.
Your contact at Dardaris
Dardaris is not a law firm and removes nobody itself. If you hire the specialist we introduce, they pay us a referral fee, and you deal with them under their own terms. We pass your details on only once you agree.
- Tell us what is happening, by email or on a call. Talking to us costs nothing.
- We put you in touch with a removal specialist who works through the court and the sheriff, never around them.
- Once the home is free, Dardaris manages the letting for you.
Kentucky gives a squatter with no deed fifteen years. KRS 413.010 bars an action to recover land once fifteen years have run from the day the right to sue first arose, and possession that is hostile, actual, open and notorious, exclusive and continuous for all of it is what turns that bar into title. The statute names no tax payment condition and no good faith test.
A shorter route of seven years exists for an occupant who holds a connected title of record, under KRS 413.060. That is a claim built on paper, not on bare occupation. Someone who walked into a house with no deed has the fifteen years and nothing shorter.
What changed is removal. House Bill 10 (2025 Ky. Acts ch. 63) adds a section to KRS chapter 383 that lets an owner or authorized agent ask a law enforcement officer to remove a person unlawfully occupying real property. The request goes on a petition form prepared by the Kentucky State Police, officers and owners acting in good faith are immune, and a person removed wrongly has a civil claim. The same act defines squatter in KRS 512.010 and adds damage done by a squatter to criminal mischief. The statute sets conditions, and where they are not met the court route remains.
Where Kentucky sits against the rest of the United States, in years
Of 50 places in the United States on these pages, 5 have a shorter clock and 33 a longer one or none at all.
From the day someone moves in to the day a claim is possible
The same three stages in most places. The exact rule, and whether the last stage exists at all, is on each place's own page.
- Day oneMoving inCaught in the act, it is usually a matter for the police: a trespass, not a tenancy.
- Weeks to yearsSettled inOnce someone lives there, removing them usually takes a court order, the same route as for a tenant.
- After 15 yearsA claim becomes possibleOnly if every test held, without a break, for the whole period. Where the law allows no such claim, this stage never comes.
Not yours to do, once they have moved inChanging the locks, cutting the water or power, or removing belongings yourself. It is illegal in every US state and most places on these pages forbid it too. Each page says how removal works there.
The record a court asks for, kept as you go
Wherever your property stands, removing an occupant usually comes down to showing who had the right to be there, and since when. Dardaris files every lease, message and document for a building by date, so that record already exists on the day you need it.
- Every lease, with who signed it and when
- Every message with a tenant, on the thread it was sent in
- Every document, filed against the building it concerns
Frequently asked questions
What are the squatting laws in Kentucky?
Kentucky's squatter law has two parts. Adverse possession is KRS 413.010: 15 years of continuous, hostile, open and exclusive possession. Removal is House Bill 10 (2025 Ky. Acts ch. 63), which lets an owner petition law enforcement to remove a person unlawfully occupying real property when the statute's conditions are met. Squatting is trespassing, and where those conditions are not met a settled squatter is removed through the courts, never by changing the locks or cutting the utilities.
How long is squatters' rights in Kentucky?
Fifteen years for an ordinary squatter, under KRS 413.010. Seven years if the occupant holds a connected title of record, under KRS 413.060.
What applies to an ordinary squatter with no deed in Kentucky?
Only the fifteen years. The seven-year route needs a title of record, so a squatter with no paper cannot use it. Every part of the fifteen has to be continuous and hostile: permission from the owner defeats the claim, and a break in possession starts the count again.
Can police remove a squatter in Kentucky without a court order?
In the cases House Bill 10 covers, yes. An owner or authorized agent files a petition on the Kentucky State Police form and asks an officer to remove a person unlawfully occupying the property, if the statute's conditions are met. A person removed wrongly can sue for wrongful removal.
Can I change the locks on a squatter in Kentucky?
No. Changing the locks, removing belongings or shutting off utilities yourself is not a lawful route once someone is living there. Use the House Bill 10 petition if its conditions fit, or the courts. Call the police while someone is still moving in.
Can someone help me get squatters out of my home in Kentucky?
Yes. Removal specialists do it through the court and the sheriff. Changing the locks or cutting the power would put you in the wrong. Dardaris can put you in touch with one, and once the home is free, manage the letting for you.
Elsewhere in the United States
The same question, on a different clock. Every place sets its own period and its own shortcuts.
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- See every place
This is general information, not legal advice.Laws change, and a county or a city can add its own wrinkle on top of the state rule, the way New York City does. Confirm the current rule for your address before acting on it, and talk to a local attorney before relying on any of it in a real dispute.