How long is squatters' rights in Massachusetts?
Twenty years, under chapter 260, section 21, and the occupant has to prove every element for every one of them. If the land is registered with the Land Court, no number of years is enough.
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
- 20 years
- What's different here
- land registered with the Land Court can never be taken
- Statute
- Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 260, § 21
Someone living in your home in Massachusetts? 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.
The Massachusetts period is 20 years. Chapter 260, section 21 says an action for the recovery of land must be commenced, or an entry made, only within twenty years after the right of action or of entry first accrued. The courts read adverse possession out of that bar: the occupant must show use that is actual, open and notorious, exclusive, adverse and continuous, for the whole 20 years, and carries the burden on each element. Kendall v. Selvaggio, 413 Mass. 619 (1992), is the standard statement.
There is no shorter route. The statute names no tier for a defective deed or for paid taxes, so a squatter with no paperwork and a claimant with a flawed deed face the same 20 years. Permission given at any point restarts the clock, which is why a tenant who overstays a lease is not an adverse possessor. Successive occupants can add their years together only where they are linked by a deed, a will or inheritance (section 22); without that link the count starts over.
Two kinds of land sit outside the rule. Land registered with the Land Court cannot be acquired by adverse possession or prescription, under chapter 185, section 53. And section 21 does not bar an action by or for a nonprofit land conservation corporation or trust over land held for conservation, parks, recreation, water protection or wildlife protection. For an owner, checking whether the parcel is registered land is the first question.
Where Massachusetts sits against the rest of the United States, in years
Of 50 places in the United States on these pages, 39 have a shorter clock and 3 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 20 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 Massachusetts?
Adverse possession comes from Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 260, § 21: an action to recover land, or an entry on it, only within twenty years after the right first accrued. What sets Massachusetts apart is that land registered with the Land Court cannot be taken at all (ch. 185, § 53). Squatting is trespassing, and a settled squatter is removed through the courts, never by changing locks or cutting utilities.
How long is squatters' rights in Massachusetts?
Twenty years of actual, open and notorious, exclusive, adverse and continuous possession, all proved by the occupant. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 260, § 21.
What applies to an ordinary squatter with no deed in Massachusetts?
The same 20 years. Massachusetts has no shorter route for a defective deed, a paid tax bill or good faith, so a squatter with no paperwork must show the full period, and any permission along the way restarts the clock.
Can adverse possession take registered land in Massachusetts?
No. Land registered with the Land Court cannot be acquired by adverse possession or prescription, under ch. 185, § 53. Section 21 also does not bar an action by a nonprofit land conservation corporation or trust over land held for conservation, parks, recreation, water or wildlife protection.
Can I remove a squatter in Massachusetts without a court order?
No. Once someone has settled in, changing the locks, removing belongings or shutting off utilities is unlawful self-help, and removal goes through a summary process eviction in court. Call the police while someone is still moving in, before they have settled.
Can someone help me get squatters out of my home in Massachusetts?
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
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- 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.