How long is squatters' rights in Virginia?
Fifteen years, under Va. Code § 8.01-236, and there is one number, not a ladder. A squatter who has only walked in is far from it, and an owner who knows about an occupant has a separate, shorter deadline to act.
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
- one 15-year clock, and 3 years to sue for unlawful detainer
- Statute
- Va. Code § 8.01-236
Someone living in your home in Virginia? 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.
Virginia handles adverse possession through its limitation period. Section 8.01-236 says that nobody may make an entry on, or bring an action to recover, any land after fifteen years from when the right to do so first accrued. An occupant who has held the land in the usual adverse way for that long, hostile, actual, open, exclusive and continuous, can stand on that bar and claim it.
The section is short. It names no shorter route for a person holding a defective deed or for a person who paid the property taxes, so there is no five-year or seven-year tier to look for as there is in some other states. For an ordinary squatter with no paperwork the answer and the question are the same number: fifteen years.
The same section also carries a proviso that matters more to an owner than the fifteen years. An action for unlawful entry or detainer under § 8.01-124 must be brought within three years after the entry or the detainer. Virginia treats a settled squatter as an unlawful occupant to be removed by that court action, and waiting on the assumption that time is on your side is the wrong reading of the statute.
Where Virginia sits against the rest of the United States, in years
Of 50 places in the United States on these pages, 32 have a shorter clock and 11 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 Virginia?
Virginia's adverse possession rule is Va. Code § 8.01-236: no entry on, or action to recover, land after fifteen years from when the right first accrued. What sets Virginia apart is that the section names a single period and a separate three-year limit for unlawful entry or detainer under § 8.01-124. 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 Virginia?
Fifteen years of continuous, hostile, open and exclusive possession, counted from when the owner's right to enter or sue first accrued. Va. Code § 8.01-236.
What applies to an ordinary squatter with no deed in Virginia?
The same fifteen years. Section 8.01-236 does not describe a shorter period for a defective deed or for paid taxes, so a squatter with no paperwork is held to the one figure the statute gives.
What is the three-year rule in Virginia?
Section 8.01-236 adds that an action for unlawful entry or detainer under § 8.01-124 must be brought within three years after the entry or detainer. It is the court action an owner uses to recover possession, so it is a deadline for acting, not a period that gives the occupant rights.
Can I remove a squatter in Virginia without a court order?
No. Once someone has settled in, changing the locks, removing belongings or shutting off utilities is unlawful self-help, and the owner goes through the court with an unlawful detainer action. Call the police while someone is still moving in, before they have settled.
Can someone help me get squatters out of my home in Virginia?
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
- 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
- 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.