Kentucky squatter law (HB 10): a petition to a law enforcement officer, and a 60-day window to sue
Kentucky's HB 10, signed March 24, 2025 as Acts Chapter 63, lets an owner or agent hand a petition to a law enforcement officer to remove someone unlawfully occupying real property. The officer verifies the petitioner's identity, serves a notice to immediately vacate and puts the owner in possession. The route never applies to a person who ever had an agreement to occupy, and a wrongful removal suit must be filed within 60 days.
Who can use the Kentucky process?
The new section of KRS Chapter 383 lets a property owner or authorized agent ask a law enforcement officer to immediately remove a person or persons unlawfully occupying real property. The officer can be a city, county or urban-county sworn officer, a sheriff or full-time deputy, or a constable granted police powers. All of these must be true. The person is not and never has been a tenant and never had a written or oral agreement authorized by the owner. The property was not open to the public when the person entered. The owner told the person to leave. The person is not an immediate family member, which here includes in-laws, grandparents and grandchildren. And no litigation about the property is pending with any known unauthorized person.
What do you hand over, and to whom?
You present a completed Petition to Remove Persons Unlawfully Occupying Real Property to the law enforcement officer, in substantially the form in the statute. The Kentucky State Police must post a form on its website, but your petition is valid even if it is not on that form. You initial each statement:
- You own the property or are the owner's agent, and about when you obtained title.
- Unauthorized people entered and remain, and the property was not open to the public.
- You told them to leave and they have not.
- They are not owners, co-owners or on the title unless through title fraud, and not immediate family.
- No litigation is pending, and you understand they may sue you for false statements or wrongful use.
- Your government-issued ID is attached, or an agent's proof of authority.
What does the officer do, and what does it cost?
The officer verifies your identity, which may be done with a government-issued photo ID. If verified, the officer must, "without unnecessary delay," serve a notice to immediately vacate on all unlawful occupants and put you in possession. Service is by hand delivery to an occupant or by posting on the property. The officer tries to identify everyone there and may arrest anyone for trespass, outstanding warrants or another legal cause. An officer acting in good faith is immune from criminal and civil liability.
The sheriff or constable may charge $20 for serving the notice. After service you can ask the officer to remain while you change locks and move the occupants' belongings to or near the property line. You are immune from liability for loss or damage to those belongings if you act in good faith, unless the removal is found wrongful.
How is this different from evicting a tenant?
Subsection (9) says the process does not apply to, and cannot be enforced against, a person who is a current or former tenant or who once had an agreement with the owner to occupy the premises. Kentucky's rule is stricter than some states: even a former occupant under a short-term agreement is outside it. Anyone like that goes through the court process for tenants. HB 10 also defines "squatter" in KRS 512.010 as a person who enters or remains unlawfully, including one who takes up residence in a property they do not own, and who is not a current or former tenant, had no agreement, and is not immediate family.
What are the penalties for damage by a squatter?
HB 10 adds squatters to the criminal mischief statutes. A squatter who intentionally or wantonly defaces, destroys or damages real property causing $500 or more in loss commits criminal mischief in the first degree, a Class D felony. Below $500 it is second degree, a Class A misdemeanor. In both degrees the penalty drops to a Class B misdemeanor in some cases if the person repairs or pays complete restitution, or performs community service before trial. You can also sue the occupant in a civil case for property damage and loss of use.
The act does not add a separate crime for presenting a fake lease. The petition has no line about leases at all, because the process is closed to anyone who ever had an agreement to occupy.
What if the removal was wrongful?
A person can sue the petitioner in the District Court of the county where the property sits, and the case must be filed within 60 days after the wrongful removal. A person harmed can be restored to possession, and a prevailing plaintiff gets court costs and reasonable attorney's fees along with other appropriate relief. Kentucky's act does not set a triple-rent amount like several other states do.
How DoorKeeping fits in Kentucky
DoorKeeping keeps a unit's records in one place: the signed lease and who is on it, dated documents and photos, and your notes on who has keys. Because the Kentucky route is closed to anyone who ever had an agreement with you, a unit file that shows every person who ever signed a lease or paid rent is worth having before you hand over a petition. Anything that involves a legal step waits for your one-tap approval. This is general information, not legal advice. Check the current statute, your county's process and your own facts before you act.
Sources
Questions
- Who removes a squatter in Kentucky under HB 10?
- A law enforcement officer: a sworn city, county or urban-county officer, a sheriff or deputy, or a constable with police powers, after the owner presents a petition.
- How long does a Kentucky squatter have to sue over a wrongful removal?
- The action must be filed in District Court within 60 days after the wrongful removal.
- What does the Kentucky sheriff charge to serve a notice to vacate?
- The sheriff or constable may charge $20 for service of the notice to immediately vacate.