Tennessee squatter removal: a verified complaint to the sheriff under Public Chapter 1009
Tennessee's Public Chapter 1009, effective July 1, 2024, adds a section to Title 29, Chapter 18 that lets an owner or agent file a verified complaint with the county sheriff to remove unauthorized people from a residential dwelling. If the sheriff verifies ownership, the sheriff serves a notice to immediately vacate and puts the owner in possession. Current and former tenants and immediate family are excluded.
What conditions must be true in Tennessee?
The act states its purpose up front: restore possession quickly to the lawful owner while limiting the chance for crime. It applies "notwithstanding" the rest of Chapter 18, and eight things must hold. You are the owner or authorized agent. A dwelling is involved. Someone unauthorized came in and stayed. The place was closed to the public at that moment. You told them to go. They have no past or present rental deal with you, written or spoken. They are not your spouse, parent, sibling or child, the statute's list of immediate family. Finally, you and any known occupant are not in a lawsuit over the property.
What do you file, and with whom?
Take the sheriff of the property's county a finished, verified complaint in the act's form. Each box is initialed, and you sign under penalty of perjury. The boxes cover these points:
- Your role as owner or agent, plus the purchase date.
- The home is residential, was not open to the public, and the occupants ignored your request to leave.
- No valid lease exists, and a lease shown by an occupant is fraudulent.
- Nobody there is an owner, co-owner or titleholder (barring title fraud) or a close relative.
- No pending lawsuit, and your acknowledgment of the damages risk.
- Your photo ID, or the agent's authority papers.
The form's perjury warning cites Tennessee Code Annotated Section 39-16-702.
What does the sheriff do, and what does it cost?
Once the complaint is in, the sheriff confirms your record ownership or agency. A verified complaint means a notice to immediately vacate goes to every unlawful occupant "without delay", and the sheriff hands you the property. The notice can be handed to an occupant or posted at the front door. Identities are recorded on the return of service, and arrests are allowed for trespass, warrants or other legal cause.
Service is billed at the writ-of-possession rate in Section 29-18-114. If you want the sheriff present while you rekey and set belongings by the property line, you cover a reasonable hourly rate. Property loss from these steps is not on the sheriff, and not on you unless the removal was wrongful.
How is this different from evicting a tenant?
The route is open only to people who never had your permission to live there. It excludes any current or former tenant under a written or oral rental agreement you authorized. A tenant goes through the court process under the landlord-tenant law. The act also says that if this section conflicts with Title 66, Chapter 7, or with the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act in Title 66, Chapter 28, this section controls. It does not limit your other rights or the power of law enforcement to arrest someone for trespassing, vandalism, theft or other crimes.
What about a fake lease in Tennessee?
This act does not create a stand-alone crime for a fake lease. It handles the issue in the complaint: you swear that any lease an occupant produces is fraudulent. That sworn statement is made under penalty of perjury, so confirm with your own records that you never signed a lease with the person before you file. If someone is in your property because a scammer rented it to them, the facts are different, and you should look at them before you swear the complaint.
What if the removal was wrongful?
A person can bring a civil case for wrongful removal, and the court must expedite the hearing. A person harmed may be restored to possession and recover actual costs and damages, statutory damages equal to triple the fair market rent of the dwelling, court costs and reasonable attorney fees.
Example a made-up Tennessee townhome has a fair market rent of $1,500 a month. Statutory damages for a wrongful removal would be 3 x $1,500 = $4,500, plus actual damages, costs and attorney fees.
How DoorKeeping fits in Tennessee
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. The complaint asks you to swear that no lease exists, so a lease record that shows every signed lease for the unit is a quick way to check your own statement. 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 Tennessee?
- The county sheriff, after the owner or agent files a verified complaint. The sheriff serves a notice to immediately vacate and puts the owner in possession.
- Does the Tennessee sheriff process cover a former tenant?
- No. Current and former tenants under a written or oral rental agreement the owner authorized are excluded, as are immediate family members.
- What are the damages for a wrongful squatter removal in Tennessee?
- Actual costs and damages, statutory damages equal to triple the fair market rent, court costs and reasonable attorney fees, and restored possession.