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Squatters have legal rights primarily because of due process, the law requires a court, not a homeowner or even the police, to determine who actually has a legitimate claim to a property. That protection isn’t really about squatters at all. It exists to stop a landlord from wrongly locking out an actual tenant just by calling them a “squatter” and changing the locks. It’s a safeguard that happens to apply to everyone, squatters included, until someone with legal authority sorts out who’s actually right.
Watch: Why Do Squatters Have Rights in Maryland?
Let’s be honest about why you’re here. You didn’t stumble onto this question out of idle curiosity. Someone’s probably occupying a property that isn’t theirs, and you’re staring at a legal system that seems, frankly, insane for not letting you fix it immediately.
I get it. I’ve worked with Maryland property owners in exactly this spot, and the frustration is real. But here’s the thing worth understanding before you go any further: the law isn’t protecting squatters specifically. It’s protecting a process, one that has to apply equally to everyone, because the alternative is a lot scarier than it sounds.
Is “Squatters’ Rights” Actually Real in Maryland?
Yes, squatter’s right is real but it’s narrower and a lot slower than the internet has led you to believe.
Here’s the misconception worth clearing up immediately: a squatter doesn’t gain any ownership rights just by walking through an unlocked door. What they get, almost immediately, is limited procedural protection, meaning they can’t simply be dragged out without some form of legal process. Actual ownership is a completely different story, and it requires meeting a strict set of requirements over a genuinely long stretch of time. In Maryland, that’s up to 20 years of continuous, exclusive, and unmistakable occupation. We break down every one of those requirements, actual possession, open and notorious, hostile claim, and the rest, in our complete guide to squatters’ rights in Maryland.
So “squatters’ rights” isn’t a myth, exactly. It’s just wildly oversold by headlines that skip the part where it takes two decades and near-impossible conditions to actually pull off.
Where Did Squatters’ Rights Come From?
Now that we’ve established this is real, the next logical question is: who on earth thought this up?
The roots go back centuries, to English common law, long before anyone was worried about someone breaking into a vacant rowhouse in Baltimore. Adverse possession, the formal name for what most people call squatters’ rights, was designed to resolve genuine boundary disputes and, more broadly, to keep land from sitting abandoned and unused indefinitely. If a farmer’s fence had drifted a few feet onto a neighbor’s land for decades and everyone had simply lived with it, the law eventually said: fine, that’s the boundary now. Arguing about it after 20 years of quiet acceptance helps nobody.
Here’s the irony that’s genuinely worth sitting with: a legal doctrine built for 18th-century farmland disputes is the exact same framework people are running into today in completely different circumstances. The law didn’t get an update. The world around it just changed.
Why Can’t You Just Remove a Squatter Yourself in Maryland?
This is the real question underneath everything else, and it deserves a real answer.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the law genuinely cannot tell the difference between a squatter and a legitimate tenant just by looking. Someone standing in your doorway insisting they have a lease, or that the previous owner gave them permission to stay, might be lying through their teeth or they might be telling the complete truth. From the outside, in the heat of the moment, there’s no way to know which.
That single fact is exactly why “self-help eviction”, changing the locks, shutting off the water, hauling someone’s belongings to the curb, is illegal almost everywhere, Maryland included. The law isn’t designed to protect squatters. It’s designed to stop property owners from wrongly forcing out someone who might actually have a legal right to be there. You’d want that same protection if you were ever the one accused of squatting on a property you actually had every right to occupy.
And this is exactly why police won’t just remove someone on the spot, no matter how frustrated you are with them for not doing so. Officers aren’t equipped, trained, or legally authorized to make a real-time determination about who owns what. That’s a court’s job. It’s slow, it’s maddening when you’re the one waiting, and it’s also the same system that protects you if the tables were ever turned.
Do All States Recognize Squatters’ Rights?
Yes, every single U.S. state has some version of adverse possession law, since they all trace back to that same shared common-law tradition.
What varies enormously is the fine print. Some states require as little as 5 years of continuous occupation; others, like Maryland, sit at the higher end with 20. The specific elements a squatter has to prove also shift from state to state. For the full Maryland-specific requirements and how they compare, our squatters’ rights guide covers exactly what’s required here.
Should Squatters’ Rights Be Abolished?
This is genuinely one of the more heated debates in property law right now, and it’s not one with a single correct answer, reasonable people land on both sides of it.
The case for reform: property owners argue, understandably, that these laws can feel like they reward trespassing while leaving legitimate owners with painfully slow recourse. That frustration has translated into real legislative action recently. Florida passed HB 621 in 2024, letting owners file a sworn complaint directly with the sheriff for expedited removal, no lengthy court eviction required, as long as the occupant isn’t a tenant, family member, or co-owner. Georgia’s Squatter Reform Act, signed that same year, requires anyone accused of squatting to prove legal residency within three days or face arrest. New York closed a notorious loophole in its 2025 state budget, explicitly declaring that squatters are never considered tenants, no matter how long they’ve occupied a property. West Virginia, Ohio, Nevada, and several other states have moved in similar directions.
The case against abolishing them entirely: legal scholars and housing advocates point out that stripping away due process protections makes it dramatically easier for a bad-faith landlord to wrongly evict an actual tenant, simply by mislabeling them a squatter. Tellingly, even Florida’s fast-track law built in a real safeguard against misuse, if a property owner wrongly removes someone through this expedited process, that person is entitled to actual damages, triple the fair market rent, court costs, and attorney’s fees. That penalty exists precisely because lawmakers recognized how easily a faster process could be abused.
Maryland, notably, hasn’t joined this recent reform wave, the traditional court process, including the wrongful detainer action covered in our full squatters’ guide, is still what property owners here have to work with.
So is the debate really about whether squatters deserve rights? Not exactly. It’s about whether the cost of protecting everyone’s due process, including the small number of legitimate tenants who might otherwise get wrongly swept up, is worth the friction it creates for property owners dealing with genuine bad-faith squatting.
Frequently Asked Questions On Why Do Squatters’ Rights Exist?
Can Squatters Be Evicted in Maryland?
Yes, through a formal legal process, in Maryland, typically a wrongful detainer action filed in District Court. Our complete guide to removing squatters in Maryland walks through every step, from filing the complaint to enforcing the court order.
How Do You Claim Squatters’ Rights in Maryland?
By meeting a strict set of legal elements, actual, exclusive, open and notorious, hostile, and continuous possession, over the required time period, which in Maryland is 20 years. Successfully proving all of this is genuinely rare. Our full breakdown of Maryland’s adverse possession requirements covers exactly what a claim has to demonstrate.
How Long Does Squatters’ Rights Last in Maryland?
In Maryland, a squatter needs 20 uninterrupted years of continuous possession before they can even attempt an adverse possession claim, and that clock resets entirely if the property owner interrupts the occupancy at any point.
Does squatters’ rights apply to apartments?
Not in the way most people assume. Someone in a rental unit is either a tenant with lease-based rights, or a trespasser with essentially none, the long, slow path toward adverse possession ownership doesn’t really translate to a landlord-tenant relationship the same way it does with a standalone property.
Can you claim squatters’ rights in a hotel?
No, and this one has a genuinely satisfying answer. A hotel stay is governed by innkeeper law, not property law, which is an entirely different legal framework. A guest overstaying their reservation isn’t building toward anything resembling adverse possession, no matter how long they refuse to leave.
Do squatters’ rights apply to Airbnb?
Also no. A guest who won’t leave after a short-term rental booking ends is a contract and trespass issue, not a property law one. There’s no realistic path from an overstayed Airbnb reservation to an ownership claim — removal typically happens through the platform’s own policies or local law enforcement instead.
Final Thoughts on Why Squatters' Rights Exist
Squatters’ rights exist for a reason that has almost nothing to do with squatters and everything to do with making sure nobody — including you, someday, under different circumstances — can be wrongly thrown out of a property without a court weighing in first. That doesn’t make the wait any less frustrating if you’re dealing with it right now. But understanding why the system works this way is the first step toward navigating it effectively instead of just being angry at it.
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Sources
- Multifamily Dive — States See Wave of Squatting-Related Legislation
- Recording Law — Squatters’ Rights by State: Adverse Possession Laws
- Florida Office of the Governor — Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Anti-Squatting Legislation
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal or financial advice. Please consult with professionals for advice specific to your situation.
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