New York State Trespassing Laws: Degrees, Penalties, and Defenses

Trespassing under New York law runs from a simple violation carrying up to 15 days in jail to a class D felony punishable by up to seven years in prison. Which end of that range applies depends on where the person went, how the property was secured, and whether they were armed. Article 140 of the Penal Law defines every offense, and separate sentencing statutes set the fines and jail terms. The New York trespassing laws below cover each degree, the penalties attached to it, the defenses that can defeat a charge, and the deadlines prosecutors face.

The Shared Element: Entering or Remaining Unlawfully

Every trespassing charge in New York turns on one phrase. Under Penal Law § 140.00, a person enters or remains unlawfully when they are not “licensed or privileged” to be on the property.¹ License or privilege can come from the owner directly or from social norms and the nature of the property itself.

The statute builds in several automatic licenses:

Anyone on property that is open to the public at the time has a license to be there, whatever their intent, unless a person in charge personally orders them to leave.
A person on undeveloped land that is not fenced or otherwise enclosed against intruders has a license to be there unless the owner personally tells them to leave or the land is conspicuously posted.
A license to enter the public part of a building does not extend to private areas, such as an employee-only back room.
Entering a school building without written permission or a legitimate reason tied to a student, school business, or school operations counts as unlawful.¹

The statute also defines “building” more broadly than the everyday meaning. It includes any structure, vehicle, or watercraft used for overnight lodging or business, along with elementary and secondary schools and enclosed motor trucks. A “dwelling” is a building where someone regularly sleeps at night. Those definitions matter because your charge depends on whether you entered “premises” generally, a “building,” or a “dwelling.”¹

The Four Degrees of Trespass

Simple Trespass

Simple trespass under Penal Law § 140.05 is a violation, the lowest offense category in New York. A person commits it by knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully on any premises.² This is the catch-all charge when the conduct does not fit the more specific elements of the criminal trespass statutes. Walking across an unfenced yard after being told to leave would fall here.

Criminal Trespass in the Third Degree

Third-degree criminal trespass under Penal Law § 140.10 is a class B misdemeanor. It applies to knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully in a building or on real property in any of these settings:³

Property that is fenced or otherwise enclosed in a way designed to keep intruders out.
A school, children’s overnight camp, or summer day camp, where the person violates conspicuously posted rules. In New York City, defying a personal order to leave from a principal or custodian also qualifies. Outside the city, a school board member or trustee can issue that order as well.
A public housing project, where the person violates conspicuously posted rules or defies a personal order to leave from a housing police officer or person in charge.
A railroad or rapid transit right-of-way that has been designated and conspicuously posted as a no-trespass zone.³

Criminal Trespass in the Second Degree

Second-degree criminal trespass under Penal Law § 140.15 is a class A misdemeanor. It covers two situations. The first is knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully in a dwelling, meaning any building where someone regularly sleeps at night: houses, apartments, hotel rooms, and other overnight lodging.⁴

The second situation applies to registered sex offenders classified as level two or level three under the correction law. Entering a public or private school knowing that the victim of their registerable offense attends or formerly attended that school triggers this charge. Exceptions exist for registered students, parents attending their child’s activities, and people entering only to vote at a designated polling place.⁴

Criminal Trespass in the First Degree

First-degree criminal trespass under Penal Law § 140.17 is a class D felony and the most serious trespass charge in New York. A person commits it by knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully in a building while possessing, or knowing that an accomplice possesses, a deadly weapon, explosive, or loaded firearm.⁵

One point of confusion is worth flagging. Entering a building with intent to commit a crime inside is not first-degree trespass. That conduct is burglary, a separate and more serious group of offenses under Penal Law §§ 140.20 through 140.30. First-degree trespass is specifically about being armed while trespassing in a building.

Penalties

New York’s sentencing statutes set the maximum jail time and fines for each classification. Judges have discretion within those ceilings.

Simple trespass, a violation: up to 15 days in jail and a fine of up to $250. A violation is not technically a crime under New York law, so a conviction does not create a criminal record the way a misdemeanor or felony would, though it can still appear on background checks.⁶
Third-degree criminal trespass, a class B misdemeanor: up to three months in jail and a fine of up to $500.⁶⁷
Second-degree criminal trespass, a class A misdemeanor: up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. The cap was moved from 365 to 364 days to reduce the immigration consequences of misdemeanor convictions, because federal law treats a sentence of one year or more as an aggravated felony trigger for deportation.⁶⁷
First-degree criminal trespass, a class D felony: an indeterminate prison sentence with a maximum of up to seven years and a minimum of at least one year. A judge may instead impose a definite sentence of one year or less where the standard range would be unduly harsh. First-degree trespass is not classified as a violent felony, so mandatory minimums for violent offenses do not apply.⁸

Defenses to a Trespass Charge

Lack of Knowledge

Every trespass statute in Article 140 requires that the person acted “knowingly.”² If you did not know you were on someone else’s property or had no reason to believe your presence was unauthorized, the element fails. This defense comes up where boundaries are ambiguous, fencing is broken or incomplete, and no signs are posted. It is strongest on unimproved land, since § 140.00 gives people a license to be there unless they have been personally told to leave or the land is conspicuously posted.

License or Privilege

Permission to be on the property, whether express or implied, defeats the charge outright.¹ Express consent means the owner or an authorized person said you could be there. Implied consent covers customary conduct such as approaching a front door to knock, making a delivery, or entering a business during operating hours. The license can be revoked, but revocation takes an actual communication: a personal order to leave or posted signs. Vague displeasure does not count.

Necessity

New York recognizes justification defenses that cover situations where entering property was necessary to prevent a greater harm. Entering a fenced yard to escape an attacking dog, taking shelter in a cabin during a blizzard, or going onto property to help an injured person can all qualify. Courts look at whether the threat was immediate, whether reasonable alternatives existed, and whether the trespass was proportional to the danger avoided.

Public Authority

Law enforcement officers and emergency personnel acting within their official duties may have legal authority to enter property that would otherwise be off-limits. Penal Law § 35.20 lists police officers and peace officers performing their duties as “licensed or privileged” persons with respect to buildings and premises.⁹ The entry has to be reasonably connected to official duties, not a personal errand conducted in uniform.

How Long Prosecutors Have to File

Trespassing charges have to be brought within set deadlines. New York’s Criminal Procedure Law § 30.10 ties those deadlines to the offense classification:¹⁰

Simple trespass: one year from the date of the offense.
Third- and second-degree criminal trespass: two years from the date of the offense.
First-degree criminal trespass: five years from the date of the offense.

Once the window closes, the case cannot go forward. In situations involving ongoing or repeated trespass, the clock resets each time a new offense occurs.

Force by Property Owners: What the Law Actually Allows

Property owners often ask whether they can physically remove a trespasser. Penal Law § 35.20 allows a person in possession or control of premises to use reasonable, non-deadly physical force when they reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent or stop a criminal trespass.⁹

Deadly force is not permitted to stop a trespass. It is reserved for two narrow situations: preventing or stopping arson, and preventing or stopping a burglary of a dwelling or occupied building.⁹ A trespasser sitting on the porch, wandering across the yard, or refusing to leave a common area does not open the door to deadly force. Overreacting with a weapon or disproportionate force can turn the owner into the defendant. When someone refuses to leave and no imminent burglary or arson is underway, calling the police is the safer course.

Posting Land So the Law Protects It

For unimproved and unfenced land, whether the property counts as “posted” decides whether someone can be charged at all. Under § 140.00, a person has an implied license to be on such land unless personally told to leave or given notice by posting in a conspicuous manner.¹ The Penal Law itself does not spell out exact sign dimensions or spacing.

For fenced or enclosed property, the fence itself serves as notice, and signs are not required in addition. For public housing projects and railroad rights-of-way, the posted rules have to be conspicuous enough to put visitors on notice. Schools have their own rules about written permission and posted entry requirements, as reflected in the third-degree trespass statute.

The practical point: if land is unfenced and undeveloped, and there are no signs and no personal warning, a person on it likely has an implied license to be there and cannot be charged with trespass for their mere presence.

1
New York State Senate. New York Penal Law 140.00 – Criminal Trespass and Related Offenses; Definitions
2
New York State Senate. New York Penal Law 140.05 – Trespass
3
New York State Senate. New York Penal Law 140.10 – Criminal Trespass in the Third Degree
4
New York State Senate. New York Penal Law 140.15 – Criminal Trespass in the Second Degree
5
New York State Senate. New York Penal Law 140.17 – Criminal Trespass in the First Degree
6
New York State Senate. New York Penal Law 70.15 – Sentences of Imprisonment for Misdemeanors and Violations
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New York State Senate. New York Penal Law 80.05 – Fines for Misdemeanors and Violations
8
New York State Senate. New York Penal Law 70.00 – Sentence of Imprisonment for Felony
9
New York State Senate. New York Penal Law 35.20 – Justification; Use of Physical Force in Defense of Premises and in Defense of a Person in the Course of Burglary
10
New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 30.10 – Timeliness of Prosecutions; Periods of Limitation