Squatters Law in Alabama: 10-Year Rule and 2024 Affidavit

In Alabama, a squatter has no legal right to stay on your property, but under the doctrine of adverse possession they can eventually claim ownership after ten or twenty years of open, continuous, hostile occupation meeting strict conditions. On the removal side, a 2024 law lets most property owners get squatters out through a sworn affidavit filed with law enforcement, without going to court first. Squatters rights in Alabama, then, are narrower than the phrase suggests: real ownership claims are hard to build, and removal is faster than it used to be.

How Long a Squatter Must Occupy to Claim Ownership

Alabama recognizes two timing frameworks for adverse possession. The shorter one runs ten years and requires additional paperwork or circumstances. The longer one runs twenty years and applies when the occupant has no paper trail at all.

Either path also requires the occupant to prove five things for the entire period, and missing any one of them defeats the claim:

Actual possession: physically using the land the way an owner would, such as living on it, farming it, or maintaining structures.
Exclusive possession: being the only person controlling the property. Sharing it with the true owner or the public defeats the claim.¹
Hostile possession: using the land without the owner’s permission. “Hostile” is not about aggression; it means the use conflicts with the owner’s rights. Any consent from the owner, verbal or written, ends the hostility.¹
Open and notorious possession: the occupation must be visible enough that a reasonable owner checking the property could tell someone else was treating it as their own.
Continuous possession: no gaps. Leaving and returning resets the clock. Alabama does allow “tacking,” where successive occupants combine their time if there is a direct connection between them, such as a sale or inheritance.

The Ten-Year Path

Alabama Code Section 6-5-200 sets out three conditions, any one of which qualifies an occupant for the shorter ten-year period. All five core elements above still have to hold for the full decade.²

Color of title: the occupant holds a deed or similar document that looks like it transfers ownership but has a legal defect, and it has been recorded with the county probate judge for at least ten years.
Listing the land for taxation: the occupant or their predecessors annually listed the property for taxation in the correct county for ten years. Paying the tax bill is not the same thing. Alabama’s Supreme Court has held that paying taxes on a parcel without having it listed in the claimant’s name does not satisfy this requirement.²
Inheritance: the occupant received the land through descent or devise from someone who was already in possession of it.

The tax distinction matters. A neighbor who quietly pays the tax bill on the vacant lot next door has not started the ten-year clock if county records still show the original owner’s name.

The Twenty-Year Path

When an occupant has no recorded deed, has not listed the land for taxation, and did not inherit the property, the ten-year route is unavailable. The fallback is adverse possession by prescription, a common law doctrine requiring twenty years of uninterrupted possession that meets all five core elements.³

With no paper records to lean on, evidence in these cases relies on witness testimony, photographs, fencing, structures, utility records, and other physical proof of long-term occupation. Courts scrutinize prescriptive claims closely, and the burden falls entirely on the person claiming ownership.

Occupation Alone Doesn’t Transfer the Deed

Even a squatter who meets every requirement does not automatically become the owner. They have to file a quiet title action in circuit court and get a judge to formally recognize the change. Alabama Code Section 6-6-540 allows anyone in peaceable possession, claiming to own the land, to bring an action to settle the title when someone else disputes or is reputed to own the same property.⁴

Without a quiet title judgment, there is no deed to record, no title insurance available, and no practical way to sell or mortgage the land. This is where many adverse possession claims collapse: the claimant has to convince a judge, with evidence, that every element was met for the full statutory period.

Removing a Squatter With the 2024 Affidavit Process

Before 2024, removing a squatter almost always meant filing a lawsuit and waiting on a court judgment. Act 2024-237, codified at Alabama Code Section 35-9B-2, created a faster route for unauthorized occupants in dwellings.⁵

The property owner, or their authorized agent, submits a sworn affidavit to the local law enforcement agency stating all of the following:

The person filing is the owner or the owner’s authorized agent.
An individual entered and is remaining in the dwelling unlawfully.
The individual was never authorized to enter or stay.
The individual is not a tenant or holdover tenant.
The owner already asked the individual to leave, and they refused.
The individual is not an immediate family member of the owner.
There is no pending litigation between the owner and the individual regarding the dwelling.⁵

The owner also has to leave notice at the dwelling telling the unauthorized occupant they have no right to stay and must leave immediately. A copy of that notice, with the date and time of delivery, gets attached to the affidavit. Once law enforcement verifies the paperwork, officers can serve a notice to vacate and remove the occupant if they refuse to go.

This route skips the court system for straightforward situations. It does not work when the occupant has any colorable claim to tenancy, when they are a family member, or when a lawsuit between the parties is already pending. A false affidavit carries its own legal consequences, so owners should be certain the facts fit before using it.

When You Have to Go to Court Instead

When the affidavit process does not apply, Alabama provides two court-based options depending on what the fight is really about.

Unlawful Detainer

Alabama Code Section 6-6-310 defines unlawful detainer as a situation where someone who lawfully entered possession, typically a tenant, fails or refuses to leave after their right to occupy has ended.⁶ The same statute also covers forcible entry and detainer, where someone enters by force or intimidation and refuses to leave. These cases go to district court for faster resolution.

Before filing, the owner serves a written notice to vacate. Alabama practice requires seven business days of notice, not counting the day of service, weekends, or holidays. On the eighth business day, the owner can file the complaint. Notice can be hand-delivered, posted on the door, or sent by certified mail. After the court enters a judgment for possession, the owner requests a writ of restitution directing the sheriff to physically restore possession.⁷

Ejectment

When the dispute goes beyond who gets to stay and involves competing claims to actual ownership, the owner files an ejectment action under Alabama Code Section 6-6-280 in circuit court, because the case requires resolving title questions. The complaint has to allege that the plaintiff either possessed the property or holds legal title, and that the defendant entered and is unlawfully withholding it.⁸

Ejectment lets the owner recover lost rental income and damages for any waste or injury to the land, calculated up to the time of the verdict. It takes longer than unlawful detainer and costs more, but it is the right tool when a squatter claims a legal right to the property.

Don’t Try Self-Help

Changing locks, moving a squatter’s belongings out, or shutting off utilities without a court order exposes the owner to civil liability. Alabama requires the judicial process to run its course. Owners who cut corners often end up defending a lawsuit instead of prosecuting one.

When Squatting Is Also a Crime

Squatting is primarily a civil matter, but it can overlap with criminal law. Alabama Code Section 13A-7-4 defines criminal trespass in the third degree as knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully on someone’s premises. Third-degree trespass is a violation, the lowest level of criminal offense.⁹

More serious trespass charges apply when the entry involves fenced or enclosed property, buildings, or dwellings. Whether police treat a squatter situation as a criminal matter depends on the facts. If the occupant produces something that looks like a lease or claims to be a tenant, officers often send the owner to civil court instead of making an arrest. The 2024 affidavit law was designed in part to address that gray area by giving officers a clear statutory basis to act.

Keeping an Adverse Possession Clock From Ever Starting

The best defense is making sure no one can satisfy the requirements in the first place. A few basic habits make a successful claim nearly impossible:

Inspect the property regularly. Adverse possession requires open and notorious use. Visiting your land once or twice a year makes it far harder for anyone to claim you had no opportunity to notice them.
Grant written permission when appropriate. If someone is using part of your land and you are fine with it, put the arrangement in writing. A simple letter or license destroys the hostility element. Permissive use cannot ripen into adverse possession unless the user clearly revokes that permission and starts asserting ownership against you.
Keep property taxes current in your name. This undercuts a claimant’s ability to list the land for taxation under their own name.
Post no-trespassing signs and maintain visible boundaries. Signage, fencing, and markers send an unambiguous message about ownership.
Act immediately on unauthorized use. A written demand to leave, followed by legal action if it’s ignored, stops any adverse possession clock before it accumulates.

Vacant land and inherited property are the most common targets, precisely because no one is watching. If you own land you do not occupy, treating it as if you do is the simplest way to protect it.

1
Legal Information Institute. Adverse Possession
2
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 6-5-200 – When Title to Land Conferred or Defeated
3
Justia. Bohanon v Edwards – Alabama Court of Civil Appeals 2003
4
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 6-6-540 – Right of Action to Settle Title to Land
5
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 35-9B-2 – Request for the Removal of an Unauthorized Individual From a Dwelling
6
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 6-6-310 – Definitions
7
Alabama Unified Judicial System. Alabama Form C-59A – Writ of Restitution or Possession
8
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 6-6-280 – Election to Proceed by Action of Ejectment or Action in Nature of Ejectment
9
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 13A-7-4 – Criminal Trespass in the Third Degree