By Katherine Zehnder for The Carolina Journal

On Wednesday, the North Carolina House of Representatives voted 86-29 to pass HB 96, Expedited Removal of Unauthorized Persons, establishing a legal procedure for property owners to swiftly remove unauthorized occupants from residential properties. ​Primary sponsors on the bill are Reps. Steve Tyson, R-Craven, Brian Biggs, R-Randolph, Rep. Kyle Hall, R-Stokes, and Rep. Julia Howard, R-Davie. 

“With the advent of YouTube and other forms of social media, criminals are actually teaching people how to use the system to trespass (squat),” Tyson told the Carolina Journal. “We have all read horror stories about how difficult it can be to remove someone unlawfully occupying a residential property. With current law it can take months to have someone legally removed.  This bill will allow law enforcement to remove unauthorized persons (squatters) within 24 hours and charge them with a felony if they do over $1,000 damage to the property while unlawfully occupying it.”

Under HB 96, property owners or their authorized agents can request the sheriff’s assistance removing individuals unlawfully occupying their residential property, provided certain conditions are met. The requester must be the rightful property owner or an authorized representative, and the property must include a residential dwelling. Unauthorized individuals must have entered and remained on the property without permission, and despite being directed to vacate, they must have refused to leave. Additionally, the unauthorized occupants cannot be recognized as residents or tenants under existing legal definitions. There must be no ongoing litigation between the property owner and the unauthorized occupants regarding the property, and no valid rental agreement can exist between the parties involved.

An unauthorized person occupies residential property without a legal claim or a valid rental agreement. It excludes tenants who remain after their lease has expired, as detailed in the bill.  

“To request the immediate removal of an unauthorized person from residential property, the property owner or an authorized representative of the property must appear before a magistrate in the county where the property is located…” reads the bill. “The magistrate shall sign the affidavit verifying that the property owner or the unauthorized representative of the property owner appeared before the magistrate and swore under oath or affirmation to the information contained therein.” 

“This has been an ongoing problem across the state,” Biggs told the Carolina Journal. “I have personally experienced it on many occasions, in many forms, as a realtor. People are taking properties or squatting on properties after checking obituaries, finding vacant homes and rentals. This bill follows suit with other states that have enacted similar legislation and seen success.”

Additionally, the bill seeks to increase penalties for willful and wanton damage to another’s residential real property and to criminalize fraudulent rental, lease, or advertisement of residential properties without proper ownership or authority. ​

 “It streamlines evictions of these squatters, protecting both landlords and tenants/consumers,” continued Biggs. “The cost of squatters leads to increases in rental prices, repair costs, and time to change over rental units or sell homes. Ultimately, this bill seeks to give property owners who find themselves in seemingly helpless situations viable and timely recourse when these circumstances arise.”

Rep. Marcia Morey, D-Durham, expressed concerns on the House floor that the bill circumvents the courts. 

“Why don’t we keep it within the legal process,” said Morey. “You file a complaint; you list the facts; you take it before a magistrate; they review it. They do it. The magistrate’s order is 24 hours before you give it to a notice goes to the sheriff with due process. I’m afraid this circumvents that. The chiefs of police are opposed to it, and they think doing something this expedited based only on a person’s affidavit and signature will put people in harm. There’s no notice; there’s no posting; there’s no warning. We had a great bill last session, sponsored by Republicans, HB 966. I think Representative Tyson was on it. That is a much better option, but I think this is totally ignoring due process and the safety of officers, and I encourage us to revisit it with an expedited process that follows people’s rights.”

Several similar bills were introduced last year, including two in the House and one in the Senate. The bills, however, failed to become law. Rep. Jeff Zenger, R-Forsyth, is a secondary sponsor of HB 96 and co-sponsor of both House bills in the previous session. 

“We have a housing crisis in North Carolina, and there is just a tremendous number of housing bills coming from every walk of life in the house, which is why we have this problem,” Rep. Zenger told the Carolina Journal. “Homelessness is becoming more of a problem, and people are occupying properties illegally, and it’s difficult to get them out. So, in the meantime, while they’re occupying that, they’re doing damage. So, this bill is designed to protect the property owners from illegally occupying the property and help them get them out so that property owners can move on with selling their property or renting it.”

After passing in the House, the legislation was sent to the Senate.

The preceding article originally appeared on April 3, 2025 at The Carolina Journal’s website and is made available here for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Any views or opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Carolina Leadership Coalition.