JACKSON, Wyo. — Wyoming is joining a growing list of states reclassifying squatting as a criminal offense rather than a civil offense, after Governor Mark Gordon allowed SF0006 to pass into law without his signature on Feb. 24.
The new law will now protect property rights and empower law enforcement to remove squatters, meaning individuals occupying property without any legal claim. SF0006 also authorizes property owners to request law enforcement assistance for the removal of unauthorized occupants, prohibits unlawful use of false property documents, amends the offense of property destruction and defacement by creating an additional felony offense and more.
The law also makes it so that law enforcement will not be liable to the unauthorized person or any other party for the loss, destruction or damage of property removed.
“With a national housing crisis and a growing threat of squatters, states like Wyoming recognize the importance of property rights and the ability of homeowners to keep and maintain control over their property,” Mark Miller, senior attorney for Pacific Legal Foundation who testified before the Wyoming legislature in support of the legislation, stated in a press release.
While Wyoming law has historically treated squatter removal as a landlord-tenant civil dispute, according to the press release, this left some property owners unable to live in their homes for months or even years as they tried to evict squatters. Now, homeowners can “request the immediate removal of an unauthorized person who is occupying a residential dwelling,” according to the law.
Governor Gordon expressed concern in a Feb. 24 letter to the Wyoming Senate that the bill is “flawed” regarding “adequate due process;” he expanded in the letter to write that he believes the bill poses a risk to authorized occupants who could be “inadvertently harmed by errant removal requests” and places an “additional burden on law enforcement” to substantiate complaints.
Governor Gordon nonetheless stated: “I believe strongly in individuals’ property rights, and as is my custom, I have decided to let the bill pass into law without my signature and am delivering it to you unsigned.”
If a person unlawfully detains or occupies a residential dwelling as defined by W.S. 1-21-1401(a)(iv) and who knowingly defaces, injures or destroys property in or on the residential dwelling, regardless of the cost of restoring the injured property or the value of the property if destroyed, faces imprisonment for not more than 10 years, a fine of not more than $10,000.00 or both.
This law will go into on July 1.
Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia have also passed laws that criminalize squatting.
