Making Sense of Squatter Removal
and Eviction from Estate Property

Squatters vs. Holdover Tenants

Squatters are individuals who occupy land without lawful permission from the landowner. Squatting is not trespassing if the person has obtained legal adverse possession of the property; otherwise, squatters become trespassers once landowners ask them to leave and they refuse.

Holdover tenants or “tenants at sufferance” are previous renters who continue to occupy an estate after their lease has expired. The new landowner may allow the tenancy and work out new lease terms with the tenant, or he may accept the holdover tenant’s unpaid rent and legally evict the squatter if he stays after serving him a legal notice to leave.

Adverse Possession for Squatters in Iowa

Squatters often claim they hold a legal right to possess an estate of which might be true, but only if they’ve complied with Iowa’s strict adverse possession requirements for taking land from a landowner (Iowa Code § 560.1).

Adverse possession or “squatter’s rights” allows trespassers to take irregular property entitlement after exclusively occupying the land continuously and openly for five years without protest or ejectment from the landowner.

After five years, the squatter will hold “color of title,” or in other words, he’ll possess a legal privilege to remain on the land or sell his irregular title interest to another person.

Squatters likewise do not have to pay property taxes to claim color of title in Iowa, if however the landowner has left property taxes unpaid, and the squatter pays at least one year of back property taxes, the squatter doesn’t have to wait five years to establish an adverse possession claim.

Squatters who do not hold adverse possession become trespassers, and landowners can legally eject them from estate land at any time.

Iowa Squatter Eviction and Removal Procedures

Fiduciaries, heirs or beneficiaries should employ seasoned probate litigators to assist them in evicting squatters and holdover tenants who wrongfully occupy their estate.

Removal regularly requires the landowner to procure an unlawful detainer order and judgment from the courts of which they can pass on to the local sheriff to carry out the eviction.

Judges frequently uphold the rights of tenants and squatters, meaning your attorney must follow eviction procedures without error to secure a favorable ejection order from the courts.

The squatter removal attorneys at Smith Law in Iowa suggest landowners adhere to the following steps after discovering a trespasser living on their estate:

• Call the police—as soon you encounter someone interfering with your land, have law enforcement engage the intruder. If the individual is a trespasser, the police will remove them immediately. If however the person is a squatter or a holdover tenant, the police will document the incident and you’ll have to remove them via standard eviction.

• Serve a notice to pay or quit—demand past due rent from the trespasser and allow them reasonable time to pay it. If he leaves, the problem is solved. If the squatter or tenant pays, he’ll become a “tenant at will,” meaning the landowner can file an unlawful detainer any time and without notice.

• File an unlawful detainer lawsuit—when squatters hold valid adverse possession claims, the landowner loses his ejectment rights. If however a holdover tenant or squatter is a trespasser who refuses to quit after receiving notice, landowners should contact the squatter removal authorities at Smith Law in Iowa to procure an unlawful detainer order with a writ of execution from the courts.

• Have the sheriff remove the squatter—with a judgment and writ in hand, landowners may submit the paperwork to the local sheriff to have his officers enforce the order and physically remove the squatter from the premise.

• Store the squatter’s property—most squatters leave their personal property behind after being ousted. The law requires landowners to store a tenant’s property for six months before attempting to discard or sell the items. Ejected squatters may either abandon their property or retake control of the items after paying the landowner reasonable storage fees.

Always obey Iowa civil procedures when evicting squatters and never exert force, threats or self-help (changing locks, cutting electricity) to take back your land from holdover tenants. Landowners who do not adhere to standard ejectment procedures will most certainly provoke the trespasser into filing an unlawful eviction claim against you.

Squatter Ejectment Timeline

Standard evictions may require than a month’s time to serve the trespasser notice, obtain an unlawful detainer and have the sheriff enforce a court order to remove the person off the estate.

The process becomes lengthier when landowners engage in self-help evictions or when squatters offer adverse possession claims which force the courts to determine whether the landowner is infringing on the rights of a holdover tenant or squatter.

Squatter and Holdover Tenant Property Waste and Damage

It’s important for landowners to eject squatters and trespassers immediately upon discovery instead of allowing them to stay with an expectation they’ll leave on their own.

Uncontested trespass to property can offer trespassers a valid adverse possession claim and can interfere with a landowner’s procurement of an unlawful detainer order against holdover tenants.

Squatters can further damage property intentionally or leave estate utility bills unpaid in retaliation to hostile evictions. Waste likewise occurs because landowners assume economic losses on destroyed property and may not collect rent while trespassers occupy the land.