A Squatter Isn’t a Tenant. Texas Just Stopped Treating Them Like One.

Someone breaks into a vacant house, changes the locks, and starts claiming tenant rights they never had. The rightful owner used to face months of formal eviction proceedings to get their own property back. SB1333 gives them a faster path, and builds in enough safeguards that it doesn’t just trade one problem for another.

Signed June 20, 2025, effective September 1, 2025, SB1333 passed the Senate 27-4, the House with an amendment 113-22, and the Senate concurred 27-4.

A property owner submits a sworn complaint to the sheriff or constable, under penalty of perjury, using a statutory form with valid government ID. This only applies when the occupant was never a legitimate tenant under any lease and isn’t an immediate family member of the owner. The sheriff or constable has to independently verify the owner’s identity and the facts before acting. This isn’t a rubber stamp. Once verified, the officer serves notice to vacate and restores possession, on the spot, no formal eviction lawsuit required.

Anyone wrongfully removed under this process can sue for triple the fair rental value plus actual damages, attorney’s fees, and getting the property back, with the court required to expedite that hearing. Combined with the perjury exposure for a false sworn complaint, this creates real consequences for someone who tries to use the fast track against a person who actually has a legitimate tenancy claim.

Removing someone from a dwelling without a prior judicial hearing is a real departure from ordinary eviction due process, and courts have long protected even an unlawful occupant’s possessory interest with notice and a hearing first. Texas’s version is more procedurally cautious than some other states’ comparable laws, sworn complaint, independent sheriff verification, a genuine post-removal remedy, but whether that combination holds up depends heavily on how narrowly sheriffs and constables apply the “not a current or former tenant” screening question in practice. No Texas court has tested this exact mechanism yet since it’s brand new.

The bill also creates new felonies for using a fake lease or deed to enter or occupy property, or for selling or renting property someone doesn’t actually own or control, up to a first-degree felony for fraudulent sale or rental. Legitimate lenders, title companies, and licensed brokers acting without knowledge of the fraud are protected.

A strong, needed property-rights protection with real safeguards against misuse. Support it, and watch how sheriffs and constables apply the tenancy-screening step as this plays out in practice.

This is our read of the bill. We encourage you to read it yourself and reach your own conclusions.