Squatters in vacant units: how Texas's 2026 summary disposition works

Texas squatter law 2026 is a civil justice-court track, not a landlord lockout and not a shortcut on unpaid rent. Under Texas Property Code §24.005106 and Rule 510.10 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, summary disposition is available only on a sworn petition alleging forcible entry and detainer — unauthorized occupancy — and the occupant has four days after service to file a response. This page reports those mechanics for vacant and turnover units; it is not legal advice for any property, occupant, or county.

Eviction Wizard helps landlords organize eviction documents, submit through the court's e-filing system, request a process server, and track every deadline — in one dashboard. Eviction Wizard AI Partners, LLC is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.

Key takeaways

• Texas SB 38 (89th Legislature) added summary disposition for suits filed on or after January 1, 2026. The tool is tied to forcible entry and detainer, not a routine nonpayment case against a tenant under a lease.
• The occupant has four days after service of the citation to file a response. If the court finds genuinely disputed facts, the case is set for trial in the ordinary 10-to-21-day window.
• Vacant and turnover units are where unauthorized occupants most often appear for portfolio owners. Labeling a late-paying tenant a “squatter” does not move the file onto this track.
• The rest of Chapter 24 still applies: a sworn petition (§24.00505), the Justice of the Peace (JP) precinct of the property, citation by a sheriff or constable, and a writ executed only by law enforcement.
• Legal strategy — whether the facts are forcible entry and whether to file the motion — belongs with a Texas attorney. A dashboard holds documents and deadlines.
• No article can guarantee a timeline or an outcome. Self-help lockouts and utility shutoffs remain illegal.

Contents

• What Texas squatter law 2026 actually created
• When summary disposition applies — and when it does not
• Vacant units and the portfolio turnover problem
• Notice, the sworn motion, and the four-day clock
• How to assemble a vacant-unit packet from the lease
• Judgment, writ, and why strategy stays with counsel
• How Eviction Wizard handles this
• Frequently asked questions
• The vacant unit still goes through court

What Texas squatter law 2026 actually created

Landlords searching Texas squatter law 2026 usually want one answer: can I get someone out of a vacant house faster than a regular eviction? The 2026 Texas eviction law changes created a faster civil path for a defined class of cases. They did not create a right to change locks, cut utilities, or skip the justice court.

Senate Bill 38, 89th Legislature, signed June 20, 2025, rewrote Chapter 24 of the Property Code for eviction suits filed on or after January 1, 2026. The Supreme Court of Texas rewrote Rule 510 as the procedural rule. The device Chapter 24 added for unauthorized occupancy is summary disposition under §24.005106, implemented in Rule 510.10.

Section 24.005106 applies when a landlord files a sworn petition alleging a forcible entry and detainer under §24.00505 and includes a sworn motion for summary disposition without trial. The motion must set out supporting facts. Documents it relies on must be attached. If the motion shows no genuinely disputed facts that would prevent judgment for the landlord, the court may enter that judgment without a trial unless, not later than the fourth day after the occupant is served, the occupant files a response and the court finds proper service plus genuinely disputed facts.

That is the invention: a motion, a four-day response window after service, and a possible judgment without a trial. It is not a police removal order and not a criminal-trespass statute. Public write-ups also describe a separate Chapter 24B path under Senate Bill 1333. Which statute, if any, fits a vacant-unit occupant is a counsel question. This page reports Chapter 24 and Rule 510.

The 2026 spine is still notice, deliver, notice period, file, citation, hearing, judgment, appeal, writ, possession. Summary disposition can skip the hearing if the statutory conditions are met. It does not skip the sworn petition, the correct precinct, law-enforcement citation, or the writ. Possession still moves when an officer executes a writ.

When summary disposition applies — and when it does not

The limit belongs in the first sentence. Summary disposition is for unauthorized occupancy and forcible entry. It is not the track for a routine unpaid-rent case against a tenant under a lease.

Section 24.005106 opens with that gate: the landlord files a sworn petition alleging a forcible entry and detainer. Rule 510.6(a) requires a forcible-entry petition to state whether a sworn motion under Rule 510.10 is attached. A petition that alleges only unpaid rent, or only holdover after a written lease, stays on the ordinary track. The first-time-late pay-or-vacate rule in §24.005 is a tenant rule. It does not convert a late-paying tenant into a forcible-entry occupant.

Whether a holdover, former licensee, or guest who stayed fits “forcible entry and detainer” is a fact-and-law question. Section 24.001 defines forcible entry. This article does not apply that definition to your unit. Consult a Texas attorney before you file the motion.

Situation commonly described	Typical starting paper	2026 path this page reports	Summary disposition under §24.005106
First unpaid-rent month on a lease	Notice to pay rent or vacate, then notice to vacate	Ordinary sworn petition; trial generally 10–21 days after filing	No — not forcible entry
Holdover after a written lease ends	Notice that satisfies §24.005 and, for end-of-term, §91.001	Ordinary eviction unless counsel says the facts are forcible entry	Legal question — do not assume yes
Vacant unit; occupant never had a lease	Demand under §24.005(d); sworn petition alleging forcible entry	Petition plus sworn motion; four-day response after service	The statute’s track if the allegation is correct
Tenant who stopped paying, relabeled “squatter”	Still a lease file	Ordinary nonpayment track	No

Public write-ups commonly report uncontested Texas evictions from about three weeks to about 75 days depending on county and appeals. JP filing fees are commonly reported in the tens of dollars; writ fees around $150–$200. Those are reported ranges, not a promise. Summary disposition can shorten the hearing stage when the motion is proper. It does not erase citation or the writ. If the occupant might still be a tenant, use how to start an eviction in Texas until counsel says otherwise.

Vacant units and the portfolio turnover problem

Unauthorized occupancy hits portfolios when the ledger already says “vacant”: after a move-out, during a make-ready, or on a scattered-site house that sat dark for two weeks. The person inside may have no tenant name on any file. The property address is still the venue fact. The rent amount and lease dates on the last lease describe the last tenancy. They do not automatically describe the current occupant.

A 40-door owner rarely fails these cases because a PDF is missing. The owner fails them because three people each hold a piece: the turn technician who found a mattress, the leasing agent who still has the last tenant name in the property-management (PM) suite, and the owner who wants “the squatter process” because a forum said it is four days. Nobody assembled a forcible-entry petition.

Treat each door as its own case. Multi-unit eviction tracking is useful only if the vacant house is a separate file from the nonpayment next door. Mixing both puts a four-day clock on a lease tenant or a 10-to-21-day trial setting on a forcible-entry motion.

Portfolio bulk filing, team seats, and portfolio guardrails are coming. They are not live. Until they ship, the honest path is one unit at a time. Staff can assemble papers. The landlord or authorized agent still reviews, confirms, and authorizes filing. The user remains the filer.

Two habits break under the 2026 rules. Reusing a pay-or-vacate template is wrong if that person never had a lease. Filing the four-day motion is wrong if the person is still a tenant. Both belong with counsel before anyone uploads a lease.

Keep the last-lease file as evidence: tenant name, property address, rent amount, and lease dates, plus the move-out inspection and key log. Those papers may support a later motion. They do not prove forcible entry. Do not invent a tenant name to fill a form.

Notice, the sworn motion, and the four-day clock

The occupant’s four days run from service of the citation, not from the day you found the occupant, posted a demand, or the clerk accepted the petition.

Start with demand. Section 24.005 still requires written notice before most forcible-detainer filings against a tenant. Forcible-entry occupants under §24.001 may receive oral or written notice under §24.005(d). The default written period for tenant cases remains at least three days unless the written lease sets another period. Covered dwellings may still need a 30-day notice under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). Day counting follows §24.0042: exclude the trigger day; weekends and holidays count; a last day on a weekend or holiday rolls forward. This article does not say any method or period is sufficient. Check the lease. Consult a Texas attorney.

Section 24.005(f-3) lists mail; delivery to the inside of the premises, in a conspicuous place; hand delivery to any tenant 16 or older; and electronic communication only if the parties agreed in writing. Electronic delivery is not a vacant-unit default. There is often no written agreement with an unauthorized occupant. This page does not pick a method. See Texas notice to vacate requirements for the field-level list.

After the demand period you and counsel decide is required, the suit starts with a sworn petition (§24.00505). Venue is the JP precinct where the property sits (§24.0041). Under Rule 510.6(c), a wrong-precinct filing is dismissed, not transferred. Confirm the precinct on the county’s current map. See the Texas JP court precinct helper. Address helpers are not a guarantee.

If the sworn motion is filed with the petition, §24.0051(e) requires the citation to carry a bold English-and-Spanish notice that judgment without a trial is possible unless a response is filed by the fourth day after service. A sheriff or constable must make a diligent effort to serve the citation not later than the fifth business day after filing (§24.0051(f)). A private process server for eviction request tracks notice delivery. It does not replace constable citation service.

If the occupant files a timely response and the court finds genuinely disputed facts, the court sets a trial. Section 24.0051(g) generally sets trial on the 10th through 21st day after filing, not earlier than the fourth day after service, hedged for county practice. The court may still enter judgment if the response shows no genuine fact dispute. None of that is a guaranteed hearing week.

How to assemble a vacant-unit packet from the lease

Organization is not a finding that the occupant is a squatter. Use the last signed lease for address and prior-tenancy facts. Use current photos, lock records, and delivery proof for this occupancy. Do not merge them into one invented tenant.

1. Pull the four lease fields from the last signed lease. Tenant name, property address, rent amount, and lease dates. Treat any lease-upload extraction as a draft. If the current occupant is not that tenant, do not paste the old name into the defendant line without counsel.
2. Write the property address as the lease writes it. Street, unit, city, county. A management-office address is not the premises.
3. Name the ground in the statute’s words. Forcible entry and detainer, unpaid rent, or holdover. If you cannot pick one without guessing, stop. A Texas attorney names the ground.
4. Record the demand. When it was given, how it was given, and whether it was oral or written. Rule 510.6(a) requires that description, and whether the paper was a notice to vacate or a notice to pay rent or vacate. Keep the proof.
5. Assemble the sworn motion only if counsel says the petition alleges forcible entry. Set out supporting facts. Attach every document the motion relies on: deed or other proof of the right to possess, the last lease, the demand, delivery proof, lock logs, photos.
6. Identify the JP precinct for the property address. Confirm it on the county’s current map. A software helper is “based on the information you provided,” not a guarantee.
7. Swear the petition, attach the motion if that is the track, then file as the plaintiff. You review, confirm, and authorize submission through the court’s e-filing system — in many counties, eFileTexas. You remain the filer. Court fees stay separate.

If a name, ground, or precinct is in doubt, the packet pauses. Optional review by an independent attorney is a completeness review, not a certification that the occupant is unauthorized and not representation in court.

Judgment, writ, and why strategy stays with counsel

A summary-disposition judgment is still a judgment. It is not a move-out. Section 24.0061 entitles a prevailing landlord to a judgment for possession and a writ of possession. A writ may not be issued before the sixth day after the judgment is rendered unless a possession bond has been filed and approved. Issuance is a ministerial act under §24.0061(b-1). A sheriff or constable must serve the writ not later than the fifth business day after issuance. The officer posts a written warning on the front door and may not execute sooner than 24 hours after that posting.

Only law enforcement executes the writ. Changing locks or shutting off utilities is not “doing the 2026 squatter process faster.” Self-help lockouts remain illegal. The court must mail a copy of a summary-disposition judgment to the premises by first-class mail not later than 48 hours after entry (§24.0061(c)). That mailing is not the writ. See writ of possession Texas for the post-judgment sequence.

Appeals still use a five-day window. Section 24.005107 and Rule 510.19 allow a party to appeal by bond, cash deposit, or a statement of inability to afford costs not later than the fifth day after the judgment is signed. A tenant who appeals must also file a sworn good-faith affirmation. Whether those appeal and registry-rent rules fit an occupant who was never a tenant is a counsel question. If someone files a notice of appeal, call the attorney.

Legal strategy is the allegation, the notice form, and the decision to attach a Rule 510.10 motion. Document organization is keeping tenant name, property address, rent amount, lease dates, demand proof, the petition, attachments, the service date, and the writ request on one timeline. Hiring counsel for every routine notice is a cost question in attorney eviction fees versus document tools. Filing a vacant-unit forcible-entry motion without counsel is a different risk. Attorney fees for a contested Texas eviction are commonly reported around $1,500–$3,000, and sometimes cited at $1,500–$5,000. Eviction-service companies are often cited around $475.

How Eviction Wizard handles this

Eviction Wizard is built for the sequence a vacant-unit case still has to run: gather the last-lease facts, assemble the demand and sworn-petition packet, attach the motion documents if counsel chose that track, route filing through the court’s e-filing system at your direction, and keep notice, citation, the four-day response, trial if one is set, judgment, appeal, and writ on one dashboard.

The product does not decide that an occupant is a squatter, that summary disposition is available, or that a notice method was sufficient. Versioned templates keep a 2026 sworn petition, a notice to pay rent or vacate, and a forcible-entry packet as different papers. Tracking a four-day response is not a finding that the motion should have been filed.

You remain the filer. You review every page, confirm the fields, and authorize submission. Lease upload may extract tenant name, property address, rent amount, and lease dates for review. On a vacant-unit file those four fields often describe the prior tenancy. Extraction is a draft.

For Texas venue, you enter the property address and the product helps determine the precinct and JP court commonly associated with that location, based on the information you provided. That helper is not a guarantee. A process-server request lets you browse independent process servers and track notice delivery. It does not replace constable citation service.

The Attorney Directory lists independent attorneys, not employees or agents. Optional packet review is a completeness review of the file you assembled, not representation and not a ruling on forcible entry.

The Document Organizer fee is $149 per case. Founding members lock $149 for life. Court fees and third-party fees are separate. Build the case file free and pay only when you file. Launch is Texas first, county by county. Florida, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada are next; they are not live. Portfolio bulk filing, team seats, and portfolio guardrails are coming, not live.

Deadline tracking can hold the notice period, the citation window, the four-day occupant response, the trial setting if the motion fails, the appeal window, and the writ wait. See eviction deadline tracking. Score the best eviction tools Texas landlords use on whether they hold a forcible-entry packet as its own object. Form-fillers stop at the PDF. PM software holds the vacant flag.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use summary disposition because a tenant stopped paying rent?

No. Section 24.005106 ties the motion to a sworn petition alleging forcible entry and detainer. It is not the track for a routine nonpayment case against a tenant under a lease. The occupant’s four-day response window does not apply to that ordinary petition. Whether unusual facts convert a former tenant into a forcible-entry defendant is a question for a Texas attorney, not a label you add to a ledger.

When does the occupant’s four-day deadline start?

The statute runs the four days from service of the citation, not from the day you found the occupant or the day the clerk accepted the petition. Section 24.0042 describes how Chapter 24 days are counted. This article does not compute your deadline. Store the service date in the case file. Consult a Texas attorney if the return is unclear or a weekend or holiday sits inside the window.

Can I change the locks if I find someone in a vacant unit?

A judgment for possession is not a license to lock someone out yourself, and you do not have a judgment at the moment you find them. Only law enforcement executes a writ of possession. Self-help lockouts and utility shutoffs remain illegal. Call counsel about immediate safety and about whether a civil petition, a criminal-trespass report, or both are even the right next paper.

Does Eviction Wizard decide that my case qualifies for summary disposition?

No. Eviction Wizard AI Partners, LLC is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. You remain the filer. The product organizes documents and tracks deadlines, including a four-day response object if that is the track you and counsel are using. Optional attorney review of a packet is a completeness review by an independent attorney, not a ruling on forcible entry.

Is a four-day response the same as a four-day eviction?

No. Four days is the occupant’s time to respond after service. If the court finds genuinely disputed facts, trial is generally set 10 to 21 days after filing, hedged for county practice. A later appeal and a writ add more time. No timeline is guaranteed.

The vacant unit still goes through court

Texas squatter law 2026 gave landlords a motion, not a shortcut around the justice court. Use it only when a sworn petition can honestly allege forcible entry and detainer — not on a late-paying tenant, and not as a reason to change the locks. Let counsel name the ground. Let a dashboard hold the property address, the demand proof, the precinct, and the writ request.

If you want that file in one place — with you still reviewing every field — join the Eviction Wizard waitlist. Build the case free. Pay the $149 Document Organizer fee when you file. Court fees and third-party fees stay separate.