Kansas gives owners a 24-hour squatter removal, and a triple-rent penalty for getting it wrong
Kansas gives owners a 24-hour squatter removal, and a triple-rent penalty for getting it wrong
2026-09-10 · Kansas · Legislation
A Kansas association that owns a unit — a foreclosed unit, a manager's apartment, a caretaker's residence — now has a way to remove an unauthorized occupant without filing an eviction. It also now has a way to get sued for three times the rent. House Bill 2378, the removal of squatters act, was signed in April 2026 and is in force.1
The act is short, fast, and drafted with an unusually blunt liability clause. Both halves matter to a board that owns real property.
How the affidavit route works
Section 2(a) provides that “the owner of a dwelling unit or the agent of the owner of a dwelling unit may request the removal of an unauthorized person from the dwelling unit by submitting a notarized affidavit to a law enforcement agency in the county where the dwelling unit is located.”2
The affidavit must swear to six things: that the affiant is the owner or the owner's agent; that a person “has entered and is remaining unlawfully in the dwelling unit”; that the person “was not authorized to enter”; that “the person is not a tenant or a holdover tenant”; that the affiant has asked the person to leave and they have not; and that the person “is not an immediate family member of the property owner.” The act defines immediate family expansively, out to nieces, nephews, in-laws and grandparents of any degree.
Section 3 puts law enforcement on a clock in the owner's favor. On receipt, the agency “shall verify that the affiant is the record owner…and appears otherwise entitled to relief,” and then “after at least 24 hours from receipt of the affidavit, a law enforcement officer shall serve a notice on the unauthorized person to vacate immediately the dwelling unit.” Service may be by hand or by posting on the front door. The processing fee is capped at $50.
The definitions that pull associations in
Section 7(b)(1) defines “dwelling unit” as the same as in K.S.A. 58-2543 “except that ‘dwelling unit’ includes commercial property and mobile homes.” And subsection (c) provides that “occupancy by a squatter is excluded from the residential landlord tenant act and the removal of a squatter shall not require the use of an eviction action under such act.” The ordinary eviction machinery is bypassed entirely.
The liability clause a board must read before it uses this
Section 6 is the whole risk in one sentence: “A person may bring a civil cause of action for wrongful removal under this act against the affiant owner of the dwelling unit or agent of the owner of the dwelling unit,” and a person harmed “may have the possession of the dwelling unit restored and may recover actual costs and damages, as well as punitive damages of triple the fair market rent of the dwelling, plus court costs and reasonable attorney fees.”
Section 5 immunizes law enforcement and political subdivisions acting in good faith. It does not immunize the affiant. The statute moves the risk of a wrong call entirely onto the owner who swore the affidavit — and where the owner is an association, onto the assessment base.
Section 2(b) adds a criminal edge: “an affiant who knowingly provides a false affidavit to a law enforcement agency under this section may be charged with a class A nonperson misdemeanor.” A manager signing as “agent of the owner” is signing that personally.
The three situations where a Kansas board will be tempted, and two of them are traps
A delinquent owner still in the unit. Not available. A record owner is not an unauthorized person, and the affidavit cannot honestly be sworn. Collection runs through the lien, not through this act.
A holdover tenant of an owner. Not available, and the statute says so in terms — element (4) requires the affiant to swear the person “is not a tenant or a holdover tenant.” This is the likeliest misuse, and it is the one that produces the triple-rent claim.
A stranger occupying an association-owned unit or a vacant unit the association took title to. This is the case the act was written for, and here it is a genuine, fast remedy that saves an association weeks of court time.
What a board draws on if it ever needs this
Decide now who may sign. The affidavit is a sworn statement with misdemeanor exposure and a punitive-damages tail. That is a board decision, not a property manager's judgment call, and it should be minuted. Kansas directors already carry a heightened standard: K.S.A. 58-4609 requires a board to exercise “the degree of care and loyalty to the association required of a trustee.”3
Verify record title first. Law enforcement must confirm the affiant is the record owner. An association that believes it owns a unit through a lien foreclosure, but has not recorded the deed, will fail that check and should find out before it swears the affidavit rather than after.
Talk to the carrier. Triple fair market rent plus fees is a punitive-damages award, and directors-and-officers policies frequently exclude punitive damages or make them uninsurable as a matter of public policy. A board learns the answer from its own broker, before it relies on this act or while it is being sued.
What to watch next
Watch for the first Kansas wrongful-removal case under Section 6. The statute is new, the remedy is generous, and the plaintiff's bar has an obvious template. Whether courts read “triple the fair market rent” as a floor, a cap, or a discretionary award is unresolved on the face of the text.
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