Unlawfully occupying a residential dwelling is now a felony in North Dakota
Unlawfully occupying a residential dwelling is now a felony in North Dakota
2026-09-15 · North Dakota · Legislation
An association that takes title to a unit through foreclosure, or that owns a manager's apartment or a caretaker's residence, now has a criminal remedy against an unauthorised occupant that did not exist before August 1, 2025. House Bill 1305 added a new subsection to N.D.C.C. § 12.1-22-03 and passed without a dissenting vote — House 89-0-5, Senate 47-0.1
The offence
The new subsection 2 reads:
“An individual who unlawfully detains, occupies, or trespasses upon a residential dwelling is guilty of a class C felony for the first offense and a class B felony for a second or subsequent offense if the second or subsequent offense occurred at the same residential dwelling as the first offense.”
The escalation to a class B felony is narrow: it requires the repeat offence to be at the same residential dwelling. A second occupation of a different unit in the same community is another first offence.
“Dwelling” got wider at the same time
The Act also amended the definition in § 12.1-22-06(1), replacing a narrower cross-reference:
“'Dwelling' means real property or residential property, including a building, structure, or part of a building or structure, used or intended to be used as a home or residence.”
“Part of a building” and “intended to be used” are both doing work. A vacant unit in an occupied building, and a unit that has never been occupied, are both within it.2
Where this helps an association, and where it does not
The statute creates a criminal offence. It does not create a self-help removal procedure, an affidavit route, or any civil remedy. Several states have paired a squatting offence with a sworn-affidavit process that lets law enforcement remove an occupant without an eviction action. North Dakota did not. Removal still runs through the courts under chapter 47-32.
So the practical value is narrower than the headline: an association can report a crime. Whether an officer acts on the report, and how quickly, is a charging decision by a state's attorney rather than a remedy the board controls.
The three situations a North Dakota board will face, and only one is covered
A stranger in a unit the association owns. This is the case the statute is for. The occupant has no right of entry, the association holds record title, and the conduct is on its face a class C felony.
A delinquent owner still in their own unit. Not covered, and it is important that nobody on a board thinks otherwise. A record owner in possession of their own unit is not unlawfully occupying it, whatever they owe. Delinquency runs through the assessment lien and, if it comes to it, foreclosure — never through a criminal complaint.
A holdover tenant of an owner. Not covered either, and this is the likeliest misuse. A tenant who entered lawfully under a lease and stayed past its end is a holdover, and holdover possession is resolved by eviction. An association that reports a holdover tenant as a squatter has made an accusation of a felony against someone who entered with permission.
What to put in place before you need it
Know whether the association actually holds record title. An association that believes it owns a unit through a lien enforcement but has not recorded the deed is not the owner for any of this. Check the recording before anything else.
Decide who speaks to law enforcement, and minute it. A criminal referral is a board decision. A property manager making it on their own judgment is exposing the association to a claim if the occupant turns out to be a tenant or a family member of the owner.
Document the entry. The offence turns on the occupation being unlawful. Access logs, key-fob records, camera footage and dated photographs of the unit before the occupation are what convert an assertion into a report a state's attorney can use.
Do not change the locks and call it done. North Dakota gives an association no self-help removal power, and the new felony offence does not create one. Lock-outs by a landlord or an owner remain a route to civil liability.
A related change in the same session
HB 1299, effective the same day, amended § 29-06-22 on when a private person may break into a building to make an arrest. It narrowed the rule rather than widening it: a private person may now do so only where a felony was committed in their presence, they announced their purpose and were refused admittance, and “the person reasonably believes an individual inside is at imminent risk of serious bodily injury or death.”3 Any suggestion that the new squatting felony lets a board or a manager force a door is wrong, and HB 1299 is why.
What to watch next
Watch whether the 70th Legislative Assembly, which convenes January 5, 2027, adds the civil half — an affidavit-based removal route of the kind other states have paired with a squatting offence. Prefiling for that session closes December 18, 2026. Watch also for the first North Dakota prosecution under § 12.1-22-03(2), which will show how the state's attorneys distinguish an unlawful occupant from a holdover tenant in practice.
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