The passage of Senate Bill 1333 (2025) addresses an important gap in Texas’ statutory framework by providing property owners with “clear legal tools to remove unauthorized occupants and [abate concerns]
that squatters can cause financial harm by damaging or neglecting property” (SB 1333 Bill Analysis, 2025, p. 1).This legislation was the culmination of a long investigatory process that ultimately determined a “need to ensure that individual rights are protected, and that the State’s laws provide balance to property owners and bona fide tenants, both in structure and enforcement” (Senate Committee on Local Government, 2024, p. 50).
Property Rights
Matthew Bernard and Lynn Warner v. City of Oakland, California
Date Filed: June 29, 2026 Original Court: Northern District of California Case Status: Pending Matthew Bernard and Lynn Warner own an undeveloped residential plot in Oakland, California. In 2020, the Oakland Fire Department ordered them to clear dead and dying trees from their land or face ongoing fines. The landowners hired an arborist and removed...
June 29, 2026