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).