Bill
HB 1305
ND HB 1305 tightens penalties for residential trespass, makes fraudulent sale/lease a crime, and lets owners summon sheriff help to evict unauthorized occupants.
Status
- Introduced: November 13, 2024.
- Passed legislature (House and Senate) and filed with the Secretary of State on 04/17 (enrolled version available with amendments).
Purpose and intent
- To strengthen criminal penalties for unlawful entry, occupation, and detention of residential property; to create a criminal penalty for fraudulent sale or lease of residential property; and to provide a limited alternative remedy allowing property owners or their agents to request sheriff assistance to remove unauthorized occupants.
Key provisions
1. Criminal trespass — expanded offenses and penalties (amendment to NDCC 12.1‑22‑03)
- Makes knowingly entering or remaining in a dwelling or “highly secured premises” a class C felony.
- Establishes that unlawfully detaining, occupying, or trespassing upon a residential dwelling is a class C felony for a first offense and a class B felony for a second or subsequent offense when the later offense occurs at the same dwelling.
- Retains and reorganizes misdemeanors for other trespass conduct:
- Class A misdemeanor for knowingly entering/remaining in buildings, occupied structures, storage structures, or fenced/enclosed places (with exceptions for lawful hunting/fishing).
- Class B misdemeanor for entering or remaining where notice against trespass is given (actual communication or posted signs); second/subsequent offense within two years becomes class A misdemeanor.
- Authorizes noncriminal citations (instead of prosecution) for posted/fenced property trespass with a $250 fine and establishes citation procedures (bond, hearing rights, timeline for mailing bond).
Fraudulent sale or lease of residential real property (new NDCC § in chapter 47‑10)
Limited alternative remedy for removal of unauthorized occupants (new NDCC § in chapter 47‑32)
Definition change (amendment to 12.1‑22‑06(1))
Who or what is affected
- Property owners and landlords, tenants and former tenants, unauthorized occupants (e.g., squatters), individuals who fraudulently offer property for sale or rent, local sheriffs and law enforcement, county prosecutors and courts.
- May affect eviction and civil possession processes by creating a criminal route and an alternative sheriff‑assisted removal in certain circumstances.
Procedural notes and enforcement
- The bill provides criminal classifications (C and B felonies; A and B misdemeanors) and a $250 administrative citation option for lower‑level posted/fenced trespass.
- The sheriff‑assisted removal provision creates a non‑eviction, limited civil/administrative remedy; details and safeguards (notice, documentation, civil actions) are in the bill text.
- Given the change of some trespass conduct to felony classifications, prosecutors and courts would see impacts in charging decisions and case processing.
Potential impacts and considerations
- Intended to deter unlawful occupation of residences and fraudulent rental/sale schemes and to give owners an expedited remedy for removing unauthorized occupants.
- May increase criminal case filings and require local law enforcement and prosecutorial resources; could raise civil‑law and due‑process questions in landlord‑tenant contexts (e.g., distinctions between unauthorized occupants and tenants with disputed tenancy).
- Practical effects will depend on how sheriffs, prosecutors, and courts apply the new standards and on further rulemaking or guidance regarding the sheriff removal procedure.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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