The Home Invasion Act of 2025 legislation officially defines “home invasion” as a specific crime covering not just your main house, but garages and outdoor kitchens as well.
The biggest change? The “Duty to Retreat” is gone. Under this Act, if someone breaks into your home while you’re there, you have the legal right to stand your ground and defend your property.
In an advisory issued Saturday from The Office of the Attourney General, it stated that the Home Invasion (Self Defence and Defence of Property Act) is not any of the United States’ Stand Your Ground laws.
Thus, the law is specific and tailored to Trinidad and Tobago.
The advisory stated that the act was assented to by President Christine Kangaloo on December 17th 2025.
This means that the act now criminalises “home invasion”, thus the primary elements of the offence are: physical intrusion into a house or places alongside the house by a person with intent on committing criminal acts, the lawful presence of individuals in the house at the time of the invasion, and the use of criminal acts by invaders against the occupants.
Ultimately, the act legalises the actions of an individual who, acting in good faith, aids and assists an occupant during a home invasion.
To this end, the advisory stated that persons who rely on defence and defence of property during a home invasion remain subject to police investigation and possible criminal proceedings before the courts.