nanonyous
Expert Member
Depends, actually. A mall parking lot may not constitute part of the mall's private property if it's outside of the building. Besides that, unless there is a sign up explicitly prohibiting 'squatting', sleeping there overnight and vacating the lot before it would be used, while not leaving it in any worse a state than it was when you 'found' it, shouldn't necessarily be illegal in itself.
If there is security personnel assigned to the lot that ask you to leave, or if police ask you to leave, though, you're legally obligated to comply.
That's why you'll often find people driving, skateboarding, riding bikes or just goofing around in mall parking lots at night - because it's generally not an illegal thing to do, just something you do at your own risk.
