Adverse Possession Usage

Property owners have been given various forms of protection in order to protect their interests. Whether legal or illegal, one is allowed to enjoy the privacy of their home, and are given the right to enjoy their property as long as it does not negatively impact neighbors. A party in unlawful possession of a property has the right to exclude anyone from the premises, except for the actual property owner.

If the unlawful possession is held long enough, depending on the state, between seven and thirty years, the unlawful possessor can acquire the property through adverse possession. Adverse possession operates as a statute of limitations which leaves no room for debate regarding the acquisition of the property.

With adverse possession law, you are acquiring property without the consent of the owner. In some states, you are required to indirectly flag your territory on the property so that the actual owner is notified to some extent. Majority of the time, the property owner would not see the threat until adverse possession goes into effect. The definition of possession itself is the occupation of land evidenced by visible acts such as enclosure, cultivation, construction of improvements, or the occupation of existing improvements.

This comes to show, in order to acquire property through adverse possession law, you must make improvements on the land and display a benefit. Showing the benefits will display that the property was a waste of space prior, and now it is being properly consumed. An example of adverse possession, if I noticed my neighbor cutting 4 feet onto my lawn and he began to grow plants or crops there, this is the beginning of the end.

If this continued and it was visible to me, when the required number of years pass, it'll be evident I did not cater to that piece of my property beneficially like my neighbor did. Therefore we would go through a case in which, if evidence is clear regarding the benefit to the land and the individual after the possession took place, he will be granted that 4 feet of my land.

There are a few requirements in order to acquire property through adverse possession law. The possession needs to be actual, as if the possessor is the owner of that land. Your possession needs to be open and notorious, meaning there is a visibility requirement, not of the possessor on the property, but of his continuous work on the property. Exclusive possession is also a prerequisite for adverse possession, the interest the possessor maintains of the property cannot be shared, nor can it be of public use. Your possession must be hostile, without the consent of he actual owner.

If the possession becomes permissive, adverse possession cannot be enforced, property may be acquired through acquiescence in this manner. When under cover of claim or right, the possessor either has mistaken documents which come to show the specified area of possession was believed to be his, or consuming the piece of property at issue for a statutory period.

The possession must be continuous and interrupted, this portrays the essence of keeping the possession and its improvements consistent in order to show clear evidence. In order to complete the process of adverse possession, there is a statutory period in which the possessor must hold the piece of property in order for the process to be final.

All in all, some refer to adverse possession as a gain, and some refer to it as theft. Since adverse possession goes against pieces of the ten commandments, a lot of people tend to believe it is immoral. Could you refer to it as theft? Or would you refer to it as making use of land which is going to waste?

After all, land is finite, and finite things are in demand regardless of whose the actual owner. In the given economy, we can predict to see more adverse possession cases and we can also determine that it will become more specified and people will begin to be more aware of this method of acquiring property.

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