Squatter's rights;

[Jstpssng]

The topic comes up occasionally so I thought I would post this here. Note that he hadn't visited his property "where he had played in his childhood" in 20 + years.

MSN

www.msn.com

Years ago a friend of my father told of a doctor who went down to a piece of property on the ocean which he hadn't visited in years. He found a house had been built on the land. I've always wondered what came out of that.

 

[Torvy]

I 100% hate this idea. If it were up to me, squatters rights would be declared unconstitutional. Essentially, it is government taking without compensation (5th Amendment violation). Just because the government isn't keeping the property doesn't change the fact that the government is taking it from the owner and giving it to someone else. This should not be confused with taking due to unpaid taxes (though they should still be required to pay the remaining market value to the owner).

 

[ddbackhoe]

Squaters rights, what a frickin crock

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Sounds like another episode of "SSS" to me...

...and that's all I'm going to say about that.

 

[scootr]

I had some first hand experience with a similar experience when I bought the ranch where we live in CA. The property is a big pie shaped parcel. Turns out the original fence line on the south line was incorrect. The fence company had used a street marker instead of a property line marker accidently adding 1.25 acres of a neighboring parcel to this parcel. A gate was added in the same area to allow access due to a creek separating this area from the main section. This section and the enclosed neighboring property was maintained and used as pasture.
We bought the property 20 yr afterwards and continued the same use and egress. Fast forward a few years and a house was built on the adjacent parcel. The new owner informed me that his surveyor shows my fence on his property. He requested we move our fence to the new marker they set. A discrepancy of about 150' less road frontage.
My sister happens to be a real estate lawyer. So I asked her about this mess. She presented me with a 7 page summary that basically would prove the land was ours to keep because the property in question was fenced with an active egress and was maintained along with improvements and use for so many years. Crazy I know.
In our case we allowed the new neighbor to hire a professional fence company to move the fence to the correct location.

 

[Have tractor did travel]

Scootr: Your resolution of the issue was well handled. No need to make any enemy, let along your next door neighbor. Land likely didn't have much incremental value to your property, whereaa neighbor felt it was his, he paid for it, and would have been stuck in his craw forever,

 

[tradosaurus]

The topic comes up occasionally so I thought I would post this here. Note that he hadn't visited his property "where he had played in his childhood" in 20 + years.

MSN

www.msn.com

Years ago a friend of my father told of a doctor who went down to a piece of property on the ocean which he hadn't visited in years. He found a house had been built on the land. I've always wondered what came out of that.

I wonder if squatters rights would work on government land?

 

[scootr]

I wonder if squatters rights would work on government land?

Ha ha ha - I'll bet not. And a quick google search nets this " Property that is held under the state and local government is exempt from adverse possession actions."

 

[Oaktree]

According to the law in my state; "In order to obtain title by adverse possession, the adverse possessor must prove, by a balance of probabilities, twenty years of adverse, continuous, and uninterrupted use of the land claimed so as to give notice to the owner that an adverse claim is being made."

20 years is a long time. If the landowner in the instance the OP linked to didn't care enough to visit his property even once during that time it's understandable that it might be considered abandoned.

 

[scootr]

Imagine you inherit a land parcel at the beach only to find somebody built a house on it 20 yrs ago...and it's not really yours now.
There might be a fire.

 

[BnRidge]

Who paid taxes on the property for those 20yrs, and would the "new" owner be liable for those? And the "previous" owner reimbersed?

 

[scootr]

Who paid taxes on the property for those 20yrs, and would the "new" owner be liable for those? And the "previous" owner reimbersed?

Good question. Obviously the registered owner kept up with the taxes or the state would have claimed it in which case The squatters would be tossed out. lol
I assume the new owner will be liable for future taxes.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Ha ha ha - I'll bet not. And a quick google search nets this " Property that is held under the state and local government is exempt from adverse possession actions."

well that's a double standard...

 

[ovrszd]

I had some first hand experience with a similar experience when I bought the ranch where we live in CA. The property is a big pie shaped parcel. Turns out the original fence line on the south line was incorrect. The fence company had used a street marker instead of a property line marker accidently adding 1.25 acres of a neighboring parcel to this parcel. A gate was added in the same area to allow access due to a creek separating this area from the main section. This section and the enclosed neighboring property was maintained and used as pasture.
We bought the property 20 yr afterwards and continued the same use and egress. Fast forward a few years and a house was built on the adjacent parcel. The new owner informed me that his surveyor shows my fence on his property. He requested we move our fence to the new marker they set. A discrepancy of about 150' less road frontage.
My sister happens to be a real estate lawyer. So I asked her about this mess. She presented me with a 7 page summary that basically would prove the land was ours to keep because the property in question was fenced with an active egress and was maintained along with improvements and use for so many years. Crazy I know.
In our case we allowed the new neighbor to hire a professional fence company to move the fence to the correct location.

Good on you.

 

[ovrszd]

I was told once by a lawyer in a casual conversation the we don't own our land, the government does. It benefits the government to "let" us own it for tax revenue.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Good question. Obviously the registered owner kept up with the taxes or the state would have claimed it in which case The squatters would be tossed out. lol
I assume the new owner will be liable for future taxes.

You shouldn't need to go visit your property in order to keep it under you possession, this concept is ridiculous as long as you pay your tax no one should be able to steal it from you... many people buy a vacant property or parcel of land and never set foot on it, holds it for 20-30 years and sell it for a wealthy profit, its a investment, no one should be intitle to steal it by trespassing for 20 years...

 

[Rockbadchild]

I was told once by a lawyer in a casual conversation the we don't own our land, the government does. It benefits the government to "let" us own it for tax revenue.

As much as I hate that idea it this is 100% true... we only have the illusion of owning it... The only reel free people left on this planet are the few tribes disconnected from this world.

 

[CobyRupert]

I was told once by a lawyer in a casual conversation the we don't own our land, the government does. It benefits the government to "let" us own it for tax revenue.

It’s exactly like communism, but the risks and liabilities are transferred to the “owner” instead of the state.
Sort of like our agricultural policies. By and large the market is controlled by “central planning” (USDA), but most of the risks are transferred to the independent farmer.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Maybe adverse possession seems unfair today, but it comes down to us from English common law. In early years, English land was handed down continuously to the oldest son; thus the title was in the same family forever. Sometimes, this was large tracts of unused land, and many were forever forbidden to hold land titles. Under adverse possession, you have to occupy the land openly and continuously for 15 to 20 years; and improve it. large absentee land owners had to at least be aware of what was happening on their land, or lose some of it.

My Grandfather lost 5 acres in NE Oklahoma back in the 50's. He lived in central Oklahoma and bought the land for $1.00 an acre in the late 30's, near what later become Grand Lake.

Worked with a fellow who bought an acreage in Kentucky, had it surveyed, and found that there were several acres that his neighbor had fenced, and was farming it. He approached his neighbor about it, and his neighbor said "My family has been farming that land for over 100 years". He told me that he never brought it up again.

 

[scootr]

In our case the egress was a big part of the possession. Simply establishing an egress and openly using it for (I think) 7 yrs here that becomes a legal access road. So if you drive across the neighbors property to get to your property long enough he cannot prohibit you from doing that.