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Steps to Protect Your Property from Squatters
Worried about squatters in your vacant property? Take the following steps to protect vacant rental units.
1. Maintain physical evidence of your ownership including signs, fences, and gates. Evidence of this type is especially important for remote owners who are unlikely to physically visit their property regularly.
2. When allowing another the use of your property, formalize the conditions with a formal agreement that shows your ownership and the conditions under which they can use or occupy the property. Recognize that casual use, such as letting a neighbor cross your property for convenience for a period, might be grounds for a claim of adverse possession.
3. Visit and inspect your property regularly to identify any trespassers. If you are unable to personally inspect your property, hire an agent on your behalf to perform inspections, the contract clearly stating your ownership and your intent in hiring the agent to protect your interest.
4. If evidence of illegal or improper use is discovered, contact law enforcement to investigate and remove any trespassers. If the guilty party is known, engage an attorney to send a formal cease-and-desist letter with a demand for any damages – real or intangible – as the result of the invasion.
5. Pay your property taxes regularly when due and check local records that you are the only person paying such taxes. Trespassers can gain adverse possession by paying taxes for as little as three years in some states.
Adverse Possession, Activists, and Squatters’ Rights
Adverse possession allows a person to gain legal ownership of property without payment if the possession of the property is personal, exclusive, overt, and continuous for a period of time and the rightful owner does not attempt remove the person within a legally defined period.
The law does not distinguish whether adverse possession is intentional or accidental. For example, if a neighbor inadvertently fences a portion of another person’s land and the owner does not object the intrusion (not knowing the exact boundaries), the neighbor can gain legal possession of the land within his fence.
In recent years, poverty activists have promoted squatters’ rights as a “legitimate” avenue for the poor to gain possession of property. In California, community organizer Steven DeCaprio used the state’s adverse possession law to advocate for people experiencing homelessness and to successfully occupy an abandoned home. He founded an organization, Land Action, to help people do the same. ReclaimSF, Moms4Housing, and Chicago’s AntiEviction Campaign are examples of nonprofit’s use of adverse possession to legally take property from the actual owner.
Unfortunately, those out to make a buck on the naivete of those desperate for a home find squatters advocacy a fertile market. Naziyr YishmaEl, formerly known as James Allen Keith, taught a course on adverse possession. For a fee of $75,00, people could become members of his “Association of Autonomous People.” Property owners and prosecutors have a different view: “an opportunist who already had an embezzlement conviction on his record and took advantage of people on the margins during an economic crisis.”
And really: you charge $75,000 and you claim to be serving the homeless and poor?
State-by-State Squatters’ Rights
Each state has enacted laws to protect property owners from adverse possession. A squatter can gain legal ownership of real property in forty-three states by being on the property and treating it as heir own for a minimum of ten years while meeting the following conditions:
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- The possession must be open and notorious, i.e., occupied without subterfuge or misrepresentation to the public,
- Exclusive, i.e., other parties cannot share the property,
- Adverse or hostile claim to the true owner’s interest, and
- Continuous and uninterrupted for the State’s statutory period.
Seven states require possession for seven years or less, while four others require more than 20 years. Having a deed or paying taxes on the property can reduce the time necessary to gain ownership in some states.
Map courtesy of Law District
Alabama Squatters Rights
Squatters can take possession of property if they have a deed to the property or pay the taxes on the property for 10 years. This rule comes from Title 6 Chapter 5 Section 200 of the Code of Alabama.
Alaska Squatters Rights
A squatter can gain adverse possession with the deed to the property and living on the property for seven years or paying taxes on the land for the past 10 years.
Arizona Squatters Rights
A squatter with the deed and has paid the taxes on your property for three or more years can take adverse possession of it unless the property is a city lot where the squatter needs the deed and pays taxes for five years. If a neighbor builds across your line of the property, he can take the property after two years.
Arkansas Squatters Rights
A squatter gains adverse possession of a property after holding the deed and paying taxes for seven years, according to Arkansas Code Annotated 18-11-102.
California Squatters Rights
A squatter Who pays the taxes on your property for five years can gain adverse possession.
Colorado Squatters Rights
Squatters can take possession of property where they have lived for 18 years with a deed or paying taxes on the property for seven years.
Connecticut Squatters Rights
Squatters who have been living there for 15 years can claim adverse possession.
Delaware Squatters Rights
A squatter earns the right to claim your property after living on it for 20 years.
Florida Squatters Rights
Squatters in Florida who pay taxes on your property for 7 years can claim adverse possession of your property.
Georgia Squatters Rights
Squatters can gain possession of the property by living on the property for 7 years or more except for undeveloped land where minimum occupation is 20 years.
Hawaii Squatters Rights
An individual must occupy a property for at least 20 years before the possibility of ownership.
Idaho Squatters Rights
Squatters can make an oral claim for possession after paying the property taxes on a parcel of land for a minimum of 20 years.
Illinois Squatters Rights
Squatters must overtly occupy a property without permission for a minimum of 20 years and pay taxes for 7 years to be given the chance to transfer the deed.
Indiana Squatters Rights
To gain adverse possession, a squatter must occupy a neglected property openly for at least 10 years.
Iowa Squatters Rights
Adverse possession is possible after 10 years of open possession.
Kansas Squatters Rights
Kansas law requires a squatter to be in actual possession of the property for at least 15 years continuously.
Kentucky Squatters Rights
Adverse possession can occur if a squatter occupies the property for 15 years and establish Color of Title for 7 years.
Louisiana Squatters Rights
Squatters must have continuous possession of the property for 10 years, acting as if it were their own and cannot be convicted of disturbing the peace in any way during possession.
Maine Squatters Rights
A squatter must have continuous and uninterrupted possession for 20 years and either claim of title or the payment of taxes.
Maryland Squatters Rights
The general legal requirements for adverse possession is continuous possession for 20 years.
Massachusetts Squatters Rights
Squatters must have open, actual, notorious, exclusive and ongoing possession for 20 years to claim ownership.
Michigan Squatters Rights
After 15 years of overt possession, a squatter cam gain possession of property but must to court to receive legal title.
Minnesota Squatters Rights
Squatters must have open, actual, obvious, exclusive, and continuous possession of property for 15 years to claim adverse possession.
Mississippi Squatters Rights
Squatters must have open, obvious, and exclusive possession of the property and use the property in an uninterrupted fashion for a minimum of 10 years for adverse possession.
Missouri Squatters Rights
A squatter must retain continuous possession of the property for a minimum of 10 years.
Montana Squatters Rights
Squatters must maintain continuous possession of the property for a minimum of 5 years.
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