ProfDale Property Video 4 - Adverse Possession Tacking and Personal Property

[@Arikatea]

These are amazing resources for 1Ls. Thank you so much!

[@traceystock7352]

We bought a new construction home on a little acreage with natural landscape. THe house next to us sold and the new people came along and act like they own it. We fenced them out and posted signs and they have not been back. Now the lady next door comes to the property line whenever I hire contractors (fence people, tree people landscapers etc) and she interacts with them (Hi! Who are you? What are you doing? May I have your card?" etc..) Anyway one of my contractors rang my doorbell after she hired them and asked if I wanted work done in this border area and I said no. He said thanks and she fired him shortly after (indicating she likely hired our landscapers to use them on our land to show control). Anyway, can her engaging our hired help across the property line and asking questions and saying things like "OK, looks good, great job!" be used as credible Adverse Possession evidence that she controls our land even though she is across a fence on her own property?

[@fredmertzful]

Tracy - I can't give you legal advice about your specific situation, but I can give you some general guidance. A person seeking to acquire land title by means of adverse possession can indeed do so by means of the activities of their employees, but only if the employees' activities are open and notorious, continuous, etc. An employee who merely has a few conversations with the True Owner would not come anywhere near satisfying these requirements. Likewise, hiring people who previously worked for the True Owner would accomplish nothing toward becoming an adverse possessor. The adverse possessor's activities must be , which means that they must take place on the disputed land itself, not merely on adjacent land or nearby. - ProfDale

[@fredmertzful]

There's a missing word in the final sentence of my reply. It should say "The adverse possessor's activities must be ACTUAL, which means that they must take place on the disputed land itself.... -- ProfDale

[@traceystock7352]

@@fredmertzful Makes sense! Thank you Professor!

[@rafaelordonezjr6149]

How would somebody turn on the utilities?

[@rodolfolopez1286]

I recently purchased 30 acres, previous owner passed away and left the land to his brothers and they sold to me, there was an old fence were the land adjoins with the neighbors, which was not kept up with, i told him i have a survey of the place and the fence did not seem to be in right place, well within 3 years after i bought place he started building sheds and even a dam on our shared pond, and now i got a surveyor to check how much fence is off and his recently built sheds and dam are on my side, does he have a chance of adversely pocessing my property since he said the old fence had been there for more than 30 years, or does the time start with me as the new owner, for all we know previous owner may have gave him permission to utilize that portion, and he started building onto my property after me owning it prior to that the old fence was not even maintained

[@rodolfolopez1286]

Somebody please help me out i cannot find anything on regards to this wether the time needed to adversely posses a property starts all over if the land thats being trespassed changes owners, neighbors never adversely possessed previous owner, or have anything documented with court stating they did, now im new owner and it has been three years and i have brought it to their attention that there on my property and they dont want to compromise, im in texas and land is still under a mortgage loan

[@fredmertzful]

You’re asking the right questions. In addition, you need to know how long the fence was maintained in its present position and exactly what activities the adjoining owner engaged in while the fence was there. His AP doesn’t start over when you purchased,but simply continues. It’s too bad you didn’t get a survey before you bought your parcel..

[@rodolfolopez1286]

@@fredmertzful I did have an older survey and written property description stating that the fenceline was a straight shot and not bowed in to my side, and i brought it to his attention that that fence was not a straight fence, all this after i hired a fence crew and noticed fence not right after it was built, icouldnt locate one of the corners so at that point i couldnt argue much with him, so i build a new fence where the old fence was and it was not maintained, prior to my purchase of that land other than him using as a driveway it did not have any other improvements, driveway has no materials like gravel or blacktop its just sand, all the new improvements he has made are all after i purchased three years ago, previous owner passed away allready and for all we know he may have well had given him permission to use as driveway only, other than trees and sandy deiveway all other improvemnts are only 3 years old, some dont even show up on sattelite pictures

[@rodolfolopez1286]

@@fredmertzful fence is new now, when i bought it, it was just an old barbwire fence that was not repairable, other than half of his driveway being i the disputed area there were no other improvements or even maintained like i said fence was in such a bad condition,

[@fredmertzful]

Rudolf - it isn’t feasible or legal for me to give you detailed legal advice based on your description of your facts. You need an experienced local real estate lawyer. I would be happy to consult with him or her without charge if they think it would be helpful to do so. - Prof Dale

[@Vipenstrike]

What states do you think have the best chance of successful adverse possession of raw/remote land?

[@fredmertzful]

I’ve never tried to catalog them. Many of the western states have presumptions that owners don’t mind having trespassers on their land if the land is open, un fenced, or undeveloped - particularly if it’s a large parcel. You would need to review each state's precedents to draw any useful conclusions,and I Haven’t done that. It wold be a laborious task?

[@Vipenstrike]

@@fredmertzful I imagine that less populated states with wide tracts of land would have a greater chance, like Alaska. Of course a greater answer would be laborious, like you say. Would have to look at multiple data points. Thanks for the quick reply.