Legal Definitions - adverse possession

Adverse possession is a legal concept that allows a person to gain ownership of someone else's property if they meet certain requirements and have been in possession of the property for a certain period of time.

• Continuous: The adverse possessor must maintain continuous possession of the property. This means that they must use the property as if they were the actual owner and not share control of the property with anyone else.
• Hostile: The possession must infringe on the rights of the true owner. This means that the adverse possessor must use the property without the true owner's consent or license.
• Open and Notorious: The possession must be obvious to anyone who bothers to look, so as to put the true owner on notice that a trespasser is in possession.
• Actual: The adverse possessor must actually be in possession of someone else's property.
• Exclusive: The adverse possessor must exclude others from possession, as if they were the actual owner.

A typical statute requires possession for 7 years, if under color of title, or 20 years if not. The threshold, however, varies by jurisdiction.

John owns a piece of land but has not used it for many years. Sarah starts using the land as a garden and maintains it for 20 years without John's permission. Sarah may be able to claim adverse possession of the land because she has met the requirements of continuous, hostile, open and notorious, actual, and exclusive possession for the required period of time.

Another example is if a person builds a fence on someone else's property and uses the land inside the fence as their own for the required period of time. If the true owner does not take action to remove the fence or challenge the adverse possession claim, the adverse possessor may be able to gain ownership of the land.

These examples illustrate how adverse possession can occur when a person uses someone else's property without permission for a certain period of time and meets the requirements for adverse possession.