Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Encroachment

The three-year figure seems to be wrong.

In California, there is a statute of limitations of five years for initiating an action to recover real property, i.e. to stop an adverse possession or prescriptive easement. This is probably the type of action you are thinking of, or may need to file. There are other ways to stop an adverse possession, of course; one is to make the possession non-adverse. You could give the person in the manufactured home a revocable license, for example -- date it and deliver it with a couple of witnesses on hand. Thereafter, the possession by the encroacher is permissive, not adverse. Of course, if the object is to get rid of the encroachment now, you want to take more vigorous (legal) action.

Another think you must avoid is entrapping someone into spending a lot of money to improve your property in the mistaken belief that they are on their own property when you know they are on yours. This could result in your being "estopped" (equitably prevented) from arguing that they haven't acquired an easement for their use.

I should probably point out that recording a lis pendens is NOT the first step - there must first be a lawsuit on file that brings into issue the rights of the parties with respect to the ownership or possession of real property. The lis pendens is recorded. filed and served immediately after the suit is filed and the summons issued.

Further, a non-attorney cannot record a lis pendens without obtaining a judge's prior approval. Code of Civil Procedure 405.21.