Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Does ownership depend on possession?
My grandparents live in Southern California and have some property in Northern California that is undeveloped. They have been paying their property taxes and even a water bill for years. They don't get a chance to view the property very often at all, their concern is that in between visits which might be once every couple of years, can someone take possession of the land and establish residency or homestead?
If someone can live on their land without their permission and even claim it as their own, how can my Grandparent combat this? How can they prevent such a thing from happening in the first place?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Does ownership depend on possession?
Howdy:
One requirement for gaining title to land by adverse possession (squatting) it to pay the taxes. If your grandparents have been paying the taxes every year, no adverse rights accrue to the squatters.
Also, in order to gain title adversely, the squatters would have to actually put the land to use (fence, build, cultivate) for a period of five continuous years.
If your grandparents visit the land every two-three years, then there is ample opportunity to discover and evict any squatters.
If, on a visit, squatters are discovered, then you'd need to immediately take steps to remove them. If they've been there for more than 30 days, even without a lease, it will probably take an eviction action.
Re: Does ownership depend on possession?
You don't lose title to land merely by being out of possession. Loss of title requires that another party (a 'squatter') be in possession for five years, and that possession must be 'open and notorious, hostile, and continuous.' These terms have somewhat technical meanings. In practice, the squatter doesn't gain a right to have the property re-titled and exclude the former owner unless the squatter was paying the property taxes. This applies to entire, separately-assessed parcels; you can still lose a portion of a parcel by someone's encroachment even if you're paying all the taxes. Loss of ownership can also be forestalled by giving the squatter permission to be there, because then his possession is not hostile.
Nevertheless, property owners should check their holdings regularly to prevent things like construction of shanties, harvesting of your timber, starting forest fires, cultivation of marijuana, and dumping of toxic materials, to name a few.
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