Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Washington

Re: adverse possession

In Washington State,there are two ways that one can claim ownership of land under the adverse possession doctrine. The first is to have met all of the requirements of adverse possession for ten consecutive years. The other method is to claim under the "color of title" concept where the claimant has paid taxes on the disputed property for seven years and there is a legal description to substantiate the claim, i.e., the county tax rolls show that the disputed area of land is taxed to the claimant. This is usually very difficult to do. The ten year approach requires all of the usual elements: open, notorious, hostile, exclusive, etc., and does not include any payment of taxes. Tacking of interests is allowed if a previous owner of the claimant had asserted adverse possession and the present claimant, as a successor owner, continued to claim adverse possession by adding the two ownership periods together. In your case, the lack of any writing that memorializes any alleged agreements between your neighbor and any previous owner of your land is highly suspicious. This is an area of real property law that is fraught with rules, exceptions and qulifications and there is usually not one clear answer. I doubt your neighbor will agree that he has no rights and you would therefore be put to the task of hiring a lawyer to sue your neighbor to clear title. If you do not, and you now have actual notice of such a dispute or claim against your property, you are now obligated to disclose such claim or dispute in the real estate disclosure form that you will have to fill out and sign when you go to sell your house eventually. If you do not disclose, you could be involved in a lawsuit with your eventual buyer when he or she or they find out about this claim or dispute.