[F]

We have lived next to an empty lot and taken care of it for twelve years, since 1995. Do we have squatter's rights to this property? There has been no contact with the owner in any kind of an agreement. We have written to the owner two times and received no response. Please let us know if we have any legal rights to this land. Thank you for your time.

You can bill the owner for your costs in maintaining the property, however, since there was no agreement that you do so,you may not get anything. Other than that you have no rights on the property.

It all depends on what state you are in and all the circumstances involved. Squatters rights do exist.

Squatters' rights do not exist. What you are talking about is taking ownership of the land by "adverse possession". There are several requirements to be fulfilled before a court will grant ownership. The prospective owner must have taken control of the property and excluded others from accessing it. Their use of the property must have been done in a manner hostile to the owner. They had to control and use the property for a certain number of years, ranging from as little as 10 years in some states to as much as 60 years in other states. Some states require that they had to pay the taxes for that time as well.

Do a Google search for adverse possession and your state and you should be able to find the legal requirements.

Lisa is correct (as usual). What is commonly referred to as squatter's rights is really the legal concept of adverse possession. And while laws on Adverse Possession vary, your situation doesn't come close.

The owner has not abandoned the property assuming that the taxes have been paid. You refer to "taking care" of it. What did that entail? Cleaning up a vacant lot does not mean you take ownership of it. If the property was allowed to become overgrown, thereby harboring vermin or other dangers, you may have been within your rights to clean it out and expect compensation for it.

Now, if you built on the property (i.e extending a deck) and the owner did nothing about it for a number of years, then you might take adverse possession of the portion the deck is on.

But based on what you have told us, you have no legal right to the property.

Yes I was talking about adverse possession, which most people know and refer to as "squatter's rights". The two are used interchangeably.

I know that there is certain requirements that must be meet in order to claim property this way, which is why I said " depends on all the circumstances involved"

All the poster stated was "we have taken care of it", they do not say if they have used it or what they have done or what they mean by taken care of it. I was going by what was stated.

It does really vary from state to state. In regards to the "Hostile" requirement, Missouri has ruled that

" If the possessor occupies the land in question intending to occupy that particular piece as his own, his occupancy is adverse. It is not necessary that he intend to take away from the true owner something which he knows belongs to another, or even that he be indifferent as to the facts of the legal title. It is the intent to possess, and not the intent to take irrespective of his right, which governs."


Without knowing the EXACT situation and the state, the question of the original poster can not be determined. Which is why I said " It all depends on what state you are in and all the circumstances involved"

But thanks for the negative mark stating "Doing maintenance on a property does not allow someone to take ownership of it."

I never said maintenance did allow someone to take ownership.