Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

It is more complicated than that, but yes, there is a law that provides that if you are occupying property openly and hostilely (meaning without the consent and preferably over objections of the owner) and pay property taxes on it, you can eventually file a lawsuit to quiet title in your name. Until you have that judgment, however, no matter how long you've been there and how much taxes you've paid, you do not own it.

The legal term for "squatters' rights" is adverse possession. In California, the right to claim title by adverse possession requires at least five years of possession by the claimant which is "open, notorious, adverse and continuous: plus payment of all taxes and assessments during the five-year period of adverse possession.

Since you are paying the property taxes, your next-most-difficult hurdle on the way to ownership will probably be with the "hostile" requirement. All of the terms in the definition of adverse possession have technical legal meanings. For example, "continuous" possession doesn't mean you can't drive to the Safeway, and "hostile" doesn't mean you captured the property by guerilla warfare.

It does require, however, that your possession be adverse to the owner of record title. If you were given permission to stay there, or if you were initially a tenant, you are probably a guest, or a hold-over tenant, and not an adverse possessor.

When you have met the requirements for five years, your next step is to file a quiet title suit in Superior Court, naming a whole cast of parties as defendants, including record owners, lenders, heirs, and parties unknown. The court, especially Placer County, will be quite demanding that all possible parties claiming any interest in the property be named, sued and served or sought with great diligence, and dismissed if not located.

Adverse possession law is actually a form of statute of limitations; i.e., if you don't act to eject a continuing trespasser within five years, your right to replace the trespasser's possession with your own is barred by the passage of time. It is also an embodiment of the state's preference for payment of taxes on all property.

There are a lot of exceptions and rules to adverse possession. I suggest that you speak to an attorney familiar with real property rights, and go over how you came to be in the property, before filing any action to quiet title.

Yes, I have litigated for and against acquisition of title by adverse possession, successfully in both types of cases, and I know the issues very well. You had better contact an attorney and act, or else you could lose the property. Do you want a consult?

Best,

Daniel Bakondi, Esq.

[email protected]

415-450-0424

The Law Office of Daniel Bakondi, APLC

870 Market Street, Suite 1161

San Francisco CA 94102

http://www.danielbakondi.com

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