A squatter is a person who settles in or occupies a piece of property with no legal claim to the property. A squatter lives on a property to which they have no title , right, or lease. A squatter may gain adverse possession of the property through involuntary transfer. A property owner who does not use or inspect their property for a number of years could lose the title to another person who makes a claim to the land, takes possession of the land, and uses the land.
Every U. For example, certain states require continuous possession of seven years to acquire privately-owned property, in addition to other requirements. State laws regarding squatters and adverse possession can be superseded by local laws in some cases.
For example, the state of New York grants adverse possession rights to squatters if they occupy a property in a continuous, hostile, and obvious way for at least 10 years.
They must also have a bona fide belief they possess a right to the land. If all of these conditions are met, the squatter could claim the title for possession of the land. If the owner contacts the authorities and has the trespassing squatter removed before they have occupied the property for 10 years, the squatter would no longer be able to claim the title.
However, the laws regarding squatters in New York City are drastically different from New York state laws. If a squatter continuously occupies a property for 30 days, they gain the legal right to remain on the property as a tenant of the owner even though they never signed a lease agreement.
The trespasser might break into an unoccupied property and begin openly living there. This may happen with investment properties that do not currently have tenants. If the trespasser is caught soon enough, they can be removed by the police and arrested. Squatters who go undetected by the owner and remain on the property for 30 days will require a legal eviction to remove them from the premise.
The length of time it takes for eviction proceedings to be completed may prompt property owners to offer to pay off squatters to remove themselves from the property.
Eviction proceedings can sometimes take up to one year. Suppose a woman named Felicia bought a two-bedroom investment property in in Brooklyn, New York. In , she stopped renting the apartment and it sat empty for several months. Facing foreclosure, Felicia decided to put the apartment on the market. To help us improve GOV. It will take only 2 minutes to fill in. Cookies on GOV. UK We use some essential cookies to make this website work. Accept additional cookies Reject additional cookies View cookies.
Hide this message. Home Housing and local services Repossessions, emergency housing and evictions. Squatting and the law. These are tenants that choose to continue living in the rental premises even after the term of their lease agreement expires. This also means that the landlord can evict them at any time without notice. After living on a property for a certain uninterrupted period of time, a squatter can make an adverse possession claim to the property.
In the state of Georgia, to make the adverse possession claim, a squatter needs to have stayed on the real estate property for at least 20 years. These 20 years need to be continuous i. However, what is color of title? Color of title is a legal term that refers to a title that has significant defects in the written documents. In the United States, squatters must meet 5 distinct requirements in order to file for a legal adverse possession claim.
Here are the 5 requirements to file for a Georgia adverse possession claim:. A squatter making an adverse possession claim must have resided at the property for at least 20 continuous years. Leaving the property for weeks or months at a time will invalidate their claim. The only exception to this rule is if the squatter has color of title.
Color of title means they only need to have stayed on the property for 7 continuous years. The squatter must possess the property exclusively. This means that they should be the only ones occupying the land. Even the rightful property owner making reasonable efforts to investigate the matter should be able to tell there is a squatter living there. They must also treat the property as the actual owner would. They can do this by documenting their maintenance or improvement efforts on the real estate property.
This would demonstrate that they have maintained actual possession of the unit. Instead, it takes on one of the following three definitions:. According to this definition, a trespasser must be aware of their illegal actions. Under this definition, a squatter may occupy the property thinking that the documents they have to it are valid. That notwithstanding, they may still be able to make a claim for adverse possession. Real adverse possession cases are often complex and involve a combination of actions and motives extending over a long period of time.
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