What do you think of "squatters rights" ? Is posession 9/10th of the law ?

Question

I ask this because i have a property in Qld, Australia and the neighbours fence encroaches onto my land, effectively taking street access, its a corner block and about 50sqm of land. As i have rezoned the land for unit/townhouse development, one barrier is street access, the neighbours said that the fence has been there for 50 years, but its still my land and for my plans i need street access, not theirs, just "mine". So any way one neighbours claim for "squatters rights" almost cost me a development approval and $$$. I actually won the case though, proving "squatters rights" are BS ! Your thoughts ?

Answer 1

Good for you! My Dad had a bunch of trees in his backyard. The neighbor moved and the new guy started trimming the trees. My Dad was old and didn't care. After he died, the neighbor said it was his land because my Dad let him have it. We won, too.

Answer 2

YES, they can claim the land under the doctrine of Adverse Possession.
Adverse Possession generally requires:
1. That they actually possess the land
2. That the possession is "open & notorious"
3. That they have a "hostile intent" (which basically means that they intend to possess the land)
AND
4. That they possess the land for the required statutory period of time, with no interruptions. (usually from 5-15 years)

SOME places require them to have "color of title" - a legitimate reason to believe it is their land, such as a will, deed, survey, etc.
SOME places that they also pay the taxes on the land.

So yes, they CAN gain ownership of that land. It is VERY common and VERY easy to lose your land that way.

You probably will win by proving that they KNEW it wasn't their land and they only had mere PERMISSION to use it.

Answer 3

Many extremely crowded cities in Asia have squatters' rights, because a few people own all the land and the masses would be homeless without it.

Answer 4

I hasd kinda the same problem so I planted trees were I knew the property line was